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Senior Member
I think Joe Thomas would love to have these two guys come on his match fishing show and see who would win. I'm not that much of a bass guy, but even I can see that KVD is a machine. I would much rather watch him fish than just about anyone else, cept maybe Al Lindner.
Senior Member
Elnut, you are 100% correct! KVD grinded it out for the post season win. And remember, he started off the year by winning The Classic.
Now, regarding Skeet... That guy was awesome throughout the year. I was left shaking my head when he won The Blueridge Brawl on Smith Mt. Lake by 15 pounds. Really???!!! And by throwing a big swimbait. Again, really???!!!
Senior Member
And not just a big swim bait, that thing was huge, it looked like some of those monster Gizzards we use at the river to catch the whiskered ones.Originally Posted by smljaw
Senior Member
I was not keeping up and can not believe KVD won. Some may look at what Skeet lost but I prefer to think of the incredible finish for KVD. KVD can just flat out fish when it counts most. I think I could take a deep crank down to Barkley or Kentucky right now and I would have to work hard to catch any fish on it and this guy can use the same lure to catch fish on about any lake any time with 50 boats around him. Just amazing!
Senior Member
I discussed this on the radio last Sunday. I am not really a fan of the new format, but it is what it is. It is possible it might change under the new ownership, that remains to be seen. I kind of equate it to the NCAA tournament, where you could be like UNLV did in 1992, go undefeated all season and lose in the final four.
All that being said, KVD IMO is the best bass tournament angler ever. He has made over $4.5 million in tournament earnings, way ahead of second place. 19 BASS wins, three Classic Championships, six BASS angler of the Year titles, plus an FLW Tour angler of the year. All this and he is only 43 years old. I could see him tying or pasing Clunn's four Classic titles and the same with Roland's nine Angler of the Year titles. All of this when the competition is much tougher top to bottom than it was back in the day.
Speaking of KVD he was on ESPN's First Take sports show and here is a link to the show.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=543...goryid=4096010
Member
First, I would like to state - KVD is a Machine. I think he is the best I have ever seen. He has the bass fishing business figured out. Not only does he have the ability to find and pattern fish, he has the personality, business savvy, and competitive drive. He is a Machine. I feel bad for Skeet this year, but KVD is not built to just sit back and not compete.
I have to choose my words carefully or I will just confuse people with my position on the post-season. I like the post-season for the fact that you get to see the best in the world fish under tougher conditions and in the dead of summer. The majority of the BASS season ranges from late winter to Post-Spawn. Sure we get a couple tournaments on early summer patterns, but what about the dead of summer and fall? BASS seems to put the majority of tournaments on lakes that they can whack them and in the "prime times." I want to see these guys fish it all. A tough tournament here and there to remind me of the conditions I usually fish is refreshing. Boy are they good! I like seeing these guys fish. So I like the Post Season for those reasons.
What I don't like is how the shrink down the points so everyone could win in the top 12. I have not studied exactly how they do that, but I do have a problem with Skeet's commanding lead being shrunk down to make it more competitive race. Hey, I will be the first to admit maybe it is fair and I just have not looked into it enough. On the surface it seems a bit unfair, but in the majority of sports you have a playoff system in place. March Madness is my favorite sports time of the year. Does this fit into fishing?
Correct me if I am wrong but college football and golf are the most popular sports that don't have a playoff system in place. In my opinion, the PGA probably most resembles BASS instead of college football. I don't know what the new group should do with the tournaments, Classic, and post season. BASS has tried a lot of different things. They have an opportunity to change and I wish them the best on finding the right ingredients to get BASS rocking for everyone!
Senior Member
I think everyone is blaming skeet not winning on the format. Ok, first if he had continued to catch fish this thread would have not been started. SECOND his lead was not entirely erased by the post season, the last 2 events of the year he bombed. One he didn't even make the top 50 cut.Every fishermen knows guys get on hot streaks.Skeets streak end too early and KVD kicked in at a perfect time. Feel sorry for EVERs he caught skeet and passed him and STILL THE MACHINE caught both of them !!!!!
Senior Member
quote from one of the arguably one of the greatest of all time:
Clunn's take on post-season 8/2/2010
Four-time Bassmaster Classic winner Rick Clunn recently gave BassFans his take on the U.S. Open cheating incident, and today he called to offer his opinion on the Bassmaster Elite Series post-season. He wishes it'd never been dreamt up.
