E's Surf Report

1 is fun.

2 is...ok

howdy - headed to Gualala this weekend.

Does anyone have any recommendations re surf there?
ta

Headed to Brittany France in early September. Anyone know what the water temps will be like and what kinda wetsuit I'll need: spring suit, 3/2, 4/3? I'll be in Europe for a month, and I may head to the Basque area, too. Any input on wetsuit needs would be appreciated. Thx.

After looking over the new State Star & CAT 6 tests, I got to say they are much easier than previous years. What a great way to say you inproved test scores. Nice plan Karl Rove... Make the tests easier.

Is this south swell going to have any juice?

If you are going to Gualala, you will be resonably close to ** **. You can check out the *****. Further south, you have ******. A Beach break. Faces, W-NW...friendlier with SE,E winds. South of that, you have ******. Faces SW so its Good for NW wind conditions. Check out ******. You always have manchester state beach too. Look out for the landlords in the grey suits.

Good luck.

sorry, no surf in Gualala.

Article from the Comical this morning - looks like our kids will have bigger swells in the winter, and less heavy winds in Fiji in the summer. proof that God is a joker and a surfer. keep driving those trucks everybody!

Trade winds' slowdown backs warming theory
Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer
Thursday, May 4, 2006

Climate scientists have documented a pronounced slowdown in the Pacific Ocean atmospheric system that drives the trade winds, a prediction of global warming theory that appears to be coming true.

A study released today in the journal Nature suggests that the movement of moisture and heat across the tropical Pacific has tapered off by 3.5 percent since the mid-1800s, when such records begin, and appears likely to ease by another 10 percent this century.

Thanks Mirkodog now I know what places to avoid, cause all the bruddahs will be following your recommendations and paddlin out at those spots
ub

yo e !

nice east coast shots.
the others in that series made me miss the
outer banks....drive on the beach, park at a
peak and HIT it!

france in sept....should be 3/2 no boots
maybe a spring suit and zoomers on the beach!
sweet...

people on the south shore of hawaii report underwhelming juice on this south. Supposedly "hella crowded" and not too many waves. Dude was pretty bummed about it actually.

Gualala is on the coast...by other coast towns.

GO EXPLORE....jesus you people are lazy

Manchester Beach, Schooner Gulch, and Mote Creek all suck; PA will be shitty this weekend. Sorry. You'll have better luck fishing in Gualala River, or diving for abalone.

well, that describes about 95% of south swells.

and what happened to exploring? have to work 80hrs a week to keep health insurance and make rent in this town.

no shit, south swells SUCK. winter all da way, brah

Bush being roasted on TV:
http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=06/05/03/145234

Very funny (in a painful sort of way to Bush) but the press failed to mention it in the news.

J. People with high mileage cars tend to drive more (fact). The net effect is roughly zero.

Thanks mirkdog and others.

I'll take my fishing stuff and mask just in case...

FYI That was some other idiot posting with my name above.

I thought we had grown out of that pathetic childish naming crap? Yeah a whole army of surfers are going to be headed up there now! Grow up and get a life you moron...or get your pathetic arse back to wannasurf or aggroville...

I am thinking about a new board for summer: fish or longboard? I can't decide.

The 2nd photo vortex is awesome.

OK I'm on the hunt again for more beta, hopefully this one will pull together. If anyone has an info (cool places to stay, check- out & surf obviously), good shaper(pretty cheap?) or hookups in South Africa (Cape Town to JBay), I would much appreciate it. Offline @ artifactphoto at yahoo.com many thanks in advance.. I guess the new "drive thru" is pretty sick.

This guy come up to me today and says, he has a friend who is thinking of going down to costa rica or nicaragua and wanted suggestions on buying real estate.

I give the guy a couple websites to check and a general area he want to look around and he is disappointed that I did not spoon feed him where to score great real estate. I tell him, what the fuck, you have to spend time down there and figure shit out. There are shady people who you do not want to buy from and there are locals that you can get good deals from.

