What is with surfers? - Chasing Mavericks (2012) Discussion

[–] Humanity_Youve_Failed 12 years ago

What is about morons who watch the NFL games or even respect the NFL teams who are getting paid millions to be sweaty, tackle other guys, and run with a ball?

I'll take surfing ANY day...

Go try to get on a surf board.
It's way harder than any stupid football game and most other sports.

It's a joke.

Maybe they are spiritual about surfing because they love it?

The ocean is a much more beautiful thing than a grassy football field or any other field where most sports take place.

reply

[–] Vashramana 12 years ago

Haha OK I don't think I even mentioned football. Even hardcore football fans don't get all spiritual about it like the surfer guys do...

reply

[–] mctavishboy 11 years ago

Chasing Mavericks is not your typical surfing movie. It's much more of a story than just watching folks slash up waves on their boards. Surfing is an excellent metaphor for life. Unlike watching or even playing football, surfing is something you actually participate in physically and do solo. One can go surfing with a hundred people, but the actual act of surfing is a completely individual event. It certainly looks pretty easy to do, but of course most people find out it's quite difficult. The lure for me is that it is ever-changing and once one reaches a level of expertise, it has an artistically expressive quality, however the canvas is erased almost as immediately as it's created. That's the beauty for me. Each wave is different as are the tracks one carves on the wave walls surface. The expression exists, but only for a second or two. I do wish people who have no actual experience in surfing would refrain from reviewing the value of a movie like "Chasing Mavericks" - People read reviews and often miss excellent movies because they were mislead by a "critic's" opinion.

reply

[–] dax-acidburn 11 years ago

Beautiful reply. I agree with everything you said.

Also agree with Chinubee, It's about feeling and bonding with nature, not taming it. Once you're a developed enough surfer and the bond gets strong enough, surfing itself becomes like an art form and a respectful celebration of life in cohesion with nature.
All the best surfers are spiritual people and you can see their own unique bond in their own unique surfing style. Same goes with free climbing, which also is a really mental and ofc physical lifestyle/sport.

reply

[–] smoogster 11 years ago

see: this is exactly what the OP was going on about. You have decided that your passion is far more important and awesome than everyone else's passion and you deride and insult them for not being as awesome and cool as you.

There are far better things out there than surfing. Rowing for one. The beauty that comes from the sound of a skiff in perfect motion, coupled with the intense nausea of pushing yourself to past your absolute limit is something you will never understand or experience and I feel sympathy with you for that.
Va'a ama is another sport that beats surfing any day.

reply

[–] zziiyy 11 years ago

Eh, not everyone can throw a football, but I've never met anyone who can't learn to surf. I would encourage anyone who's interested to try surfing. It's not that difficult. I'm not saying you will be a pro - like with any sport there are people who are simply amazing. But just about anyone can learn to get up and enjoy it.

reply

[–] buccbacker77 12 years ago

Try it for yourself and you'll realize that there is nothing like it on earth! I've tried almost every sport there is and nothing comes close to how peaceful I feel when I'm in the ocean. Somebody might be able to explain the spirituallity aspect of it better but I'd rather you feel it for yourself.

reply

[–] mikeyflatley 11 years ago

i prefer snowboardin

Werd 2 ur mudda, bruddafcker

reply

[–] MathusRayn 12 years ago

Pssh. It's because surfers are potheads. They probably think corndogs are spiritual, too.

reply

[–] lipslikesugar78 12 years ago

NFL fans are not spiritual about football because there IS nothing spiritual about football. - Surfing is just you & Mother nature; a singular, solitary sport where you are @ one with the wave & the rhythm of the ocean. There is a peace that exists in that which you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else on earth. - I once did not understand it myself, but have certainly been enlightened.
-It is not about "pot" or any other drug. Surfing is a drug unto itself.

-And p.s.-- Give me a surfer to a football player/fan ANYday.

"If bullsh*t were music, you'd be a big brass band." - The Doom Generation

reply

[–] Vashramana 12 years ago

Whatever, I think you all just have a chemical imbalance...

reply

[–] GSmith9072 12 years ago

Sounds like you guys need to experience nature in obnoxious, in your face ways.

Football and Surfing obsession = lame

BUGS

reply

[–] bongoman47 11 years ago

Rach, check out the movie "Step into Liquid." It might help you understand.

reply

[–] Macman67 11 years ago

You could say that surfing is a spiritual experiance, or you could say that its a solitary sport done by rich white guys that requirs no team effort and gives them the chance to show off like little douches. I also liked how "Humanity you fail" just dodged the question. Hey buddy, guess what...you fail.

reply

[–] Chinubee 11 years ago

Surfing is more spiritual than other sports, because what makes is different from other sports is that surfing is ultimately up to the forces of nature. Surfing is ultimately about forces you cant control. The spirituality comes in because surfing is about finding a way to work with nature. No other sport relies on the raw force of nature like surfing does, which does make it somewhat spiritual if you choose to think of it in that way. Not to sound like a hippie, because honestly I don't really get spiritual about surfing, but surfing puts you in tune with nature in a way nothing else does and gives you a respect for nature.

reply

[–] Zando777 11 years ago

Surfing originated in places like Hawaii, where people are actually fairly brown, and relatively poor. Those folks are still the most intense surfers out there. And most white surfers are also notoriously broke.

