Ward faces long road back
The surfer, through his lawyers, says he is sorry for the negative publicity his arrest has caused.

Pro surfer Chris Ward wants the world to know he's serious and breaking his silence via his lawyers about his felony assault case.

Ward withdrew from the opening event of the 2008 ASP World Tour last week due to his continuing legal problems and Friday released his first official statement on the case. The 29-year-old San Clemente pro surfer is facing three felony counts of assault after allegedly punching three women outside a bar in Mammoth Lakes in the early morning hours of Jan. 8.

While not admitting guilt, the statement is designed to assure the ASP, sponsors and the public that Ward has "regret" and "is taking the situation very seriously." And it appears to be backed up by his actions.

Ward was present at his arraignment last week despite a major snow storm that shut down the Mammoth area and Highway 395. A pre-trial hearing has been set for March 3.

His spot in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast event Feb. 23 will be taken by Australian surfer Nic Muscroft. Meanwhile, Ward has entered alcohol rehabilitation and anger management programs.

The statement, issued by Ward's lawyers, said the surfer wished "to apologize to the ASP, his sponsors, his friends and his family for being involved in the recent incident in Mammoth Lakes, and for the negative publicity the incident has generated to the sport and to the tour.

"Mr. Ward is hopeful that this matter will be resolved favorably for all concerned, and hopes that all involved are recovering from any injuries which they may have suffered."

ASP will withhold any action until the court case is resolved. Ward's sponsor, Lost Clothing, is doing the same. But ASP Rules & Disciplinary Committee Chair Robert Gerard made it clear the pressure he is under. "There has been a trend in surfing that has brought attention to athlete issues and one of my missions is to insure that pro surfing does not get the image of a 'bad boy' sport," he said. "Whether athletes like it or not, we all grow up idolizing our sports heroes and that is a tremendous responsibility."

The most likely scenario for Ward is pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges, which might get him a suspended sentence involving community service. But that doesn't likely resolve the incident.A civil case may follow and there's dealing with the ASP. He's almost certain to face a $5,000 fine plus some level of restitution. Even if he misses just two events this season, Ward will have to give the best performance of his career to return to the World Tour next season.

(Orange County Register Feb 12, 2008)

so what's the motto..............
don't get shitfaced and punch girls..!!??
i think that's the motto

All depends on who hit first as far as I'm concerned. You hit me with a fist, best get prepared for a fist in return. That's pretty much the California way.

Nanuq skrev:
All depends on who hit first as far as I'm concerned. You hit me with a fist, best get prepared for a fist in return. That's pretty much the California way.

you hit me with a fist, ill sue your ass!
you say something i dont like to me, ill sue your ass!
you look at me the wrong way, ill sue your ass!

THATS the american way!

Telll ya what - if I even THOUGHT of hitting my wonam she would beat the crap out of me!!

Which is the way it should be!

which even goes for small children, dogs, cats etc - but I don't dare use those in the same sentence as women for fear of reprisals!!

You hit me with a fist, best get prepared for me going home to my crib and write down some pretty heavy shit on some random internet forum . That's pretty much the Svedala way.

Castorn skrev:
You hit me with a fist, best get prepared for me going home to my crib and write down some pretty heavy shit on some random internet forum . That's pretty much the Svedala way.



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, så jävla korrekt!

Kman skrev:
Nanuq skrev:
All depends on who hit first as far as I'm concerned. You hit me with a fist, best get prepared for a fist in return. That's pretty much the California way.

you hit me with a fist, ill sue your ass!
you say something i dont like to me, ill sue your ass!
you look at me the wrong way, ill sue your ass!

THATS the american way!

Yeah, that only works if the person who hit you has money. Otherwise, it's really not worth it to sue someone. Better they spend time in the pen unless you think they'll come back afterwards to finish the job for good. In which case, it's probably best not to press any charges at all.

Castorn skrev:
You hit me with a fist, best get prepared for me going home to my crib and write down some pretty heavy shit on some random internet forum . That's pretty much the Svedala way.



Does that make you proud? Don't you feel you should stand up for yourself and/or your beliefs no matter what the odds?

Ok let´s seeWell I was kind of trying to be ironic/funny or whatever and describing a general characteristic of the swedish mentality. And that would be conflict avoidance behaviour. Like if somebody is really anoid by a neighbour, he or she immediately call the "störningsjour" or write an insändare in the local newspaper instead of first, in a calm way, telling the neighbour whats bothering them.