Stupid fucking people expect you to tell them all sorts of secrets when you don't even know them.....

i don't believe that, dennis. gas costs little enough (still), and i make enough so that i drive as much as i want to. until the price of gas limits my driving, fuel economy will have no effect on my driving. it will have an effect on my choice of car because i'd rather spend less money than more. that explains why people who drive more might tend to favor higher mileage cars. but you shouldn't read that as meaning that if you give people high mileage cars they'll just drive more. i really, really doubt that the purchasers of big suv's are deciding between the options of lots of economy-mileage driving and just a little gas hog driving. same for sports cars and basically all new cars with low mileage.

waaaa!..I work 80 hrs a week...waaaa...health insurance ...waaa. What does doing a little research and exploring have to do with your rent?
What does that have to do with looking around a little? Do you also want people to remove any large stones that are on the path for you?

Heh. I have a history with real estate investing in Mexico, and you are exactly right, "lazy americans", you gotta go down there and find your deal. Lot's of colorful characters to get involved with. Tell that guy to go buy up land in Nicaragua. In the 1980's, foreign real estate speculators saw all their land seized in a land redistribution program, which was actually sponsored by Uncle Sam. Nice.

Developing world real estate investing is a risk, that's fo sho!

In general how well does the Sonoma, Mendo, and Humbold coasts do on south swells? I mean I can obviously look at a map and find all the south facing beaches, but does the South swells typically die down by the time it gets there?

I am just speaking in general about the north coast and not about any specific spot.

Ankors- You are SOL this weekend. Try the pizza place next to the old hotel. Then rent a canoe, go upriver 1.6 miles from the campground to the best damned swimming holes you'll ever see.

Amigoism - Think Santa Barbara type conditions and plan accordingly.

Mexi - This South Swell will not have any juice for NorCal. May cross up the windswell a bit but will not make much headway up the coast. See Blakestah Archives, rinse and repeat.

Speedracer - Fish or longboard? One of each as conditions dictate the need for both. Two different animals, apples vs. oranges situation.

Artifact - On the beach rentals in j-Bay are available at the local real estate shops. Don't tell them you are a surfer for better service. The stretch of coast you'll be travelling on is one of the of most surf-blessed in the world. EZ and cheap travels. Divert to the wine region near Franschoek stay at the Franschhoek Country House and ask the sommilier to drag something out of the owners wine cellar. Your yankee $$'s will go a long - long way!

Any More Questions?

Dennis, wrong, all major news outlets covered this. Please do your own research before drinking the liberal-only kool-aid.

Good Morning America, Fox News, Today Show, CNN, NPR, they all mentioned it.

Stop the propaganda, those of us who verify these claims make you look pretty uninformed (I'm trying to be nice here).

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-43,GGLG:en&q=bush%20roast&sa=N&tab=wn

All I want is for someone to tell me their opinions on fish v. longboard. I am too lazy to buy both. Please remove the stones in my path.

Kloo - we can't use ourselves as "the" measurement. Actually, I too earn enough to drive all day if I want to. However, I often pass on day trips to exotic places like SC because of the cost-$30 vs return-slightly better waves. I drive a 17 mpg Cherokee. Many (probably most) people live much closer to the financial edge than you and I.

I got nica real estate and am just sitting on it right now. Its in front of really good surf that not many people know about.....

However, once this bullshit development gets built (that i am not a part of) it will be filled with socalers and floridians.

Good real estate advice is to follow the gay community or go where people do not want to go.

Thanks answer man!

Alrightly! I'm paddling up stream for a little deliverance action tomorrow.

Sounds like fun, thanks for the tip.

answer man. where can i find cute, fun-loving single ladies this weekend around town?

I love the first south swells. Longingly scanning the horizon for cordory lines that began a spiral march from an epicenter thousands of miles and a hemishpere away. The majesty as the swell aligns and feels a reef that's been dormant in the confusion of winter, caressing it's fingers, ledge and slab. The smell of the cold upwelling, the mineral and nutrient rich specs of color in the water. The sailors of the wind riding a wave for the last time in thier seasonal death march. The hidden sandbars that light up at no other time of year. I will paitently await for your arrival and long for your crisp caress.

Hey 'you are a claimer' I actually agree with you but the link you sent doesn't really support your claim!

