This week former world champion CJ Hobgood tweeted, "Correctly guess how many air reverses will be performed @usopenofsurf and I will give u my surfboard."He followed the thread up with, "The correct answer should be fairly obvious: Too many."The Nike U.S. Open of Surfing is upon us, and yes, sure as the Huntington Hop defined the event in the '80s, this year the world's best will be peacocking around with their own trademarked rendition of the air reverse. But whatever maneuver is in vogue at the moment, the Open's much more than just a surf contest.This year Nike's backing the event in its entirety, and it's the culmination of their summer-long "Just Do It" campaign, which debuted during the NBA Finals this past June. Think of it as their coming out party in the world of action sports. For so long they struggled to gain traction, but they're here to stay, so as a few sarcastic bloggers have noted, "Just get used to it."But to the point, there is a $460,000 prize purse up for grabs, which makes it the richest event of the year, and thusly attracts the world's most prominent surfers. So who to watch?You have to like the chances of hometown hero Brett Simpson, who's won back-to-back Open titles the last two years."The difference between the '09 victory and the '10 victory is the confidence," tells Simpson, who learned to surf under the shadow of the pier. "I feel like I was on a run in '09, but when I came back in 2010 I knew what to expect, I'd beaten some pretty big names on a big stage, and so I had that peace of mind."