There's a mantra in book publishing that says a sports biography – or autobiography – can never be more than that. Its form equals its function. Pretty much true with Mike Iaconelli's Fishing on the Edge (Delacorte, hardcover, $22.00). But Ike does bare enough of his soul to touch something greater.
He doesn't quite get there – doesn't deliver a new meaning in what he and we do. But the fact that he touches those outer spaces, the places where emotion, confidence and life turmoil affect tournament results, makes it a satisfying read in the end.
Ike is kind of like Bush – you either like him or hate him. And like Bush, he really doesn't care. He's a tat-laden former DJ and breaker turned Yankee bass pro who just doesn't give a rip for how the bass congregation feels about his brash behavior.
So in Fishing the Edge we get a glimpse inside the tours – alcohol problems, lying about baits, a DQ with former tournament director Dewey Kendrick. There's more, like his admission that BASS (via Fish Fishburne) asked him to breakdance at the Classic. In other words, there's enough dirt that dirt-seekers won't walk away too disappointed.
But that's not the soul of the book. That's Iaconelli, as always, presenting the good with the bad. The good comes in the form of seeing the athlete question his future, reach the ultimate breaking point, then deliver a win for the ages.
As I walk away from this book, the one image I'll forever conjure when talk turns to Ike, is him on his boat deck, in emotional collapse, beneath a torrential Delta storm, asleep during Classic practice.
He planned to quit, he was going to quit, he'd all but quit. Yet he didn't. He found the will to endure, which, in the annals of writing and biography, is the most difficult of all experiences to capture.
And the fact that I'll remember that about him – whether I connect it with the book or not – is reason enough to read.