New Brunswick Home News Tribune, NJ
Advertiser 24, UK
TPMCafe, NY
Social Software Weblog, Ca

These are hardly the main stream media. when the best hit for politics is Cnet news, you know you are in trouble.

good morning e
great to see that the vibe has mellowed alot since my last visit to comments
thanks for the cool stories etc...

??? question for the day ???
How many miles per gallon do you get?
I am at 19 mpg all gasoline.

All-gas, 25-30 mpg

27 mpg when I routinely shift between 2200-3000rpm.
24 mpg when I shift at 5500rpm and above.

46 mpg when I drive our Golf TDI.

about the vibe gettin better in the comments. It turns out that about 95% of the horrible vibes were all from the SAME GUY!! Posting under different names. I banned his IP a few weeks back and the vibe has been pretty chill ever since. He sends me angry hate emails but that's about it. enjoy!

that's brillant e! Well done for banning him. amazing the sad bastard devoted his time to bringing others down. He must lead a happy life...

keep up the good work.

meant to post this also

you can find the links to the Bush-Colbert roast on ALL major media sites, if you look, even NY Times and Fox News.

E, please dont block me from posting. I'll do anything to keep my postable status. and I mean ANYTHING. you name it.

ha ha! sounds good Briana. You're kinda hot in a skanky way.. but i generally don't like blonds or fake tits.

speedracer - both.

oh yeah, speedracer. If you are to lazy to buy both then you do not deserve either.

This site would be boring without posters that don't subscribe to the kumbaya surfing style.
But the dude sending you emails is clearly got nothing going on. I know the email box is only a few mous clicks away but putting in that minimal effort when there is a post a comment box on the site just makes that person pathetic for caring so much.
And you guy's are borderline pathetic for letting the posts you don't like bother you as well as censoring them.
It's the internet. Not childbirth or curing cancer.

Speedracer, get a fish, man, Way easier to transport and they are so fucking fun to surf. especially at Kellys.

Speedracer, may a suggest a heavily glassed retro twin fin, fishtail.

i havent smoked out in so long, but i want to so badly.

what would you do for it?

Surf this morning looked super crappy.
Anyone get some? Saw a few guys in the corner not really gettin' much.

Scorpian Bay, I want you NOW!
I agree with the south haters- they always seem to be a let down in SC. Inconsistant, weak, frustrating. Although there's always A-- ----0 and W-----. Buoy says 2 foot at 18 seconds, maybe some push? We'll see...

Sactomex, if you've seen any of my vids or even 30 second film clips on the web, you'll see that there isnt much that i WONT do. name your price.

Flew over Scorpion bay last week. Nice view from the left side of the airplane.

Briana - kind buddha for you

e—next time i see you....i'm buying you
a beer or slipping you a nice phat nug.
thanks for the sherlock holmes work on
the wanker....

wankers suck.

and fanboys.

Sacto, I was one of those kooks there in the corner this morn. I had a frickin' blast, but I also like fat chicks, so take that for what's it's worth.

Thx awnser guy!!!!!

I saw Sting playing his standup bass out on the rocks at Ft. Point the other day. very mellow vibe. that guy rocks my world.

blink blank blunk.

sting sucks. unless you like him

Bell is out of tonight's game.

GO LAKERS!!!

Briana's right there isn't much she won't do -

dubby, remember from yesterday, ceiling cat is watchin you.

sweet, sticker. I'm usually out in the slop myself...just couldn't get it up this morning

also, Paris was soo robbed!

Briana Banks lives in my drawer!

Go Kings!

watching every breath I take? Yikes!!!

Mmmm....folds & tailgates.

This just in, from the Casa Blanca:

is that flopper/whiner Vladi still playing for the Lakers? I hope not, I wish he had stayed in Excremento.

Hard to decide what I would enjoy more:

Nash beating Kobe, or the Clips beating their crosstown rivals.

BTW, maybe with Kwame's recent extracurricular activities, they should rename the franchise from Lakers to Therapists.

