A Few Thoughts On The New Year

Monday, January 27, 2003
by Scot H. Laney

Following are a few thoughts on a few items:

You Throw a Party and No One Comes

It was disappointing that neither ESPN/B.A.S.S. or FLW Outdoors took me up on my suggestion to fix the "patch" rule. Note that I wrote "disappointing," not "surprising." The bottom line is that I am never surprised when any organization (or person, for that matter) fails to do the right thing.

Then again, if you have been reading the BassFan FeedBack, you realize that the right thing, in this case, apparently isn't obvious.

But what concerns me is that both organizations, for reasons not fully understood, failed to do the smart thing. In a business sense, that's a problem. It does, however, continue the trend of defining exactly where the anglers stand with the two tours.

The PAA has a plan. More on that as it develops.

Stone, Horton, Swindle

The anglers could not have elected three better new members to B.A.S.S.'s Athletes Advisory Council (Angler Advisory Committee, whatever), and that's a fact. I hope B.A.S.S. uses them well. I'm sure the PAA will.

Reese Wins

Skeet Reese's win at the Harris Chain was the first in what I think will be a long list of good finishes by western anglers year. Mark Tyler didn't do half bad at Okeechobee, either.

Not to take anything away from the rest of the U.S., but the West provides an angler with practical experience fishing every type of water imaginable. From the nasty big water of the Columbia to the technical SoCal reservoir system, these guys see it all.

With the West now providing about 15 percent of BASSMASTER Tour anglers -- and the new Western EverStarts about to qualify a chunk of western pros for the FLW Tour -- we'll see more tour wins and good finishes by western pros. Now if only Ish Monroe could just get one.

Cool Stuff

The new features here at BassFan (Dock Talk, On Tour With the BassFan Army) have raised the bar yet again. What's new, right? BassFan head honcho Jay Kumar is a humble guy and won't beat his own drum. But many of you have taken the time to provide positive feedback about the changes. Pretty cool, eh?

And just wait 'til you see what's coming.

New Year's Resolutions

I've been a little lax:

1) Lose weight (the usual)
2) Write The Laney Opinion more regularly

Last But Not Least

This has nothing to do with bass fishing, but I had to wait 35 years for the moment so here goes: After piles of Fighting Irish, Wolverines too numerous (and retched) to count and 427 Saturdays of football since the last time, Ohio State is the National Champion. How sweet it is.