I’ve got a bone to pick. And it aint with the ASP, WSL, PGA, NFL or any other softball leagues. At least not today. It’s with anyone who’s so sensitive that when Noa Deane (or anyone) “popped the inevitable zit” and publicly de-flowered the WSL that it was deemed so offensive to “surf culture” that he had to issue apologies and turn himself into Marshawn Lynch for the past few months. Noa had none of the surfers competing on tour in mind when he said what he said, and I highly doubt many were offended. Because Noa was just looking out for surfing, and reminding everyone that surfing never has and never will be about keeping quiet or by “being by the book.” Some might actually say that some people’s new obsession with being “by the book” is why we’re circling the drain as an industry and culture though.

During our recent world premiere of Cluster at the Ace Theatre in downtown LA, our MC of the night Austyn Gillette got the 1400 people in attendance to chant “Fuck the WSL” for no other reason than to chuckle at surfing for being so sensitive that something like that could turn Noa Deane into a mute. Austyn doesn’t and never will know what a WSL is, but he didn’t become a skateboarder to keep his mouth shut. So instead of ignoring the elephant in the room that night, he jumped on it’s back with a megaphone and held the middle finger a little higher, and hopefully provided a little reminder to the surf community that they should get over it and have some fun. There are a lot of sick things going on outside your heat analyzer.

Now I hope I don’t need to go into any more explanation about this, because, sure, we watch contests, we surf every day, we talk about sick things John John and Kelly do. And we’ll be rooting for Ricardo Christie, Dusty Payne and Keanu Asing this year when they surf. But we’ll also be off doing our own thing most of the year, and we sure as hell aren’t going to be shy about commenting on the embarrassing morning shows and commentary and analysis that feels like it’s directed more toward the Ohio State football team than those of us who have dedicated our lives to the raddest lifestyle in the world. And for those of you who are new to surfing, and were hoping to have a little more fun, well, come with us, we’ll show you around and we won’t be dumbing it down. You’re just going to have to keep up. —Travis