Alright folks, we're back. It's the Billabong Rio Pro 2013 and everyone is mysteriously getting hurt just to avoid the contest. No defending champ John John. No Owen Wright. No Tiago Pires. Steph Gilmore had Alana Blanchard run over her foot at Bells, managed to finish that contest, AND competed in the following contest in New Zealand just to call in sick for Rio (check out her story here). Am I sensing some not-so-subtle aversion to Rio here?
I won't lie, I haven't been the biggest fan of the Rio Pro in the past. Last year's post is proof of that ("Here we go again"). But the contest last year was surprisingly entertaining, despite my less than tactful comments. So this year I've got a shred of hope and it's because of this I will keep my big mouth shut for a while. Let's see some barrels again this year!
Just one thing: is a contest without John John and Owen nearly as exciting? I'm going with no. I want to see John John defend his title. But mostly I wanted to see an Owen - Adriano rematch. Yes I'm still harboring some bad feelings about his floater shenanigans (check out "Here we go again" if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) Plus Adriano's kind of a dick.
Which leads me to my last qualm: do morals have a place in fantasy surfer picks? I feel like the Brazilians certainly have home field advantage on this one (that's probably putting it lightly) but I am sooooooo incredibly opposed to picking loud, obnoxious, rude, choppy surfers who claim chop-hops. This certainly does not go for all Brazilians, but the stereotype's gotta come from somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I want to win. I hear the prize-packs are legendary. But at what price? It's a tough one guys and I've got less than two hours to choose...
