(Editor's note: Michael Jones is a former BASS senior writer who's widely regarded as one of the best bass-fishing writers in the world. He also co-authors the Big Bass Zone column on BassFan. He contacted BassFan and asked that this opinion column be published "not because (he) had an axe to grind with Mike Iaconelli," but because "countless individuals have changed this sport and spent lifetimes doing it. The sport of bass fishing has never started and finished with tournaments. It's much more.")

Dear Mike,

You should be worried, and not because a lot of vocal old-schoolers are threatening to pull their personal plugs on the S.S. Iaconelli. No, those guys will always be the fly in your ointment – the monkey in your wrench. I'm talking about guys like me.

When you lose this Mike, you've worn out your welcome in a friendly foxhole. You may have forgotten that I covered some of your pre-hype finest moments and recognized the yelling thing for what it was – pure shtick.

Back in the day, I met a guy who may have been emotional, but no one – no one – ever related any story to me about a crazy dude from New Jersey who screamed on the water. We all know – or should know – none of that happened until the ESPN cameras showed up.

The rebel in me grinned when you first cranked up the larynx. You were brash, you were loud, but you could back it up. Having been the resident iconoclast of Bassmaster senior writers, I'm hardly the guy to knock anyone for an opinionated, walk-your-own-path persona. Put it this way, if I hadn't lived in California – 2,000 miles away from the home office in Montgomery, Ala. – my decade and a half career would have been substantially cut short by, oh, about a decade and a half.

I revel in the characters of sport, the guys who can stir it up a little and maybe, just maybe, keep some of the corporate vanilla out of the equation. There is one caveat however: Don't become boring. Unfortunately, Mike, the recent Classic performance was a revelation to me: You have become tiresome.

You haven't moved forward on what you do or how you do it. You were compared to Dennis Rodman, a comment that only diminishes his legacy. For those who have forgotten, Rodman kept re-inventing himself, maintained his championship form and just when you thought you had him figured, he put a little reverse spin on things.

Even so, we finally tired of this master manipulator. We always do. And we are growing tired of you, Mike. Instead of giving us some steak to chew on, some juicy grist for the publicity mill, you are cotton candy - fun for a few go-rounds, but ultimately a mirage of airy, sugary confection devoid of substance.

But then again, your audience is a fickle sort. However, your ESPN masters are different animals altogether. When they tire of you, i.e. when you no longer generate revenue for them, you will no longer be a "player." They will most certainly move on to the next big thing.

You mentioned in a Classic interview that you changed the sport. Not my sport. Not the sport where information, where catching fish, was the valued currency. And neither has ESPN changed the sport, but merely altered the landscape of televised professional tournament fishing where you were a fortunate recipient of good timing.

You won the Classic at a moment when the tournament terrain was shifting, when the edgy, bad boy act was precisely what the Bristol guys needed.

When you no longer fit into that picture, or if your tournament skills diminish, you will be little more than a postscript. If you think that the shelf life on the Ike phenomenon is unlimited, history doesn't agree. Especially when Mikes like me who enjoyed the burr you put under the corporate saddle want to put a little distance between themselves and a guy who implodes on a national broadcast.

Remember, Mike, even for those riding the edge, there are lines that can't be crossed. Using the "I'm emotional" get-out-of-jail card doesn't work under very specific circumstances.

Yes, most of us could see how Classic pressures might send us into a downward spiral, how a brain-dead livewell miscue would add fuel to the fire and perhaps we'd wrap a light pole over our knee. But, 99.9 percent of us would stop right there. The American flag would do it.

In the aftermath, you couldn't understand why a little emotion was such a big deal. When it comes to the flag, it's not a big deal – it's a huge deal, from Lexington to Gettysburg to Normandy to Baghdad. And, if you think it's just an American thing, run this marketing idea past your sponsor: "Toyota, from those wonderful people who brought you Pearl Harbor."

Emotions or not, you can't hit women, you can't drive down the wrong side of the freeway and you can't slam dunk the American flag without expecting some difficult consequences. I'm sure BASS/ESPN and your sponsors are hoping all this will go away quietly. It may. But I'm also wondering what someone like Ray Scott is thinking. I know what I'm thinking. See ya.

Mike