Classic Coverage

[DSPCHAMY]

Is anyone else really disappointed with the coverage from ESPN? The weigh ins were anti-climatic and to not show it until 10:00 at night. What about the tradition and the victory lap? Living here in Indiana I would have much rather watched the weigh in live than some Indiana pacers(thugs) game.

Anyway can’t wait for the water to get soft again so I can get out there and start crankin!

[idbefishing]

No kidding! Why the heck can the weight-in be shown as it happen instead of 7 hours after? who the heck stay up that late to see a non-entertaining event? I have to say that I'm very disappointed.

[stratosjoe]

I was thinking when you watch a fishing show you were supposed to be able to pick-up a pointer or two. Even the classic should devote maybe 15 minutes to letting you watch a contestant fish some brush or a jig or something. What I saw was a kinda confusing results table. The emotions are also high during these but man I think it got a little heavy at times. But having said all that I could have turned it off or went to the soaps I suppose. I'm just pi%$ed cause they got all that open water and mine is hard......

[idbefishing]

I caught the end of the first show of day 2 coverage and saw that KVD got a sack of 19 some lbs. I thought, wow he found the largemouth and wondering where he found them and how he caught them. So I watched the second show, which was a re-run of the first show, never saw how KVD got them fish. Terry McWilliam finished fourth and they showed him caught one bass and one striper. He got more TV time at the federation championship then the classic. Who gives a crap about Greg Hackney "rescued" his FIL in N.O? that's old news, let see some fishing.

[bassmanic1]

Hey ,
I agree 100% with you guys on the ESPN coverage , it was really lame . What I dont understand is why they have Mark Zona instead of Jerry McKinnis doing the reporting . Zona kinda gets on my nerves . I remember the Classics back in the 90'S when the coverage was pretty good and they seemed to pick lakes and rivers better . Wasnt Lay lake the sight of a Classic just a few years ago ? Well at least Terry got in the top five - I bet he will pick up some sponsors now !

[cbass]

I agree. It was pathetic. Kept showing the same lame stories over and over. Sad, really sad. You would think that since they own BASS that they could at least show a live weigh in. Instead they had bowling on ESPN 2. Pathetic!

[DSPCHAMY]

two more cents from me..

If Espn purchased broadcast rights to NASCAR for this year, they may not have wanted to go up against NASCAR to hurt market share. Here is my thought, why don't they scedule the classic for the off week of NASCAR then they could give it the attention that it deserves as well as attract some of the NASCAR fans over to their programing. Lets face it, there is a direct relatioship between the majority of racing fans and outdoorsman. If this were not the case do you think realtree and basspro would be throwing money at nascar?

I think some of the comments are right on, I used to enjoy the classic to see how people were catching the fish and padgentry of the end was what made it special. The fact that they showed the weigh in not in the correct order of the super six and how many times did you hear about the angler on the hot seat.

Honestly, do fisherman really care about the fishing or the feel good stories associated with the personalities? Did the story about Skeet's wife struggling while her husband is out making millions of dollars really make you want to watch more? Is Katrina played out yet? I am happy Hack's father in law was saved, but really didn't tune in to see that story. Oh yea did you know that ike was dq'ed last year?

Come on show me what I tuned in to watch, great anglers practicing their trade, thats what I want to see thats why I tuned in.

Sorry, just really disappointed in what espn is doing with its fishing programs in general.

[bassmanic1]

Hey guys
Here is a link to let ESPN know what we think about thier crappy coverage -
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?page=contact/espntv
fill it out and let em have it !

Tight lines

[idbefishing]

This is what I wrote them. It's very hard to 'let them have it' with just 500 characters. Give them your input guys, each of us add something that someone haven't already said to get our whole point in their heads.


"We, as fisherman would like to see FISHING when we tuned in to a fishing show. We didn't tuned in to the Classic to see the personal lives of the anglers. I understand that you tried to let the viewer get to know the angler, but we don't care. Use the time to show the FISHING ACTION PLEASE, we like to learn the techniques of top anglers in the pinacle of competition. We would like to see the weight in live instead of 10:00 pm. Fisherman goes to bed very early. The Classic is dying, it your fault."

[10-0 sports]

Guys, I agree that the coverage is terrible, but it has nothing to do with NASCAR. Yes, it is the same crowd, but believe me the classic is not in that league yet. The real problem is with college basketball. This is the time of year, that games are played every saturday and sunday and the vast majority of the country wants to see basketball. Why they dont put the classic on one of their other channels like ESPN classic is odd. I was at the classic all weekend and loved it.
I will say the live weigh in on Saturday was nearly 6 hours long and way to darn long. We left before it was over and didn't really miss much.

The Classic isn't dying, by the way. It is skyrocketing, but it will take some time, before we get the real coverage we want.

[DSPCHAMY]

Guys, I agree that the coverage is terrible, but it has nothing to do with NASCAR. Yes, it is the same crowd, but believe me the classic is not in that league yet. The real problem is with college basketball. This is the time of year, that games are played every saturday and sunday and the vast majority of the country wants to see basketball. Why they dont put the classic on one of their other channels like ESPN classic is odd. I was at the classic all weekend and loved it.
I will say the live weigh in on Saturday was nearly 6 hours long and way to darn long. We left before it was over and didn't really miss much.

The Classic isn't dying, by the way. It is skyrocketing, but it will take some time, before we get the real coverage we want.

I don't agree. The classic coverage used to be much better, even two years ago in Pittsburg it was much better. The classic is not dying, but the television coverage is, and if the tv coverage starts losing money then the sponsors will start to dissapear and then the classic will die. The money they are fishing for has increased do to the ability for spectators to see the sponors logo's and spokespersons. If you don't believe that read the article about the money these guys are making from sponosors. Cant remember if it was f&S or Bassmaster mag but either way, these guys are paid on the amount of times they are seen on tv in their sponsors logos.

I am not asking to see 12 hours a day of fishing or the whole weigh in, but showing the top 20 would be nice and seeing more than 10 minutes of fishing in a three hour program, and then to see the same 10 minutes of fishing again in the evening program is a little weak.

After 10 years of busch series sponsorship my company pulled its sponsorship do to the fact that it was not a visable enough sport. FX and Speed didn't cut it for a fortune 5 company...how long will these smaller companies that are non tradtional to fishing be interested if they are not getting the visability that they desire.

[idbefishing]

I will say the live weigh in on Saturday was nearly 6 hours long and way to darn long. We left before it was over and didn't really miss much.

The Classic isn't dying, by the way. It is skyrocketing, but it will take some time, before we get the real coverage we want.

I meant it's dying as in entertainment value and tv rating. There is something very wrong when it took 6 hours to weight in 50 bags and that was on Sat. I don't mind to see that being delayed. On Sunday, there were only 25 bags to be weighted. I'm sure it can be show in a 2 hours time slot.