Following last week’s action at Trestles, the office here was buzzing with opinions regarding the outcome (see here). I won’t regurgitate it all, ’cause I’m sure you know the results of the barn burning finish between Slater and Taj by now. (If not, Slater won by less than half a point).
But as my colleagues discussed in the feisty Hardball style video excerpt, something that was on my mind during the long walk back up the dirt trail was “the psychology of Slater.”
Whether or not that fraction of a point was legit enough from a performance standpoint to award him the trophy is debatable. But how did he make up for any doubt in the judges minds? Well, through maintaining the strongest emotional connection with the crowd, and basically demanding it from the judges.
At the end of Slater’s winning ride, the crowd was going absolutely bonkers. Trust me, I was one of them. But based solely on the ride, at that point I still didn’t know who was going to win. It wasn’t until immediately after the ride that it became clear.
There was approximately a minute and a half left on the clock. Instead of paddling back out (granted, this would have probably taken most of the 1:30 just to get back to the lineup) or merely giving a modest wave and quietly exiting the water?Kelly claimed the wave with a succession of animated and aggressive fist pumps, yells, and board waves, furthering the crowd into a full on frenzy. He even looked to the judges while doing so, as the crowd roared, as if to say, “Give it to me; I dare you not to.” Meanwhile, the crowd rushed him on the cobblestones while he was still knee deep in the shorebreak.
Of course, all this is purely anecdotal. And I don’t mean in any way to detract anything from Kelly’s ride, which was very strong, to say the least. There’s a reason why the guy has won five out of seven tour stops this year. But however you look at it, the difference that determined the win was split by a hair. I wouldn’t have wanted one of the judges jobs on that one.
Who would you have given the trophy?
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