everybody knows kelly slater. everybody sees kelly slater winning. not too many people see him losing. why? because kelly rarely loses. for me, i like to watch people lose. i like to see how they react. i like to see how they hold themselves together. winning is simple to be yourself. losing is not. i see guys breaking boards, swearing, fighting, crying, or acting stupid. then i see guys smiling, happy, and holding it in pretty good. kelly has confidence. i took this photo before his semi-final heat. he was supposed to win the pipe masters easily. he wasn’t supposed to lose to joel parkinson in the closing minutes of the semi-final. but he did.
after kelly lost, the whole beach was watching joel parkinson walking up the beach. kelly didn’t paddle in and i kept my eyes on him. i just wanted to try to understand what the heck is going through the 11th time world champions mind. what was he thinking? how was he feeling? i see this guy winning so many times and the only 2 times i saw him lose in person was to andy irons in the finals during the 2006 pipe masters, and the recent 2011 pipe masters. both times, he didn’t want to paddle in. i’m pretty sure he needed that extra time in the water to cool down. champions don’t like to lose and it must hurt to lose and have to come back to the beach to screaming fans wanting your autograph. i kind of felt sorry for kelly. but then again, i’ll bet you he’ll come back next year and win the 2012 pipe masters. Go-Kelly!
