Slater on Stands Now

As if we haven't marveled previously in some sort of shock that surfing has finally gone mainstream, here is yet another example. In addition to Hollywood and IMAX flicks and reality shows and enough press coverage to choke a horse, the undeniable king of the "sport" of surfing, Kelly Slater, is featured in this month's Sports Illustrated. Award winning sports writer Gary Smith, follows Kelly from coast to coast and probes the champ for his thoughts his personal past, the state of modern surfing, and what he sees on the horizon. In the article Smith muses on Kelly's success,

Soon Kelly had the dream job and all the accoutrements that came with it: millions of dollars worth of endorsements; celebrities and rock stars for friends; and a parade of seemingly unattainable women – among them Pamela Anderson and Gisele Bündchen. And yet he has never felt whole, never felt he could answer the question, “Why do you do what you do?” because it was never about simply being the best: “His life’s quest had swept him right past his big brother, far beyond what that little boy in the cinder-block tract house had really wanted: to bring everyone together, to be a bridge. He’d kept his trophies hidden in gear bags and car trunks, loathed being the alpha male; no one had taught him about the oneness of No. 1.”

It's forever fascinating to leer at the gems that Slater has mined from the sport and culture beyond the base stoke and adventure. Does that make him any less pure than the guy sleeping on the beach to catch every wave every day? I doubt that. It doesn't get any more pure than Gisele anyway. Nonetheless, it's a thoughtful and introspective article to say the least with some great language in which Smith refers to Slates as the "uneasy rider", really fleshing out some of the complexities of one of surfing's all time greats.