"Really the thing that's a very sad travesty is what's been done to Skeet Reese the last couple of years," he said of the Californian who led the Angler of the Year (AOY) points list after each of the last 2 regular seasons, but lost the title to Kevin VanDam in the post-season on each occasion. "I'm not trying to pick on Kevin – I'm one of his biggest fans and all he does is goes out and fishes as hard as he can, and he's really a victim in this too with some people claiming it's his fault. But I can't imagine how anybody thinks this is a fair system.
"Skeet had a lead of over a hundred points, and then through somebody's mathematical ignorance it gets reduced down to 15 points. Then (BASS) makes the (4 post-season days spread over two events) more important than the other 32 days the man has fished during the season.
"They want to make it more like NASCAR," he continued, "but NASCAR has never been a fair sport, anyway. People in that sport have always tried to pull shenanigans and I don't think it's something we should be trying to copy. The people who run these tournaments don't understand how important the format is to the integrity, and what they've done is taken away the credibility of the Angler of the Year."
Clunn called Reese's season – which included two wins, two runner-up finishes and two 5ths in eight outings – one of the best he can recall in his 37 years as a tour pro.
"I understand that they want (the AOY race) to be competitive going down to the end, but they've really erased a historical year – they've basically put a lid on it and artificially gutted it. This is a farce and it's embarrassing and it's not fair to anybody.
"Anytime you try to handicap or socialize a performance-based sport, the end result is that you end up diluting it. Maybe it didn't seem so bad last year when the points were closer going in, but this year it's really been exposed."
Senior Member
While I tend to agree that the format was there for everybody, If they didn't shrink the points, Skeet wins easily, not only this year, but last year as well. Let's compare the finishes for the season:
Claifornia Delta:
Skeet 2nd. (by 1 oz.)
KVD 29th.
Golden St. Shootout:
Skeet 5th.
KVD 59th.
Blue Ridge Brawl:
Skeet 1st.
KVD 22nd.
Alabama Charge:
Skeet 5th.
KVD 57th.
Southern Challenge:
Skeet 1st.
KVD 9th.
Pride of Georgia:
KVD 38th.
Skeet 59th.
Tennesse Triumph:
KVD 1st.
Skeet 48th.
Sooner Run:
Skeet 2nd.
KVD 6th.
Fact is, Skeet did not bomb the last two tournaments. He didn't bomb at all. He finished ahead of KVD all but two tourneys during the regular season. He had perhaps the best bass tournament season in history, but because of the new format lost. The only problem I have with the new format is when the seperate first and second by a mere 15 points.
Senior Member
Ok I just want to say to everybody bashing skeet. And how he chocked. His many of you guys go out and kick but every tournament you fish. That's what I thought. That's why it is fishing not catching and I would put skeet up against anyone on this board he is a pro for a reason. And the ones on this board are just wannabes. Just saying and I'm not a big fan of skeet but what he did this year is amazing. And I am a huge fan of KVD. But give skeet the credit he deserves we all have bad tournaments. Just my thoughts.
Senior Member
Re: KVD is a MACHINE
I defer to Rick Clunn's take on this whole playoff format. Skeet was the most consistant angler during the regularly scheduled tournaments and that is what AOY is all about. Dont get me wrong, KVD is an awesome angler but do we have to alter the format for winning AOY so he can garner more awrads to promote BASS. I think it has taken away from BASS if you ask me. There is a reason that MLB will not allow aluminum bats, to preserve the integrity of the HISTORY of the game. And I thought the Classic is what this new "format" is. It's like having a beginning of the year Classic that you have to qualify for and then we have an end of the year "Classic" as well. Total Crap and my boy Skeet got hosed!!!!!
Member
After reading Tim T's and Clunn's analysis, it looks like it would be pretty hard to defend the point system adjustment of the Post Season unless it made BASS a lot of money. Then they could say hey, it was brilliant. We all know life is not fair, but the new BASS group will get this fixed. I don't think Jerry M would stand by something that did not make sense for the integrity of BASS.
Skeet is a Machine, also. Evers is very good, but hear of late it seems like KVD and Skeet are fishing on another level. Unfortunately for Skeet, he just has not figured out summer in Alabama, yet.
I can't fish 1/100th as good as any of these guys, but it sure is fun dreaming....
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