Don't forget the space between syllables.

raja is a bitch, crying about his poor "bruised cheek". watch the replays, he never even got hit he just was just flopping all over the place trying to pick up fouls.

go lakes, go clips, go lebron, go shaq, go pretty much everyone... just not the spurs, please.

1:27 post = very sad.
supersize it = expensive medical care at the expense of the rest of us.
living in the land of plenty comes with some responsiblity but not for couch dwellers.

BBR, if you don't see Kobe foul on nearly every play, you just ain't watching.

Ever wonder why the US has sucked in international tournaments?

After getting over their awe of the Dream Team, International refs went back to calling fouls regardless of star power.

sure kobe fouls a lot, but that's not my point. the play where raja supposedly hurt his cheek was a flop and he's a punk for whining about it.

"go pretty much everyone... just not the spurs, please." HOT!!

Sorry, I didn't see that play. Missed the throwdown too.

I did see Kobe's charge on Nash at the end of Game Three though that was shown over and over on SportsCenter. Of course as a great Dunk by Kobe.

Nevermind that Nash had his feet set outside the arc and Kobe rolled him.

Just not as exciting a play, so let's not call the foul.

I guess there is a reason that I now only watch the NBA against my better Judgement.

That and the fact that the Warriors are my home team.

Go Alonso!

hello.
Kobe is a rapist.
Someone should have put this pompouse idiot in a choke hold a long time ago and not let go. People boo Bonds but defend this sex offender? If I guarded the guy I'd get a little emotional too, maybe lay him one on the chopper or put him in a sleeper hold.

Pray Nash can pull it off.

Kobe is innocent until proven guilty. That Ho went into his room, took her clothes off and showed him her axe wound, all under her own free will. she admitted to giving him oral and them bending over in front of him with her skirt hiked up, then she dropped charges. Sorry.

As for Bonds, that fat drug abuser deserves to be booed. Baseball is a pathetic "sport" as it is, but that arrogant and pompous whiner needs to admit his drug habit and let the 'clean' records stand.

that being said, who is leading the pack in world cup contention?

Taking away Bond's records is like taking away Ruth's records cause he didn't face black pitchers.

I read that in Rolling Stone. Thought it worth passing along.

Kobe is guilty of being a Dick regardless of what happened in Denver.

That has been well documented.

See what happens when the surf season winds down.

longboard/fish question: i think it depends on where you surf most of the time, but I would say if you don't own a longboard, you should buy a longboard before buying a fish. a longboard you can have fun on in surf that is absolutely unridable on any other board, plus it's an interesting new style of surfing to play with/learn (fish too, but just not as new and different). but a fish would probably be a lot cheaper and they are much easier to lug around. most surfers should have longboard in their quiver though, unless your totally not interested in even going near the water unless the waves have "juice" and all you surf is ocean beach and then you don't really need a longboard. longboarding small surf can be fun imho. my rambling answer.

and Bond's isnt guilty of being a Dick? gimme a break.

that was me rambling above

just received an e mail from henry morales at wavehunter. he's pimpin good deals on a trip to las flores, el salvador...check it out

I didn't say Bonds wasn't a Dick.

I just don't give a shit about Baseball.

How about the Stanley Cup eh? Manny Lagace is a hoser. Sharks over Oilers in 6 games in the Western conference semis

man, that wave above looks soooo fun.

what a great cigarette promotion! in addition to the usual fanboy enthusiasm.

nobody faces black pitchers dude...

More info on the South Swell...

Thus here website is broked.

"A little weak in affriming your purity and entitlement supremacy. Your consistency keeps the base fans happy."
"Certainley not you best effort. Overall 2 out of 4 stars."

u a F1 fan 3-5?

Story Time:

My tooth hurt like hell and was still quite loose as we pounded over the sand berms looking for a campsite behind the rocks north of Catavina. I had tried salt and whiskey, lemon and tequila, beer and asprin; nothing was going to get rid of the pain. "Should we make a run for the big clinic in Guerrero Negro?" I asked the dog. I received no reply but a long yawn.
Yeah it was getting late and my damned tooth hurt. I built a small two stick 'squaw fire', better to not be seen from the highway in the chilly, clear winter night, and started mindlessly nudging that damned tooth with a pretzel stick. In a fitful moment the thing popped out!

