Stories by David Simon

Was Tagovailoa snubbed in Heisman loss to Murray?

For the vast majority of this college football season, the Heisman Trophy race seemed to be all but a formality. Coming off of his stellar and unprecedented showing off the bench in last season’s national championship game, Tua Tagovailoa picked up where he left off and catapulted further into the collective consciousness by leading Alabama to an undefeated season.

Zeke’s World Cup win sets up exciting Pipeline finale

There’s a lot at stake during the year’s final event, which is ideally the way it should always be. The Billabong Pipe Masters opened its waiting period Saturday to determine the 2018 world champion and a Triple Crown champion, as well as the completion of the qualification puzzle. Three men still have world title aspirations, more than that are alive in the Triple Crown hunt and a few nervous surfers need some specific results to hop back on the world tour in 2019.

Final heats on tap, but Sunset approaching max conditions

The Vans World Cup of Surfing has had three consecutive lay days since Saturday’s full slate of action reduced the field to 32 competitors. That leaves just today and Thursday remaining in the waiting period, but a massive swell has entered the North Shore that doesn’t appear to be compatible.

Hurts so good in role reversal for Bama

With all the current reboots in movies and TV shows, we’re getting a lot of the same stories with just some slight variations thrown in. It’s usually not all that exciting because there aren’t many surprises. As viewers, we go in knowing the basic plot and how things will unfold since it’s been done before.

Water, water everywhere: historic stretch doesn’t disappoint

So many different things happened over the past few days that coming up with one encompassing theme is nearly impossible, except to say that Hawaii has been treating the surf world well and the local competitors have stepped up at the most opportune moments.

Huge week of surfing set to begin today

This is going to be a good week for anyone with strong multitasking abilities. A confluence of events has merged to make Monday part of the most action-packed surfing week of the year.

Can Milton, Tagovailoa face off in College Football Playoff?

It’s all about quarterbacks this week. I mean, that’s how it is most weeks, right? The quarterback is always the face that runs the place. It’s been another good week for some of those more familiar faces. After the newest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings came out Tuesday, Central Florida has crept up to No. 9, hoping to possibly moves up further if mayhem ensues within the top six during rivalry week.

Farewell tour includes greatest hits for Parko at Haleiwa

Former world champion Joel Parkinson announced earlier in the year that he would be retiring following this 2018 season. His reasoning for that decision included the notion that he no longer has the desire to put the jersey on. That was not evident on Saturday, as the three-time Triple Crown champion took the early lead on this year’s leaderboard with a high-scoring victory at the Hawaiian Pro in Haleiwa.

Hennessy ahead of schedule, qualifies for 2019 CT

With the conclusion of the Port Stephens Pro in New South Wales, the rookie qualifiers for next season’s Championship Tour have been finalized. Two fresh faces will make their full-time debuts in 2019, one of whom will be Oahu’s Brisa Hennessy.

Hawaiian Pro likely to get green light Monday to begin Triple Crown

It all gets underway on Monday as the 2018 Triple Crown of Surfing opens at Haleiwa with the Hawaiian Pro. It’s the first opportunity for anyone to begin their quest for points in the winter’s most prestigious and anticipated series. Past winners have run the gamut from renowned superstars like Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina, local legends like Sunny Garcia, Andy Irons and Derek Ho, or breakout stars like Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz in 2012 or defending champ Griffin Colapinto.

Oahu’s Jabour overcomes Massin for HIC Pro title at Sunset

As Hawaii’s final competitor, Kiron Jabour came through in the clutch to capture his biggest career result with a win at the HIC Pro. Jabour outlasted a huge field of 112 surfers all looking to perform at Sunset Beach and set themselves up for a Triple Crown spot. In the end, the boy from the North Shore took the title and gave now heads into the prestigious series on a hot streak at waves he knows as well as anyone in the world.

Slater, John John set to make CT returns at Pipe Masters

The HIC Pro, which is the official qualifying event for the Triple Crown of Surfing, has been underway at Sunset Beach over the past few days. The large field is beginning to dwindle and the eliminations have been hazardous for a lot of the more well-known competitors.

HIC Pro ready to kick off at Oahu’s Sunset Beach

A new swell made its way to Hawaii on Saturday and with it brings the start of the winter surf season. Conditions weren’t good enough to kick things off at the HIC Pro, but the waiting period is officially underway as we begin the trek towards the 2018 Triple Crown of Surfing.

Red Sox, Dodgers poised for dramatic World Series clash

In recent years, we haven’t always gotten the two teams that seemed destined for the World Series to actually end up in the Fall Classic. Some of the lower payroll squads or Wild Card darlings have crashed the event as the more likely teams went home earlier than expected.

In Portugal, Medina fails to clinch world surf title

The women’s world championship race was already set to determine a conclusive victor in its final 2018 event here in Hawaii. Now the men will follow suit after Gabriel Medina was unable to clinch his second world title, Saturday at the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.

Peterson lets golden opportunity slip by in France

The Roxy Pro France had all the makings of a defining event for Lakey Peterson, who entered the contest in second place for the season and chasing after six-time world champ Stephanie Gilmore. Gilmore had an opportunity to clinch the title with a victory, but most scenarios would push the race to Maui at season’s end.

Tua exits early but maintains clear Heisman lead

While seemingly rolling to another masterful performance and maintaining front-runner status in the Heisman Trophy race, Tua Tagovailoa exited No. 1 Alabama’s victory over Missouri on Saturday after re-aggravating a right knee sprain.

Hawaii pulls out all stops in memorable victory

With all the shenanigans that went into the build-up for Saturday’s matchup between Hawaii and Wyoming, it’s surely going to be one of those games that head coach Nick Rolovich remembers with a wry smile for a long time to come.