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The Worst No-Info Rule?

Monday, February 16, 2004
by Scot H. Laney




Once again darkness and fog have settled on our sport. I guess that is what we as fans, consumers and advocates deserve because we don't demand more. At any rate, that is what we always, without exception, get in circumstances like this.

Why is it that none of us know what happened to get Tony Christian disqualified at last week's FLW Tour event? Don't we have a right to know?

In my opinion it plays out like this:

If you're asking me to buy into your product, watch it on television, follow it and (most importantly) support your sponsors, then you owe it – yes, you owe it – to me to give me the information I need to make a determination about the quality of your product.

Same goes for anyone else you are asking to make the same commitment.

Why then is FLW closed-lipped on what happened? Why are they letting the chat rooms crucify this guy?

FLW's rule No. 7 is pretty broad, so almost anything could have gotten this guy in trouble, from a fairly innocent mistake (poor choice of words in an interview, for instance) to homicidal violence against your own mother.

If you are trying to protect your sponsors, this is not the way to do it. A simple message that details what the guy did (and what your response to it was) is a good thing for the sport. Us fans want to know that you are running a tight ship, that the punishment fits the crime.

If you are "trying to protect the sport," once again this is not the way to do that either. We get some "reporting this is not good for the sport" drivel from industry-types here at BassFan. But that's not only a cop out, it's a disservice to the fans. Our sport isn't perfect, but name one that is.

Let's avoid selling fantasy to the fans. If there was a problem, and obviously there was, you took care of it. That's a positive, not a negative. Ignoring a problem is a negative.

"No comment," in reality, is one of the biggest comments you can make. And like dead fish and visitors in your home, it starts to stink after a few days.

Let's get one thing straight: If something, anything, like all of the rumors FLW Outdoors is letting go unchecked did actually occur, there will be no shortage of volunteers to pull the switch on this angler. If it is something south of that level of severity, then FLW is participating, via withholding critical information, in a very public witch hunt that this angler's reputation might not survive.

Either way we deserve to know. We have a right to know.


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