KVD is a MACHINE

[offdtop]

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 !!!!!

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."

[Tim_T]

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 !!!!!

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.

[smuckey41]

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.

[skeeter11008]

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!!!!!

[Bradd]

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....

[davidsa]

Clunn makes a fair argument for sure. they have effectively changed AOY into a playoff race. In the NBA, we have a player of the year which is based on votes but I'd say this is what AOY started out to represent. A playoff is a fair determination of maybe a post season but does not pass the common sense test for a measure of a year long accomplishment.

[BPenrod]

I think the format will be changed next year.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Angler of the YEAR

Skeet has 6 top 5 finishes in 8 regular season events with 2 wins and missed another win by 1 ounce.

KVD has 1 top 5 finish in 8 regular season event with 1 win

Skeet average finish 15th

KVD average finish 28th

The "Chase" format in the Elite Series is DISGUSTING. You take 8 - 4 day tournament results, 32 days of fishing, and condense them into 2 days of fishing. You take a man with a 100 point lead over 2nd place and 300 point lead over the eventual "Champion" and move the decimal to the left one place which makes it a 10 point lead over 2nd and 30 point lead over the eventual "Champion", then give them 2 days on the water to battle it out. This ranks right up there with College Football and the way they decide who plays for the National Championship. At least in Nascar they have 10 final full races to fight it out, in NCAA Basketball they have to win 6 games to determine the title, NBA-NFL-MLB all have playoffs of full games to determine the title. I have an idea, lets take the 162 game regular season schedule of the MLB - figure out who the top 4 teams are, then play 2- 5 inning games to determine who will meet in the championship and then a 5 inning game for the title on neutral fields. Take the NBA and play 1 - 12 minute quarter to decide it, run 122 miles of a Nascar race instead of the usual 500 miles .......... Don't get me wrong, I think KVD is the best fisherman EVER but for 2010 he was not the Angler of the Year, Skeet Reese won that honor, but in today's system he did not. Basically an angler could win all 8 regular season events of the Elite Series but by moving the decimal to the left one spot - all 12 of the finalist could win the AOY. Just like Nascar, if you finish 13th in the final standings before the "Chase" starts and then win all 10 of the final events you have no shot at winning the Nascar Championship. Somebody has to come up with a way that makes it fair for ALL.

[Jbyrd]

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.

You said he didn't bomb any events with only 95 anglers two of the events 50% of the field beat him . OK he did BOMB when it counted THE LAST TWO EVENTS And again if you want to compare angler to angler PUT Ever's numbers up there Skeet didn't beat him either. Points are points SKEET CHOKED !!! If you watched the coverage today you could see the panic Flipping and the trolling motor on High 102 lbs thrust. He knew his reign at the top was over....

[Jbyrd]

Ok think about this if the last two seasons events where regular format and the whole feild was competeing ,would skeet have won ? WE will never know the system is what it is. And skeet didn't win.
People think the format shouldn't close up the feild heck the best play offs in the world NCAA BASKETBALL everyone starts even just like the regular season didn't count other than rankings which is opinions.... Talk about a messed up number one spot named look at golf right now.. Tiger is awful but because he has won so much money he still is number one in the world. Man what sport can you stink as bad as he does right now, and be number one

[Bradd]

there is no perfect system...playoff no playoff... head to head (match play) no match play...formulas no formulas...polls no polls...what is the balance? you can always argue there are holes. i also don't know how golf's #1 ranking works. i agree that i am very surprised that Tiger is still #1 especially after this weekend. not everyone makes it into the NCAA tournament. there is an independent committee that looks at a lot of things to see who is in the tournament. there is always going to be controversy. i just hope the new crew puts it together better than what it is now.

i didn't get to see Bassmasters this morning, but right now Skeet + Alabama + Summer does not = AOY. I am not going to say he choked, but he sure has some trouble with this equation. AOY or not i sure would like to learn a few things from Skeet. Everyone knew the rules (fair or not) and KVD won it.

I love watching these guys fish. So I hope they continue to put them out on the water showcasing their talents.

[skeeter11008]

AOY is about points accumulated during the regular season and always has been. This was nothing more than a "cash cow" for ESPN's version of BASS without any regard to the history of the AOY award. I kind of threwup in my Mouth a little watching KVD jump around like he had accomplished something. There's noway he could have overcome a 300 point deficit that Skeet had built without the assist from BASS!!!! I know KVD is an awesome angler and he took advantage of the system but to jump around like he really "won" AOY was pretty disheartening. There should be an asterisk placed by the 2010 AOY. If you wanted to add two tourneys than the points should have never been altered and we wouldn't be having this discussion.