Bobby Martinez is no stranger to controversy.  In the last two years, Martinez first left his surfboard sponsor Channel Islands because of what he called “equipment needs” (more on that below), then left his clothing sponsor, Reef, citing a lack of support and poor treatment.  While Martinez called his split with Channel Islands amicable, he made no secret that he was extremely unhappy with the way Reef treated him, to the point where Martinez left his contract with two years remaining.  Martinez now has a new clothing sponsor, recently signing with O’Neill, and says he’s very happy with his new surfboard sponsor, DHD.  There remains plenty that Martinez is unhappy about, and he revealed these things in a very candid fashion with ESPN’s sh*tty surfing website.

Shifting gears for just a second, we’ve levied our fair share of criticism towards ESPN’s surfing page.  The website stinks to high heavens, but it does have its bright spots.  And those bright spots always come from their lead correspondent, Jon Coen, who conducted the recent interview with Bobby Martinez.  The sh*tty stuff almost always seems to come from their pudgy, bloated, double-chinned blonde whale Jake Howard.  Nothing that fat f*ck writes stokes thought, conversation, or insight.  To top it off, Fat Boy Howard is so insecure of both his looks and his writing that he had his profile pic changed so it doesn’t look like he has three chins, and he had innocuous comments written by one of our former writers, Pirate Salsa, deleted by ESPN’s moderators because fat f*ck Jake Howard has thin skin.  This is all very true; ESPN’s surfing site promotes censorship.  I digress, back to the story at hand.

Martinez held nothing back in his interview with Coen, and dropped some critical bombs toward a lot of his current and former colleagues.

Martinez on Kelly Slater’s legacy, and whether Slater should retire: “I don't know and I don't care. I just hate how he says he's not doing the tour and then he does the whole year. Obviously, he loves the spotlight, but to me I don't care what he does.”

Martinez on Kelly Slater’s quiver: “He's only riding fishes because he can't get a good shortboard. That's why I left Channel Islands.”

Martinez’s thoughts on a rival surfing tour: “I know the surfers as a whole. All it comes down to is money. No one cares what tour they're on, just as long as they can make the most money as possible before they retire. That's it, in black and white. We have these meeting on the ASP tour with all the surfers. When this Rebel Tour came up, the only thing that mattered was the money. Everyone wanted to go to this Rebel Tour because they were saying that last place earnings were the same as first in an ASP event. So if anyone wants the best surfers in the world to compete on one tour, all they have to do is put a lot more money for prize winnings and [the surfers] will all jump onboard. That's the truth. I'll go with them too if I get an invite.”

Martinez on the ASP’s changes in 2010: “…it's the dumbest thing surfing has ever done. People are tripping, trying to think that if it's a one-ranking system, the sport will grow…I think of it like this: Unless you surf, you're not going to give a s--t about surfing. No one cares how many off the lips you do to win a contest. The only people who care are the surfing fans and the diehard surfers. Other than that, people don't care. It looks boring unless it's the Eddie. With an event like that, people can be in awe of the big waves, but they're not into the number of maneuvers it takes to win at Snapper Rocks. It's just the fact. I've watched surfing with people from where I grew up -- people who don't surf at all. They ask me, "Why does everyone do the same thing?" That's just what it looks like when people don't know about surfing and don't care to know about it. They think this one-tier system will make more people watch surfing, but it's not going to do a damn thing except confuse people about how the rating system works…And if you'd asked a bunch of surfers what they really think they will say the one-ranking system is bulls--t. At least that's what a lot of them have said to me!”

Martinez on his new clothing sponsor, O’Neill: “It's the first real surf company I've ever been with, and it feels good to have a great support team of people.”

There you have it.  In one brief interview, Bobby Martinez found a way to throw digs at Kelly Slater, Channel Islands, Reef and the ASP.  Can’t say it isn’t entertaining.  And it’ll make the upcoming 2010 ASP World Tour all the more interesting to watch.