My personal philosphy would be something like "violence feeds violence" and in the first place I try to avoid aggresive stupied people as long as possible. But I do have some problems with that since I have a big mouth which I have trouble to keep closed sometimes when some dickhead says something stupied to me or a friend. But I kind of have that under controll now and try to "chose" my battles. Meaning that I try to judge if a situation is worth arguing about or possible get into a dangerous situation for.

I would say I´m way more likely getting into a fight standing up and defending a friend than myself. Some people are drawn to fights like flies to a dump of shit. I see no point in me getting my head bashed in or possible bash somebody elses head in for defending my "honour" and pride against some drunk idiot as it often is. To me fighting, most of the time, is a childish beahaviour that insecure people use to impress their friends/girls, and ignorant people use when they are out of arguments. But in the end if I feel that my or a friends life is threatened and the only way is to fight back, I would probably do what ever it takes to defend myself no matter what the odds. Hopefully that will never happen. Being hit in the face by a fist isn´t necessarily life threatening...

Does that answer your question?

Has BOS gone soft?

I plead temporary insanity!

I´m a blue belt disciple of the ancient martial art of Shotokan Karate. So of course I would beat the living crap out of anyone that even looks my way.

Castorn skrev:
I plead temporary insanity!

I´m a blue belt disciple of the ancient martial art of Shotokan Karate. So of course I would beat the living crap out of anyone that even looks my way.

Castorn is BOS security.

Castorn skrev:
Ok let´s seeWell I was kind of trying to be ironic/funny or whatever and describing a general characteristic of the swedish mentality. And that would be conflict avoidance behaviour. Like if somebody is really anoid by a neighbour, he or she immediately call the "störningsjour" or write an insändare in the local newspaper instead of first, in a calm way, telling the neighbour whats bothering them.

My personal philosphy would be something like "violence feeds violence" and in the first place I try to avoid aggresive stupied people as long as possible. But I do have some problems with that since I have a big mouth which I have trouble to keep closed sometimes when some dickhead says something stupied to me or a friend. But I kind of have that under controll now and try to "chose" my battles. Meaning that I try to judge if a situation is worth arguing about or possible get into a dangerous situation for.

I would say I´m way more likely getting into a fight standing up and defending a friend than myself. Some people are drawn to fights like flies to a dump of shit. I see no point in me getting my head bashed in or possible bash somebody elses head in for defending my "honour" and pride against some drunk idiot as it often is. To me fighting, most of the time, is a childish beahaviour that insecure people use to impress their friends/girls, and ignorant people use when they are out of arguments. But in the end if I feel that my or a friends life is threatened and the only way is to fight back, I would probably do what ever it takes to defend myself no matter what the odds. Hopefully that will never happen. Being hit in the face by a fist isn´t necessarily life threatening...

Does that answer your question?

Understood. Johan and I were on the phone today and we were talking about how irony doesn't seem to be catching on so much on SurfSverige. It seems to work great when you know the person, and of course there are some difference in culture which some people might get the wrong impression. The reason I commented about being proud about leaving a threatening scene and talking trash later on, is that is how the people at my work tend to be too. They act very buddy buddy with someone and the instance that person leaves the room, the trash is flying. I'm sure they talk about me since I've called them all a bunch of two faced, backstabbing assholes. It's one thing to say something bad about a person and they know you don't like them and what you're saying about them is the truth. I just got that it seems to be the general consensus to be this way in Sweden, which to me is a very cowardly way to both solve problems in a relationship as well as create bigger problems for the person who is less, well liked and assigns to them a stigma that may not necessarily be legitimate. There have been times when my patience with these people can wear pretty thin. I'm really tired of the shit talking and I live in a really rinky dink town so everyone knows everyone and the shit talking goes on there too. Sometimes in these cases the best way to fight fire is with fire because people know there will be ramifications for the things they say. It holds people accountable. As for drunks, I don't drink much at all and I haven't been drunk since I was 23. I don't pick fights and like you, I'm more prone to defend one of my friends or someone who is trying not to fight but is close to being forced into one. I didn't mean to seem as though I'm some kind of Billy Joe Bad Ass, I was more or less joking around but also stating some of the rules I grew up living by. In my city, if you let yourself get picked on, it would never end or you'd get no respect. Whether you agree or not, pride is an important self image we all carry in us and respect is something we all feel we should be given. If we've done something stupid then we should be able to handle the critisism. That's all a part of integrity. Anyway, thanks for your explaination. It helps in the cold internet environment.