SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- The surfing world has known since 1992 that
Kelly Slater is a freak. We'd been charting his rise for years, and the
theories were validated that year when a 20-year-old Slater became the
youngest world champion ever.
Today, some 17-years after
winning that first title, 37-year-old Slater is still the defending ASP
World Champion, having racked up 8 more titles since 1992, including
five straight from 1993-1998, and a list of records that can fill a
phone book.
To put his longevity into perspective, remember
that 1992 is the same year Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird
did their whole Dream Team dealio at the Olympics. Slater went on to
dominate the 90s's, winning five straight world titles from 1994-1998.
Like Jordan, he stepped away at that point and played golf for three
years. Came back in 2002, fought his way to the top again in 2005-2006,
then did it again in 2008. Last year was the third time Slater had
reclaimed a world title after surrendering it, and he's been in the
books for years now as both the youngest and oldest world champion.
But
it's his quest right now for a 10th world title that has some in the
outside sports world finally taking note of this guy, as they should,
after all, his records hold up against anyone in sports history. What's
amazing is he still seems to be getting better. His world title run
last year was statistically his best ever as a pro, and you won't find
many 18-year veterans who can say that. Naturally, with 9-titles under
his belt the a number 10 was too much for him to resist.
Yet
his campaign got off to a horrible start back in March, as Slater fell
victim to his own experiments. Like Tiger Woods a few years ago, Slater
felt he had to change his approach in order to get past the threshold
guardians only he could see. Tiger, you may recall, changed his grip in
order to move forward, taking a temporary step back in the process.
Slater took a similar step down, shrinking his surfboards first to
logical, and then illogical extremes, while testing their limits.
null
As a result of his unproven equipment his 2009 season began with three
early round flame-outs. Meanwhile, Australian Joel Parkinson won three
of the first five events on the ten-stop tour. Slater won just once.
This
week the Hurley Pro at Trestles has kicked off the second half of the
season. Trestles is one of the best waves in California, and it's also
known as Slater-town. He won his debut as a pro here back in 1990, and
he's won this event three of the past four years.
Last week
the task of catching Parkinson seemed hopeless in August. But Parkinson
lost early this week to Wild Card Rob Machado (one of Kelly's closest
friends) on Tuesday, and Slater seems ready to pounce.
If
Slater can hold serve at Trestles the pressure for Parkinson to clinch
during the three-event European leg will be huge, because the final
event of the year is at Pipeline, where Slater's won six times.
For
the record, Parko has only won in Europe just once back in 2006, and
he's never won at Pipeline. But he did do something worse as far as
Kelly's concerned. He played a huge role in helping Andy Irons defeat
Slater in their famous 2003 world title showdown by holding Slater off
a wave he desperately needed.
Right about now Kelly's holding onto that memory.
This season is hardly over.
-PointGrinder
