Rob: I love this post. I actually sorta paid attention and saw some of the coverage on ESPN and of course on the Internet.

Thoughts:

Boyd Duckett: Right on dude. Nice win, clearly knew how to get a big bite.

Skeete: I like this guy more and more with time. He came close, and has plenty of time left to make it happen. Love to see him growing up, family man, and just flat doing the best he can.

Swindle: I somehow caught that on ESPN late on Saturday night...I saw the footage of him ripping thru a crowd of boats, on plane, waving arms and stuff. Bad move, in ANY tournament, lake, river or stream...just flat dangerous. I told my girlfriend he'll be DQ'd for that move, and sure enough.........I like Gerald and his energy and style...sorta. I don't get how some of these nice guys from the country got so into the HipHop/PopCulture flow of the world, but I would recommend to Gerald to stick to his roots and not try to be like Ike so much. Just be yourself, and fish hard. Enough with the hook 'em horns and all the stupid gestures I see this guy doing in front of the cameras....Maybe I'm flat wrong here about Gerald, but man, that was stupid boat handling, and I would prefer to see a more serious side of Gerald...more often.

Conclusions/Thoughts: Yes, everytime I went on TV to watch the weigh in...yep, college basketball. So, no, this sport is still pre-television contract for live TV coverage and footage. Yes, you still have to pay to play, and there are 1000s of us all who wear patches and "sponsor" gear for a prostaff package that isn't worth squat. The sport is progressing, each year, there is progress made, and coverage gets better, etc. Still, we aren't there yet. As far as guys fishing out of the same boats, I think thats lame. Fish from your boat, your equipment and your tackle...whatever got you their in the first place. Represent your sponsors by fishing with their stuff...Would you ever see Tony Stewart and Team Home Depot/Chevy show up at the Nextel Cup final race all with Dodge cars, and Nextel yellow cars? No Way. How can this sport be serious when you have guys fishing out of boats they aren't sponsored by, powered by motor and electronics they don't endorse? Where does it stop? Next year, everyone will have the same rods/reels/line and lures...all courtesy of PureFishing/Berkley. How would that be? Way way way lame, bad business, bad precedent, and way good ole boy style. Anglers get strong armed in this sport, where in others sports, NASCAR for example, Home Depot would threaten to pull their $ out of NASCAR and that would end that...it wouldn't happen in the first place since NASCAR doesn't compete with FLWCAR or someother faction, but you get the idea. Anyway, not trying to be overly negative...just telling it like it is.

Here is what I did like:

--props to ESPN's online media team. Great online coverage, and real-time coverage
--weigh-in coverage. I think the length of the weigh-in is drawn out, but it did give guys ample chance to talk about their day on the water, their sponsors, etc. I was impressed with how guys who didn't catch fish would say, "it wasn't for lack of good equipment...I would like to thank: XYZ for their support..." nicely done.
--radio coverage. I heard advertisements of the Classic on my local Atlanta COUNTRY radio station. Key word: Country. Bass fishing should remember their roots. Somehow hip hop and break dancing (thanks skeete) got mixed into bass fishing...
--mad props to James Niggemeyer, Jared Litner, Aaron Martens and Skeete Reese for their finishes. Always pulling for the Western crews...Good to see John Murray in there, and sorry John things didn't pan out better for you, this time around.

The Classic is like the World Trade Fair back in Medieval Europe or something. It's the State of the Union. This post is relavant as heck to understand where this sport is at, and what is going on behind the scenes.

MP