- From Beach Grit - Derek Rielly
Yesterday, there was a commotion over a minor wrestle between the Hawaiian Tanner Hendrickson and Brazilian Michael Rodrigues.
Words spoken, hands up, fight, snuggle, resolution.
In its usual North Shore way, both men would’ve gone home, cracked a beer and lit up dinner with a vaguely compelling story.
Meanwhile, Michael Rodrigues' Instagram has been pulled, but not before this PR-approved post that said, in Portuguese and among other platitudes, "I reject all acts of violence against me, or against any other living being. Nothing justifies the aggression I have received, so I feel obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure that unfortunate events such as these do not recur, with me, or against any other athlete and/or person.
Koa Rothman, “That was the biggest bullshit call from the WSL. A bunch of fucking corporate pussies!”
Of course, this is 2018, not 1975, and therefore Rodrigues called the police shortly afterwards and the WSL disqualified Hendrickson from the Pipe Trials.
According to WSL rules, Tanner’ll get served with a five gee fine.
((i) Monetary Fines and Disqualification.
First Offense: $5,000 USD and automatic disqualification from remainder of the Competitive Event. Disqualification may be waived in a “mutual combat” type situation.
Second Offense: $10,000 USD and automatic disqualification from remainder of the Competitive Event.
Third Offense: $15,000 USD and automatic disqualification from remainder of the Competitive Event.)
Koa Rothman, Backdoor Shootout winner, son of Fast Eddie, bro of Makua, master of popular vlog This is Livin’, summed up popular sentiment with his now trending hashtag, #letthemswing.
Earlier today, I called Koa, who’d just lost his round one heat at the Pipe Trials, for further comment.
“That was the biggest bullshit call I’ve ever seen from the WSL,” said Koa. “Tanner works a normal job at home, flies over here, doesn’t have a sponsor, gets in a fight, beats up someone who wanted a fight and gets kicked out of the contest. It was a fair fight. The Brazilian had his friends there and they ran away. It’s not like any of Tanner’s friends jumped in. The kid put his hands up. It was a fair fight. What if Tanner got beat up? Would he have been kicked out then?”
Koa pauses, winds up a little.
“A bunch of fucking corporate pussies run that show (WSL). It was a terrible, terrible call.”
I mention the relative civility of the fight. No blood, no breaks.
“I’ve seen guys end up in hospital for days,” says Koa. “That was not even close to a bad fight. Everyone’s a pussy. It’s not even the WSL’s business. It’s no one’s business. It’s the two people fighting’s business. They think they own these surfers…
“Are they fucking out of their minds? And the pussy called the cops.”
I express surprise.
“Yeah, a bunch of pussies. That’s all it is.”
#letthemswing.
Let them swing.
Yesterday, there was a commotion over a minor wrestle between the Hawaiian Tanner Hendrickson and Brazilian Michael Rodrigues.
Words spoken, hands up, fight, snuggle, resolution.
In its usual North Shore way, both men would’ve gone home, cracked a beer and lit up dinner with a vaguely compelling story.
Meanwhile, Michael Rodrigues' Instagram has been pulled, but not before this PR-approved post that said, in Portuguese and among other platitudes, "I reject all acts of violence against me, or against any other living being. Nothing justifies the aggression I have received, so I feel obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure that unfortunate events such as these do not recur, with me, or against any other athlete and/or person.
Koa Rothman, “That was the biggest bullshit call from the WSL. A bunch of fucking corporate pussies!”
Of course, this is 2018, not 1975, and therefore Rodrigues called the police shortly afterwards and the WSL disqualified Hendrickson from the Pipe Trials.
According to WSL rules, Tanner’ll get served with a five gee fine.
((i) Monetary Fines and Disqualification.
First Offense: $5,000 USD and automatic disqualification from remainder of the Competitive Event. Disqualification may be waived in a “mutual combat” type situation.
Second Offense: $10,000 USD and automatic disqualification from remainder of the Competitive Event.
Third Offense: $15,000 USD and automatic disqualification from remainder of the Competitive Event.)
Koa Rothman, Backdoor Shootout winner, son of Fast Eddie, bro of Makua, master of popular vlog This is Livin’, summed up popular sentiment with his now trending hashtag, #letthemswing.
Earlier today, I called Koa, who’d just lost his round one heat at the Pipe Trials, for further comment.
“That was the biggest bullshit call I’ve ever seen from the WSL,” said Koa. “Tanner works a normal job at home, flies over here, doesn’t have a sponsor, gets in a fight, beats up someone who wanted a fight and gets kicked out of the contest. It was a fair fight. The Brazilian had his friends there and they ran away. It’s not like any of Tanner’s friends jumped in. The kid put his hands up. It was a fair fight. What if Tanner got beat up? Would he have been kicked out then?”
Koa pauses, winds up a little.
“A bunch of fucking corporate pussies run that show (WSL). It was a terrible, terrible call.”
I mention the relative civility of the fight. No blood, no breaks.
“I’ve seen guys end up in hospital for days,” says Koa. “That was not even close to a bad fight. Everyone’s a pussy. It’s not even the WSL’s business. It’s no one’s business. It’s the two people fighting’s business. They think they own these surfers…
“Are they fucking out of their minds? And the pussy called the cops.”
I express surprise.
“Yeah, a bunch of pussies. That’s all it is.”
#letthemswing.
Let them swing.