Nice work and on with the trip!
Except the blood. Damned bleeding wouldn't stop. So I went back to the lemon and tequila, added in some salt, but no luck. It looked like I was going to bleed to death the old fashioned way so I packed it up and rolled into Catavina with a hope that the 'painless' gringo dentist was still living in his CamperVan up at the Santa Ynez Campground. “He is out of town”, that according to the kid sucking gas out of a 55 gallon drum at the old Pemex station, “but his assistant was close”.
The ‘assistant’ was up late working on his truck under a 12 watt clear light bulb behind a nearby shack. How desperate is this I thought, as he wiped most of the grease from his hands and set to work. The procedure was painless, thanks to the last dollop of whiskey and the professional touch of ‘the assistant’. Even more educational was the amazing ability of the people of Baja to come up with new uses for ordinary things. Flat tire in Baja? Reach for the tire plugs, loose tooth and too much blood? Same remedy!
Viva Baja!

Mendo and humbolt do fairly well with south swells. Think about it, when swells travel THOUSANDS of miles across the ocean, whats another 200? Ans. Not much. Now the winds, thats another story.

I used to work with that Linux dude back at SGI. He used to stage microsoft protests. He ended up leaving when our manager pushed microsoft exchange servers on him. He wasn't having it.

About 2 months ago when I was traveling down Baja to Mulege, I was heading to get gas and a few tamales at Jesus-Maria and some guy tried to steal my freakin'snickers bar. I refused and he shot me 13 times in the back and four times in the head. It was scary since I'm allergic to gunshot wounds!

wow, small internet..

awesome, you lived to tell the tale!

Fish! Longboards are too hard to carry.

E, nice detective work. I prefer the site this way-can't believe it was the same guy...

Henry and Luis have SOLD OUT Las Flores. What a joke. check that "availability" section, each week = room for 20+ surfers crammed into one point.

those rights are good, but to go all that way and surf with 19 other guys would SUCK.

Glad I got it before they built "The Club"

Wavehunters should rename itself to "WaveRapers".
Total opposite of what that Save the Waves group is supposedly doing...

i'm going to mexico/Rosarita with twenty guys for a bachelor party. If I don't make it back, you can have any threads I would have posted here.

dang, i commited to a trip with those guys through my friends from down south..thats what i get for being a lazy american i guess..oh well..i had my worries

that las flores resort looks sweet to me. 16 surfers total is what they advertise and not everyone will be out at the same time and they have three boats and they are a new resort so they will likely be working hard to please and spread the good word. plus, chances are people will be cool to each other since they are all staying there together, have to hang out at night. i know i'd get mine anyway, if i went. but i could not afford it. feral only for me and mine. my son's gonna learn that you can live on tortillas and peanut butter for days on end.

and i will keep in mind that a tire plug does the job for bloody gaps in the mouth.

next time try ice, cold clots blood.
guilty ankors, i'm an f1 fan boy. i've got a thing for parabolic curves and foils built with composite materials.

e, your story today was freakin awesome!!! i love them

Onion lovers rejoice:
http://video.freevideoblog.com/video/03334E22-0C47-49BB-98A4-C9F82A0EF460.htm

Speedracer,

It's a personal thing but I'd get the longboard. Walker foam, redwood stringers, right around 10', pinched rails, rolled bottom, plenty of tail rocker, double Volan cloth and heavy glass. I've got a couple of thin, pulled in pintails that of course work great in point surf but get comfortably stuffed into our booming beach break on a regular basis. And get it made for you. Check out http://www.huntcustoms.com/, http://www.cooperfishsurfboards.com/ or http://www.lancecarson.com/index2.htm. If you happen to talk to Lance, tell him to get busy with that twin fin we talked about.

Wavehunters seems pricey. But I guess you pay for convenience? Not trying to sound like a snob in the least way, but it can be done for a lot cheaper, imho.

