Phillip Soven Moby Dick 7 in contest pass
 

I just saw this, blows my mind, Soven sticks a Moby 7 in his contest pass!

Seriously why is Soven so underrated? Hes the the greatest technical rider ever I believe, although Harley will prob end up with that title at some point. Yet Soven doesnt really seem to get the respect he deserves?


http://www.iwake.com/Video/534

IMHO it has to do with his personality. I think he is all business and takes his craft very serious which leaves a lot of people rubbed the wrong way when they see him in person or even on film. I also remember something about when he first came up he would take his best competitors run and do it better than that rider because he either could not compile his on runs or just wanted to show someone up. Personally think he is a great rider and is built for the competitions more so than a expression free ride session.

Bingo.

Probably the only genuine line from wakebrothers was when he said "What you call freeriding, I call practicing at home". That's how he treats his job/this sport. Maybe he's getting older/mature? Gotta mortgage, gotta make sponsors happy, gotta keep winning to live the lifestyle he has. He doesn't have giant hair to stand out, he isn't covered in sleeve tattoos, he lets his riding speak for itself. That's hard to find in our sport these days.

I'm not the biggest fan of the "bro-manufacturer" but I will continue to give this guy props for pushing the sport. That was sick Phil!

I'd say it's worked out pretty well for him. He's obviously doing something right.

I'm not sure what you mean by under rated. He's rated number 1, and shares a spot with Harley as the most technical rider in the world.

I think he means he doesn't have all of the hype that some of the other riders have now. Seems like if you didn't look at the point standings, you might forget about him. That's what I thought he meant at least.

Because Alliance told me that a rider is only cool if they do grabbed BS 180s and don't care about contests that aren't pulled by a System 2.0...

I am sure this is the case, but the one experience i had with Phil he was super nice. He broke his board at the Malibu Open, and a guy asked him for it. Phil told him he needed to keep it for the podium, but would give it to him after. he went out of his way to locate the guy after the podium and give him the board. i stopped him and talked for a bit, he seemed really cool and down to earth.

I agree with Adam, tech isn't cool because it doesn't make a good magazine photo? but I like a mid mobe picture once in a while.

I also agree with Joe, Phil is cool in person but he can be a little off putting because it usaually seams like he is either focused on the contest or feels a little uncomforatble with the attention.

I'd watch him ride next to anyone else anytime.

He treats wakeboarding as a professional career instead of a sport. He's in it to make money and win while the other riders are in it because they love it, nothing wrong with wanting to make more money than your competition!

BTW thats an awesome strategy for competitions. Why risk doing a different run and getting lower points on different tricks when you know if you take what the competition is doing and one up it with another 180 or grab that you'll score higher?

^That's how progression happens. It's also possible that he's a quiet guy and doesn't like all of the attention. Just because someone doesn't have a flaming red fro or mohawk and has crazy antics doesn't mean they're super serious or not a jokester, they just don't flaunt it - leave me alone I want to chill with my friends and relax type of guy

OH, and that mobe dick 7 was HAWWWWWWT. Damn guys are blowing it up lately!

I know that was in a comp. but how does that compare, difficulty wise to J.B O'Neill's Big Worm 7?

A Moby 7 is FAR more technical than a Big Worm 7, which doesn't even require a handle pass.

People love to hate Phil because he's uber-competitive and not as "chill" as other riders who pretend not to care about contests and play it off when they lose.

That said, I really respect his dedication to his craft. Phil has been training his ass off to be the best in the world since he was a little kid. And now that he's rich and famous, he isn't sitting back and living off his past accomplishments. He's committing himself to do whatever it takes to stay on top.

Every year, freakish new talents come up through the ranks to challenge his dominance, and it seems like most people write him off and say his time is up. But when it's all said and done, Phil's still on top. It's mind-blowing to me that he can even compete with Harley. Harley should be dominating, but Phil has stepped his game up with tricks like that moby 7 to keep up.

No matter the boat, no matter the contest, no matter the situation, Phil gets it done when it's all on the line. That kind of mental toughness deserves respect.

guess I should have been more clear, by underrated, I meant he doesn't seem to get much props for what he does on the water compared to Harley who is a similar amazing technical rider. Sovens been killing it for years now and to my mind the only one who can and does match Harley on his best day. Also you almost never hear Sovens name in GOAT polls, despite his many, many achievements on the water, and possibly the best comp rider of all time until now.

I think, and ive heard many other people say it as well, that phils riding is very machine like. He does the same tricks over and over and over. There was a thread a while back on here that compared phils 2008 tour pass run and his 2012 tour pass and there was little difference in his run. Another thing I have noticed is that phil's big hammers are both tantrum based whirly dick and moby dick 7. I am not taking anything away from the amazing technicality of those tricks, however I would like to see more variety in a tour pass rather than two tricks that are based on the same spin. They use to say back in the day parks would watch his competitors run at pro tour and when it his time to ride, he would try and add as many tricks that no one else had done into his pass. That is way cool to me, displaying the variety of tricks you can do compared to other is cooler than just 1uping everyone else IMO

Phil's riding is definitely machinistic. That's the way he likes it. He has made himself into a machine because machines don't make mistakes.

I think another point to add to the little coverage of a new contest landed trick would be due to the fact that he isn't sponsored by MC. They blow up Facebook, Twitter, you name it, when something new is landed behind their product by one of their riders. Not that this is a bad thing, its just that we hear about it without particularly looking for it.

^^^i def notice Nautique & MC have more of a social media presence. If he didnt have a malibu sticker on his board, I think alot of people wouldnt know he rode for them. MC & Liquid Force market the hell out of Harley and it works reaching out to a bigger audience.

unless you follow the PWT, you wouldnt know much about Phil.

Personally, I think Phil got screwed at Acworth, but that's a whole different argument.

screwed
 

ok how did phil get screwed, what do you think was the difference between phil and harleys run, would be interested to know

Haha this just turned awesome! Bill...congrats to Harley and your family! Kid is amazing

hahahahahaha awesome!

I don't think Phil's run was better than Harley's. I think it was better than Rusty's. Phil shoulda gotten 2nd in my opinion. But judging is judging.

all is good
 

all good, thehebrewhammer, i was actually thinking of the first stop, i dont have any issue with you at all buddy, just curious to know different peoples opinions. As i have said before harley cant win every contest. The competition between Phil and harley is so good for the sport. Both are amazing riders and have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Great to see the level of riding that is going on not only by Phil and Harley but by everybody else.!!!!!!!

I met Phil a few times at the Co Springs stops and both stops I talked to the guy for 10 minutes during the contest. He's one of the nicest down to earth guys you'll meet. Does he take his riding serious, absolutely but he's a pro so I would hope so. I also talked to Bob and Wayne and they are just as easy going as Phil. You couldn't ask for a better family to represent our sport on MTV.