On The FLWTC And Other Things

I've been to umpteen Bassmaster Classics, but last month was the first FLW Tour Championship I've been to. I tried to bear in mind that it was only the second FLWTC that has sought to be anything more than just an end-of-season tournament – you might recall that last year was the first FLW Outdoors really ramped up the FLWTC to be a big deal, a tournament of Classic-like proportions.

Speaking of that, every big tournament in bass fishing will always be compared to the Classic. That's because comparison is human nature, and because the Classic is the gold standard in bass fishing. I was making that comparison at the FLWTC, but at some point I realized it was, at least in part, the wrong way to look at things. I re-realized that FLW Outdoors and BASS have different business models and goals, so it wasn't surprising that their championships reflected that.

In BASS's case, the post-Ray Scott ESPN version of the Classic is for the most part about TV (obviously). A distant second is the weigh-in. I don't think I said it before, but this year's Classic was great on both those fronts.

I didn't see a lot of the Classic TV coverage, but from what I saw it was fantastic – outrageously good. The weigh-in also made you (or at least me) feel like you were part of an enormously important sporting event. Maybe the serious security and the serious looks on many of the faces of ESPN and BASS employees had something to do with that. That's not a dig – I assume it just reflected the stakes the ESPN and BASS people were playing for, and how seriously they took it. Regardless, bravo.

FLW Outdoors' TV coverage has come a long way, judging from the limited amount of it I saw this year. But it's no ESPN – and maybe that's not their goal. Irwin Jacobs has said all along that he's in the tournament business to sell boats, and since we're talking about a guy whose personal net worth is probably in the neighborhood of ESPN's as a whole, you have to believe he's not making dumb business decisions. In other words, I assume FLW Outdoors tournaments (including TV) are succeeding by his standards.

So are the Classic and the FLWTC apples and oranges? Yes and no, and many of the yeses and nos are so obvious that I won't bother with them here. But to give you the flavor of the FLWTC from my perspective, four things stood out.

1) The FLWTC is a for-real major event. Of course it is, but I mean in person. The energy is there, the fishing is there, the anglers and sponsors are there, the high-tech lights and real-time graphics are there. It feels big, though not as big as the Classic.

2) It was a lot more laid back than the Classic – for everyone but the anglers and tournament personnel, anyway. I tried to come up with examples to illustrate that, but I can't find ones that will work here. Suffice it to say that it had a different atmosphere, not better or worse.

3) It also smelled like money, but in a different way. My immediate impression in Charlotte was how much money was going into the production of the Classic, but in Birmingham it was all about that $500,000 1st-place prize. So what if it's nothing compared to golf money? That's a boatload of cash, and it was the one thing that rolled off everyone's tongues in Birmingham, even ones who didn't know anything about competitive fishing.

4) FLW Tour anglers are as polished and professional as Bassmaster Tour anglers. This wasn't necessarily a surprise – especially when it comes to two-tour pros, and well-known FLW anglers like Clark Wendlandt – as much as it was a reaffirmation. And it was great to see that the sport as a whole is really producing some well-spoken, charismatic, wonderful representatives for itself. This is a great sport, and the anglers make it that way.

So was the FLWTC better or worse than the Classic? Different, for sure, and definitely smaller, but still big by tournament standards. But like I said, I think it may be a meaningless comparison. Still, I'm sure people will make it – and I guess I did some comparing above. I hope you can get a feel for the differences from what I've written. Bottom line: I enjoyed them both.

Professionalism

One of the best things that's happening from both BASS and FLW pushing to become bigger and better is an increase in professionalism in bass fishing. You can see it with the anglers. They're more comfortable onstage under the lights, they're more comfortable with mics, cameras and tape recorders in their faces, and in my opinion, for the most part they're just as well-spoken and polished as professional athletes in other sports.

I'm biased here, but I also think they come off as smarter and nicer than other major-sports athletes. Because they are.

Another good thing is that professionalism is spreading behind the scenes, in the industry. Companies are learning, sometimes the hard way, that you can't have second-rate people and expect to keep up with the likes of ESPN and FLW Outdoors, and even BassFan.