PS funny story about El Salvador: Some Punta Mango guys showed up at a point I was staying at, and acted as if they owned the spot (including the 3 gringo's from LA with them.) When I got out of the water I saw they had a flat tire on their van/truck thing. I asked two of the locals who basically run the point who did it, and they just started laughing hysterically and shrugged their shoulders. They said it wasn't the first time it has happened.

E, sick words today!

.

Anyone else been surfing w/whales lately? Got out of the water this am and there were tails and spouts right where I'd been floating. Very close in. Pretty cool, as long as I don't turn into Whalerider.

Instead of a longboard or a fish, how about an Uli? Best of both worlds, I'm sure.

i cannot carry a longboard around without dinging it three or four times per minute.

Once when I drove from San Diego to Cabo, I got stuck behind two Mexican guys driving around in a 2 wheel drive Toyota Tacoma short bed truck with a huge dairy cow literally tied up to the tail gate with just a single piece of rope.The rear bumper was dragging so low to the ground I swear there were sparks coming up every time they hit a pot hole or bump! (not to mention the driver is only doing like 60 miles m.p.h.)mexico is not too serious of a place.

$5.00 a gallon..bring it on! Then people like me who worked their ass off for 20yrs will be able to travel the coast and get waves w/out all the whiny riff-raff: I have to work so hard to afford my health Ins. etc........

you worked 20 hard years just to save up and afford $5/gal gas? hate to break it to you, it was a lot less crowded 20 years ago and you were 20 years younger.

Carying a dairy cow in the back of a truck? Don't they have like, Whole Foods down there? The less fortunate can be soooo silly sometimes!

once, on a December trip to the wall, we headed off in a VW jetta. Three of us. Fishing poles, surfboards, tents, food. The driver owned the Jetta. He enjoyed drinking and driving. But only in Baja, he said it went well with the highway there. So, we all drank. Big bottles of Tecate. Every 30 minutes or so we pulled over, traded in the old bottles, and bought new ones. At one stop we even said hi to a cop (two of us spoke spanish) in the store, he didn't even blink when we got back into the car.

Pretty soon we were TRASHED. The driver was swerving all over the road, and us two passengers started to think that maybe NOT driving would be better. So, we pulled off the road. Rolled out the sleeping bags, and crashed out.

At 5 AM we awoke. Freezing cold. There was frost on our faces, and we woke to big rigs barrelling down the highway about 10 feet from our faces. It can be cold in the desert in December.

A few hours later we rolled into flat rosallillita, then headed a few miles north of there to camp for the week. No swells hit. We got marginal surf every day, and made HUGE campfires from dead cacti. Didn't see anyone else the whole week.

Got back to the US after a nite of debauchery in Ensenada, and found a baseball sized dent in the gas tank of the Jetta. The road to rosallillita had big rocks on it, we lucked out.

Going to Gualala? Just paddle out at the river mouth. All to yourself.

forsty h. is that you?

shit i can't type. Frosty H, is that you?

Any sign of the Great South Swell???

By Skip Bayless
Page 2

This series was over. It appeared that was what the league office wanted. What the refs wanted. What Kobe Bryant had willed.

No Raja Bell for Phoenix. No hope for the Suns.

Clear the Staples stage for L.A. vs. L.A., Lakers vs. Clippers, Jack Nicholson vs. Billy Crystal. Go ahead, Kobe, dismiss the Suns in Thursday night's close-out Game 6 the way you dissed "that kid" Raja in a Wednesday interview.

Kobe sniffed and said, "I don't even know that kid."

No? The "kid" who's two years older than you? The "kid" who had made you work harder for your points than any defender all season, including Ron Artest? The "kid" who, ironically, had made you start involving your teammates, which finally allowed you to go Steve Nash and boast that the Lakers are finally a team.

Oh, the royal-purple irony.

We should have known from Wednesday's rather childish "who-the-heck-is-he" reaction that the new Kobe was about to turn back into the old one. You know, the one Raja Bell called an "arrogant, pompous individual." The one who thinks he can outscore Phoenix by himself.

The one who fell ego-first into the Suns' trap on Thursday night at Staples Center. Kobe Bryant scored a career playoff high 50 points. The Lakers lost in overtime 126-118.

