[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Mar-02-06 AT 10:42AM (EST)[/font][p]Some of you guys kill me.
--Do you hate Jack Nicholson, Robert Deniro or Al Pacino because they have played villains in a movie you watched?
--Do you really think Vince McMahon or Triple H are the scum of the earth because they are loud and obnoxious on the various WWE wrestling shows?
ESPN and the other powers that be that televise fishing needed a way to sway the perception of some that all bass fishermen are inbred rednecks ---> enter Mike Iaconelli and a few others.
His loud, controversial antics were encouraged and applauded because he helped deliver a new demographic to fishing. Like Fish Fishburn before him, he brought new viewers to fishing shows on Saturday mornings, which translates into more people spending money buying baits and tackle from merchandisers and other sponsors.
You may not like it, but IT'S ABOUT MARKETING. It's a big business now; that's why there's such a stink about Series A guys vs. Series B guys, or this circuit making competitors cover the patches on their clothing before they can be shown on camera or walk on stage.
The same thing is happening in NASCAR right now. You've got villains Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart (who are not Southerners) along with a bunch of young pretty boys (most of whom are not Southerners) trying to erase the stereotype that everyone in racing is a barefoot, beer-swilling redneck in a wifebeater t-shirt and a mullet haircut.
I'm in no way suggesting that fishing or racing is scripted or fixed like the movies and wrestling -- but you are naive to think that there aren't teams of markerting gurus that are ready to put a spin on events and shape them to their advantage.
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