Sounds like someone's not very happy with himself.

reply

[–] Macman67 11 years ago

Well, I'm describing my experiance with surfers, who were mostly white rich *beep* from Cali. Frankly I would have loved to have met the poor surfers in Hawaii. They probably would have represented the sport to me a hell of a lot better.

reply

[–] dl4060 11 years ago

Judging by the tone, I don't think Rach will get it regardless.

Surfing is one of the most amazing things on earth. I am a mediocre surfer, I came to it in college, but I still love it. I am in an office all week, and can usually only surf on weekends, but I still love to get out whenever I can. I prefer skiing, it is what I grew up doing, and I ski every weekend in the winter, but I absolutely love surfing.

If a double overhead wave is a rush for me, I can scarcely imagine what it is like to surf Maverick's. I have never heard anyone say that it is overrated.

reply

[–] Humanity_Youve_Failed 11 years ago

Macman- "I also liked how "Humanity you fail" just dodged the question. Hey buddy, guess what...you fail. "

Nice insult douche. Must have taken a lot of brain capacity to come up with that intellectual remark.

I actually answered the question just perfectly.
The fact that you're too stupid to comprehend it really isn't my problem :)

reply

[–] Humanity_Youve_Failed 11 years ago

Oh and Macman, in response to this remark "you could say that its a solitary sport done by rich white guys that requires no team effort and gives them the chance to show off like little douches"

For one, I'm not sure where you get the idea that surfers are rich white guys unless of course you're referencing Kelly Slater or or some other professional surfer, out of the millions that there are.

Two, it sucks for you that you really are under the impression that surfing requires no effort. The fact that you probably suck at everything you do, and therefore are lifted up by your team members and you look at is as "oh my god, team effort/determination blah blah bull" doesn't take away that it takes a LOT of talent to surf.

So next time you're throwing your little football around and tackling men wearing tons of padding and calling yourselves "tough" and talented for doing so, please remember that nothing you're doing takes any effort. Try actually surfing, and if you really are able to even stand up and then come back on IMDB and say it doesn't take effort/talent, then you have serious mental issues. Who gives a *beep* if it doesn't require TEAM WORK. You're right, it requires INDIVIDUAL talent, not untalented tools who rely on their team members to make them seem decent at whatever sport they're doing.

reply

[–] krakhouse 11 years ago

I love watching football so I won't get into that.

When Butler's character was out on the ocean mourning the loss of his wife, he mentioned that he loved being out there, staring into the (ocean) abyss, bobbing up and down like a cork. To me it is just a reminder of how small a single soul is against the vastness of nature. Even how short our lives are when compared to the history of man. Years ago, I read Moby Dick & it had a very similar passage. In some ways, deserts and space can have the same effect.

I am not a surfer myself but it is pretty easy to see the spiritual aspects of the sport which in fact make it more than just a sport.

Any man that don't want to get killed better clear out on back.

reply

[–] Zando777 11 years ago

I'm just getting into surfing (Just stood up for the first time a few days ago), but I've been fascinated by it for years.

For starters, I just love the ocean. Being in the ocean just calms me down and relaxes me like nothing else.

Because of that, I've loved bodysurfing for years, and more recently got into bodyboarding. (It's a way to interact with ocean, instead of just sitting in it. And it's a good workout, which I also enjoy.)

Stand-up surfing is simply the most challenging and ultimate expression of the various forms of waveriding. I'll probably mainly do bodyboarding for the rest of my life, especially as I get older, but I'm going to try to become at least a decent stand-up surfer.

Bottom line, surfing combines immersion with the ocean, sunlight, fresh air, intense physical exercise and conditioning (paddling alone's an f'ing bitch), and intense mental focus. It's an excellent solo sport.

reply

[–] terenceulrich 11 years ago

The answer to the initial question:

"Only a surfer knows the feeling"

reply

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] leebrown_1 11 years ago

Respectfuly but directly submitted, maybe because, if you let it be, it IS a spiritual experience. Do you not see the majesty of the ocean and the forces of physics at work, the natural beauty and strength of the ocean? Swimming in it? Let alone riding a wave in it, getting to know it. You go out there and try to to do something like that and see if it doesn't affect you at some level whether you admit it or not.

I've never surfed a day in my life but can appreciate the awesomeness of doing something like that while recognizing the power of nature.

"Daddy! He's killed Steve and he's jamming the door with him!"

reply