Justice prevailed.

I must admit, it has been a long time since I rooted harder for a team than I rooted for Nash's.

"We did this for Raja," Nash told TNT when it was over, knowing full well that the suspended Bell was watching on TV. Nash ended the interview with, "All right, Rah Rah."

Guess who'll be waiting Saturday in Phoenix for Kobe? Guess who'll be rested and revved for revenge? That kid.

Can't wait.

Remember the scene in "Caddyshack" in which Danny Noonan is running things until caddymaster Lou gets back, so Noonan is locked safely behind the screened-in counter of Lou's office? Noonan is mouthing off to tough-guy D'Annunzio because he's protected by the screen.

But Lou unexpectedly returns and shoos Noonan out of the office ... where D'Annunzio is waiting with fists clenched.

That's going to be Raja in Saturday's Game 7. That's Kobe Noonan.

And Kobe thought he wouldn't have to deal with "that kid" until next season.

"A monumental upset," Lakers coach Phil Jackson called Game 6, "...we had it all done except crossing the t."

Could that have been "T" as in all the technical fouls that weren't called on the Lakers in the first five games? If you hadn't known better, you would have suspected that the league office had suggested to refs that they, uh, maximize the chances of the series everyone wants to see -- Kobe's team vs. L.A.'s basketball stepchildren, the Clippers.

So, for five games, the refs allowed Kobe's team to get away with almost as much thuggery as Tony Soprano's crew. The new Kobe got away with throwing cheap-shot elbows and constantly taunting Bell.

Yes, the refs watch "SportsCenter" and they're quite aware that the tougher new Kobe -- Phil's Kobe -- has had a sensational season and that the Suns can be softer than old Kobe, who had no more street cred than Barney Fife.

But should that even subliminally sway the refs? Should they have looked the other way while the Lakers flat-out stole last Sunday's Game 4 to take what appeared to be an insurmountable 3-1 lead?

No, Nash isn't Kobe. He wouldn't have a prayer against Kobe in a game of one-on-one. And he'll never be the tabloid or TV draw that Kobe is.

But he's about to be the NBA MVP for a second straight season, and he deserved a little more respect from the refs than, say, Smush Parker or Kwame Brown or Luke Walton got in Game 4. They're Kobe's teammates.

Kwame got away with knocking down Nash's teammate, Boris Diaw, and standing over Diaw with, as Nash said, his crotch in Diaw's face. No fine, no suspension, no nuthin'.

Then, near the end of regulation, as the Suns struggled to inbound the ball near midcourt, Nash had to dash for the sideline and try to outfight Parker for a desperate pass. MVPs almost always get the foul call there. Nash didn't.

Parker stole it. And Kobe sent the game into overtime by making the most difficult 3-footer you'll ever see -- a running baseline floater.

But the Suns had just enough time to create one last shot off an inbounds lob from inside midcourt. James Jones fooled the Lakers defense and broke free down the lane for what looked like would be a game-winning dunk. But Walton reached out and yanked the back of Jones' jersey, breaking his momentum and throwing off the timing of his jump. Play aborted.

Robbery.

That foul had to be called. That same jersey-grabbing, game-deciding foul was called on the Nets' Nenad Krstic, at New Jersey, and it cost the Nets Game 1 against Indiana.

Please don't tell me none of the three refs saw Walton's grab.

And please, please, don't tell me that I actually heard analyst after national analyst criticize Nash for "dribbling into trouble" with a one-point lead with under 10 seconds left in overtime.

Obviously, Nash dribbled past half court and immediately covered up because he had absolutely no intention of passing to a teammate. Obviously, he wanted to be fouled! He wanted to shoot the free throws that could give his team a three-point lead! He led the NBA in free-throw percentage! He's the two-time MVP!

And guess what? The Lakers had no choice but to foul Nash. Walton and Lamar Odom were trying to body-foul Nash -- and it was up to referee Bennett Salvatore to anticipate that.

But Salvatore let 'em play, let them mug Nash. When Nash realized he wasn't getting the routine foul call, he tried to yell for timeout. So did Diaw. But Salvatore wasn't listening.

