- WSL / Poullenot/Aquashot
- WSL / Poullenot/Aquashot

Former World Champ Kelly Slater appeared this morning on the syndicated sports TV and talk radio show, "The Dan Patrick Show." Patrick peppered Slater with an array of topics in a hopscotch interview broadcast live in the USA to a combined daily audience of about one million viewers/listeners (according to Neilson).

Slater, who is an avid golfer with a very respectable +2 handicap, is in Monterey, Calif. to participate in the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro/Am golf tournament. The 11X World Champ handled the mainstream media interview with his usual patience and sly humor over the course of a nearly 20-minute long conversation with Patrick.

The interview spanned a wide range of topics from nearly drowning while surfing Mavericks to leaving a large pile of unwanted surf trophies on the curb outside his home in Florida (he reckoned they were snatched up for their marble bases, not their relative collectable value).

Kelly Slater (USA) placed 1 st in Heat 10 of Round One at Billabong Pipe Masters 2016 Pressed by sports talk radio host Dan Patrick about retirement, Slater made it clear that he's not hanging it up anytime soon. - WSL / Poullenot/Aquashot

Some interesting nuggets from the interview include:

-- Slater night surfs nude

-- He once signed a dog when asked for an autograph

-- A French stalker really spooked him with her strange behavior

-- Dennis Rodman always messes up his name, calling him "Christian Slater."

Kelly Slater placed second in Heat 3 of the Quarter Finals at the VANS World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach, Hawaii today. This is the only kind of slicing Kelly Slater wants to do this week. - WSL / Kelly Cestari

Patrick is an NBC/NFL host and former ESPN "Sports Center" anchor -- his talk radio show is simulcast on the NBC Sports cable TV network -- and he's clearly a Slater fan, referring to him as "the Michael Jordan of surfing."

The GOAT took all of the accolades in stride with his usual humble charm and sharp wit, deflecting any comparisons to other sports legends. "My mom just beat it into me as a kid, 'Don't talk about yourself that way,'" he said, laughing. Then added, "How do you judge [athletes] not only from sport to sport, but generation to generation? I think the greats in sports are good in most aspects of what they do."

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