Make a good impression on the public, right?

Angling For the Spotlight
In the World of Professional Bass Fishing, Sometimes Even a Champ Can
Flounder

By Anita Huslin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 10, 2006; Page C01

LAKE WYLIE, N.C. The hottest professional bass fisherman in the country
is having a meltdown, and where the hell are the cameras?

"GOOOOAAAAADDD!!!" screams Mike "Ike" Iaconelli as a largemouth bass
sniffs over to his lure, then blows it off and swims away.

"[Expletive] hit the thing, will you?"

His line snags on something. He yanks on the rod three, four, five
times. When it doesn't break free, he starts to flog it.

Thwack! Thwack! ZING! A piece of rod goes flying. Thwack! Thwack! SLAM!
He flings the remaining stub down into the boat.

"Dude, what is going on ?" he roars. The chunky guy in his boat, a fan
who paid $400 to be an official tournament observer and could win
himself a new Ranger bass boat if Ike pulls in the biggest fish, slumps
in his seat, looking like he wants to disappear.

Article continues at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...080902011.html

"Ronnie" wrote in message
oups.com...
Angling For the Spotlight
In the World of Professional Bass Fishing, Sometimes Even a Champ Can
Flounder

By Anita Huslin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 10, 2006; Page C01

LAKE WYLIE, N.C. The hottest professional bass fisherman in the country
is having a meltdown, and where the hell are the cameras?

"GOOOOAAAAADDD!!!" screams Mike "Ike" Iaconelli as a largemouth bass
sniffs over to his lure, then blows it off and swims away.

"[Expletive] hit the thing, will you?"

His line snags on something. He yanks on the rod three, four, five
times. When it doesn't break free, he starts to flog it.

Thwack! Thwack! ZING! A piece of rod goes flying. Thwack! Thwack! SLAM!
He flings the remaining stub down into the boat.

"Dude, what is going on ?" he roars. The chunky guy in his boat, a fan
who paid $400 to be an official tournament observer and could win
himself a new Ranger bass boat if Ike pulls in the biggest fish, slumps
in his seat, looking like he wants to disappear.

Article continues at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...080902011.html


That has to be a fake article. I mean, a newspaper, supposedly the Post no
less, actually telling the story and not taking sides? lol

I thought they did a good job of laying out the story, with detractors and
fans both being represented. It was kind of refreshing. Very unusual in this
day and age of spin-generation instead of story and news reporting IMO.

This sort of behavior is why I have let my BASS membership expire. It
looks like FLW has a better idea of what bass fishing is about. I
don't WANT bass fishing to be another NASCAR.

Olebiker wrote:
This sort of behavior is why I have let my BASS membership expire. It
looks like FLW has a better idea of what bass fishing is about. I
don't WANT bass fishing to be another NASCAR.

Don't look now, but you're surrounded by NASCAR fans!!! It's ok, we're
both bass fishermen too. If you spend any time on either a NASCAR or a
bass fishin bulletin board, you might be a redneck. If you spend time
on both, you're definitely a redneck. d;^)

NASCAR is changing much like bass fishing. More about the money and the
show than the actual sport. You could change the names in some of the
posts here and they would fit right in over on the NASCAR board.
Letting memberships expire and not supporting sponsors are easy ways
for us to voice our displeasure. Complaining here helps too. Better
here than at the dinner table.

-phish

wrote:
Olebiker wrote:
This sort of behavior is why I have let my BASS membership expire. It
looks like FLW has a better idea of what bass fishing is about. I
don't WANT bass fishing to be another NASCAR.

Don't look now, but you're surrounded by NASCAR fans!!! It's ok, we're
both bass fishermen too. If you spend any time on either a NASCAR or a
bass fishin bulletin board, you might be a redneck. If you spend time
on both, you're definitely a redneck. d;^)

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am a big NASCAR fan. (I've been trying to
get the manager of the local Office Depot to get me one of those Carl
Edwards cardboard standups to go on my garage wall.)

I understand that professional BASS fishing is a business and needs to
be promoted to grow and make money. I just don't like the direction
that ESPN has taken BASS.

Olebiker wrote:
wrote:
Olebiker wrote:
This sort of behavior is why I have let my BASS membership expire. It
looks like FLW has a better idea of what bass fishing is about. I
don't WANT bass fishing to be another NASCAR.

Don't look now, but you're surrounded by NASCAR fans!!! It's ok, we're
both bass fishermen too. If you spend any time on either a NASCAR or a
bass fishin bulletin board, you might be a redneck. If you spend time
on both, you're definitely a redneck. d;^)

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am a big NASCAR fan. (I've been trying to
get the manager of the local Office Depot to get me one of those Carl
Edwards cardboard standups to go on my garage wall.)

I understand that professional BASS fishing is a business and needs to
be promoted to grow and make money. I just don't like the direction
that ESPN has taken BASS.

Point taken. My favorite driver left cup racing a few years ago and now
races trucks. I enjoy the truck racing more than cup now. Speed does a
decent job with the races. I like their shows better than Fox or NBC,
that's for sure. No hour and a half pre-race show. More racing. Don't
watch much fishing on tv these days but I can imagine even ESPN could
screw that up.

Good luck getting that CE standup.

-phish