Story
BY PETE ROBBINS
T
he 2017 Bassmaster Classic, held in the
breadbasket of the sport’s reach, ended
with Jordan Lee whacking a monster bag
to complete and unprecedented come- back from 15 th place to 1 st . The weigh-ins were held
at Minute Maid Park, the Astros’ gorgeous Coli-
seum. Multiple fish nearing the 10-pound mark were
weighed in.
Despite those markers of success, some fans
and pundits said that the event did not live up to the
hype or to their own expectations. The most pointed
of them compared it to the 2000 Classic in Chicago,
where heavy winds prevented most competitors
from going out on the main lake, and images of a
mostly-empty Soldier Field screamed “failure” in the
photo galleries.
But was the Chicago Classic a failure because it
was held in Chicago, or because the organizers didn’t
fully account for or take advantage of Chicago’s
unique characteristics? Had it been organized and
timed differently, could it have gone down as one of
the best ever?
The other Classic that many fans hold out
as a disappointment was the 2005 event held in
SUMMER 2017
Pittsburgh. Don’t tell that to KVD, though, who walked away with a six-figure check for his paltry winning weight. Don’t tell it to the tens of thousands of spectators who attended, either. They bought tons of gear, cheered on their favorites, and were glad to have the event in their backyard. That tournament was closely fought until the last cast, with Aaron Martens ultimately falling a bit short. I thought it was great.
The anti-Chicago, anti-Pittsburgh bias is partially a bias against big cities, and partially a bias against the northeast. That should bother fishing fans out west who’d like to see a Classic in their own backyard, because similar rationales will be used to deem any such event a failure.
Obviously, Houston doesn’t suffer from some of those weaknesses. It’s a traditional fishing stronghold, in an area that may have more bass boats within a 200 mile radius than any other. But it’s still a big city.
Drawing 10,000 or so fans to Minute Maid Park on a Friday should be easier than doing the same thing in Greenville, SC or Tulsa, OK, simply because there are more people nearby. On the other hand, there are also more distractions, such as the concurrent Houston Rodeo or a Houston Rockets basketball game.
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