A potentially bad thing is that some of the executives coming in don't know a thing about fishing, let alone high-powered bass fishing. When you hear people new to the industry say they've "fished" or that a relative used to take them fishing, cringe. Hey, I played a ton of little league ball when I was a kid, but I seriously doubt I'd be good executive material for Rawlings or Major League Baseball.

But the best of the newbies learn, which can be great. Take Tracy Curtis of Castrol, winner of the 2003 BassFan 6th Man/Woman Award. She's done great things for her team, her company and BassFans (by spearheading the introduction of new, fan-requested products). Let's hope the rest of the newbies learn from her example, but eventually we should look for the sport to produce its own executives.

Yet even with all of that good stuff going on, unfortunately there's enough below-grade shenanigans in this industry for outsiders to still be amazed at how "petty," "incestuous" and "crazy" it is, to use a few adjectives I've heard recently. One recent example comes to mind, the details of which aren't worth mentioning other than to say that a company used its pros to do its dirty work (very uncool).

But again, hopefully when such companies realize the level of professionalism required to keep up, the bad apples, or those without enough mental horsepower, will be tossed out. And thankfully, examples of poor behavior on the industry side seem to be getting fewer.

Formats

Back to the FLWTC. The bracket format: like it or hate it?

Let me start here: I don't know any sport where the basic premise of how you score points toward a win gets changed during an event or just for that sport's championship. How about for the final three innings of baseball games, only the guys with the highest batting averages in the first six innings can hit? Or maybe using Australian football rules in the Super Bowl?

Bass fishing's premise is simple: everything is about catching the most weight. So call me old-fashioned, but I believe that all the anglers should fish every day, and the one who has the most weight wins. If you want to cut the field on the last day for TV, go ahead, but make sure you cut it deep enough so someone who has really gotten on the fish isn't cheated out of a chance to move up in the standings, which mean money and points.

So, yeah, I went to the FLWTC not liking the bracket format. But I tried to keep an open mind about it and asked around. Most of the competitors I talked to liked it – the "I only have to beat 13 guys to win $500,000" attitude. Okay, but what happens when half the guys in the final round don't deserve to be there – and you did?

That still doesn't compute for me. I think that "beating 13 guys" thing might be the best way FLWTC anglers can deal with a situation they can't control.

A few people claimed the fans like the bracket format because it makes it easier to follow their anglers. After thinking about it, I guess it does, but maybe because the whole bracket format is so confusing to begin with. And I don't know what's easier than looking at where your favorite angler is every day on a cumulative standings sheet.

All of that said, I admire and support FLW and BASS experimenting with tournament formats. Why not, if the eventual result is a better event and more fun?

A few weeks ago I caught a little of the Olympics early one morning – Olympic softball, to be exact. The commentators were saying that the pitchers mound was moved back to increase offense, the same reason the sport now uses fluorescent yellow balls. Professional soccer has made some changes for American audiences not accustomed to the pace of the game. Other sports – even traditional ones like baseball, in my opinion – could use a little change to make the game more appealing.

So it's good to see that the two major tournament organizations in our sport aren't sitting on their tails doing nothing. They're out trying to make hay while the sun shines, and changing formats is part of that.

And if you don't like what they're doing, all you have to do is tell them. They're listening.

The Cleanest Sport?

Re: the Olympics, the issues of steroids and genetic doping got me thinking: is professional bass fishing the world's cleanest sport?

Bigger muscles won't make you a better bass angler. You can take anything you want to make you stronger, faster, more alert, whatever, but none of that is going to help your fishing. It might help you stay super-awake for a day, but that's about it.

And endurance? Horse drugs might help track athletes who run races that last anywhere from seconds to hours, in the case of the marathon, but in pro bass fishing we're talking about at least 8 hours a day for at least 5 days, including practice. Any substance that could – and it is only at best a "could" – help you for that long a period would also probably kill you.

So barring any mad-scientist stuff in the future, I'm betting that pro bass fishing can lay claim to being the world's cleanest sport in perpetuity. But if I'm missing something here, let me know.

Luke Clausen

Last but not least, there's a new champ in town. FLWTC winner Luke Clausen won't get hyped as much as Classic champ Takahiro Omori, but don't let that stop you from getting to know him at sport shows and the like. He's a great young guy (26 years old), very approachable, and obviously knows how to catch fish. If he represents the future of our sport, we're in good hands.

Jay Kumar is BassFan's CEO.