Salvatore allowed Walton enough time to reach in and begin wrestling for the ball with Nash. Tweet! "Jump ball," Salvatore called.

At that split second, Walton's foot appeared to be on the out-of-bounds line. But none of the three refs saw that, either. Yes, Walton was allowed a center jump against Nash, which Walton easily won.

Commissioner David Stern said the other day that his refs are wrong only about 5 percent of the time. On that play, they were 300 per cent wrong. No foul. No timeout. No out of bounds. Outrageous.

And of course, Kobe retrieved Walton's tap and almost routinely made the jumper that won the game. That clinched it for many people -- Kobe should have been MVP.

Or maybe not.

On Thursday night, Kobe forced up a potential game-winner over Shawn Marion that hit nothing but floor. Air ball.

Kobe forced up a lot of shots -- and he made a lot of those. He went 20-of-35. But without Raja hounding him, Kobe figured he could score over Leandro Barbosa any and every time. He shot too quickly and too often. He was too careless with the ball, committing seven turnovers. He had only five assists. He failed to control the tempo the way he had in the three Laker wins.

Too-cool Kobe got in a run-and-gun game with Nash's team, and predictably, Nash beat him. Nash had 32 points and 13 assists, with only three turnovers. Five of Nash's teammates scored in double figures.

MVP! MVP!

Justice.

In Game 5 in Phoenix, the refs let Kobe get away with twice elbowing Bell in the face. And the league office took away the Suns' most valuable defender -- their only defender -- for one game because Bell finally stood his ground and showed the Lakers he wouldn't take it any more.

Bell yanked down Kobe by the neck. He didn't elbow him or punch him in the face. He slung him down. Kobe was not hurt.

No way should Bell have been suspended -- not in the bully-ball context of this series. Bring on the Clippers? No, maybe the league office inadvertently did the Suns a favor.

It inspired them.

Raja D'Annunzio is waiting.

flip side from bill simmons:

"Which reminds me, if Kobe doesn't completely eviscerate Bell in Game 7, everyone on the planet is banned from making any more Kobe-MJ comparisons. We all know that MJ would have dropped 55 on Bell, shut down Nash on the other end and disemboweled D'Antoni for good measure. Kobe, if you're going to steal MJ's fist clench/shake from Game 1 of the 1998 Finals without asking, you need to take this all the way. You cannot lose Game 7. You can't. Even if you're playing 4-on-5 and Jax keeps refusing to play Vujacic."

Save the long ass off topic posts. I read the sports page when I was dropping a deuce this morning. If you can't help it at least give us an onion dude. The NBA is weak anyway, why do you care?

How about this for a topic: justify your interest in your favorite professional sport - what do you get out of it, in return for your credulous attention to consumer products, and is it worth it when you really think about it?

wavehunters == waverapers.

if you show up in a surfguide/camp boat at a known and populated central american point break you go to the end of the lineup, period, end of story.

if there are any locals out you will get nothing but scraps, if that, in return for your $$$$ cash outlay to some asshole expat, probably from florida, who is there to exploit the local land.

don't even bother with wavehunters, in particular, in that region of the world. just don't. it isn't worth it, you'll get screwed. i've not done it myself, but i've watched it happen so many times, from the lineup and the shore. wh boat pulls up, drops off a bunch of pasty white guys who paid waverapers or some similar company off, and they proceed to get nothing but scraps.

9 out of 10 guys who come back from guided trips in centro, raving about how they scored, are lying to cover up their own stupidity.

don't do it.

buy a map, learn some spanish, and rent a fucking 4x4 instead.

i did not start the nba thing here, the peanut gallery was chirping about raja bell and kobe bryant. and unless you, like me, got suckered into forking over for an espn insider subscription, you didn't have access to that stuff this morning while you were dropping the daily log :)

I agree with Anon's last post, I witnesses one Florida camp bring 4 extendo vans full of people to a lineup once, I counted 32 heads come out of the van... I was freaking pissed.... I couldn'e believe how nice the locs were about it, they just got out and left without saying a word. Before the vans got there there were 11 of us surfing...

Jack johnson music is koolll mon