I've been holding off on discussing the 2010 FLW Fantasy Fishing season because I think the organizers dropped the ball, even if they said the economy forced the changes.
A quick refresher: This is the third season FLW has held its Fantasy Fishing challenge. The first two awarded the winners of each regular season tournament $100,000, with excellent prizes a couple hundred deep for each tournament. The person with the most points at the end of the season won $1 million, and the prizes thereafter included boats and trucks and about anything an angler might want to add to his or her collection.
Best part, it was free to play.
Fast forward to the the third installment of fantasy fishing, and you quickly realize that handing out millions in prizes maybe isn't the best idea in these economic times. Tournament winners still can pull in $5,000, and payouts run through 15th place ($25).
The overall winner takes home $50,000, a big difference from the first two seasons. Second place wins $25,000. And the prizes payout through 15th place as well ($500).
Still, I can't help but wonder what will happen to the overall field. It's clear to me that handing out millions in prizes was the real draw to the bass fishing tournament. And I loved it because I thought it might help give the FLW Tour some credibility.
But let's be honest. It is pretty hard to attract fringe fans with a $50,000 cash prize, especially when those fans can't even turn on the television, plop down on the couch and watch live action of their fantasy players.
Plenty of lesser sports understand the importance of live viewing. And I think golf is a good example of a sport where switching from golfer to golfer doesn't always provide great drama, but it moves the broadcast along. Seems like a logical approach for bass tournaments. Maybe delay it a minute or two to make switching from pro to pro more efficient.
As it stands now, watching weeks-old tournaments isn't cutting it for the Tour. Just my two cents.
While I'm disappointed with the new structure, I still intend to play. I even lucked out on the first tournament, because once you sign up, you are given a random team. I forgot to pick a team for the first tournament, which would have started Thursday, Feb. 11, and was forced to use the random team. Thankfully, weather forced the tournament to be canceled.
So, after all that rambling, if you're like me and still interested in playing, then I guess you too are in luck, because the field of fantasy players is still at zero.
Besides, thinking bass fishing can help you fight off the winter blues.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Last thoughts on the Big Bobber
The Humminbird Big Bobber Ice Fishing Contest Saturday at Lake Washington turned out to be more interesting than I had expected.
Maybe credit a Japanese film crew for that.
With the exception of a lot of small fish, I'd say the tournament was a success. Now, that doesn't mean some things could have run smoother — the wait after the end of the tournament to the start of the drawings was a bit long and groups of people left who might have otherwise stuck around.
Parking, too, concerned me. Yes, I'm a little bit of a chicken when it comes to vehicles driving on ice, but a mass parking lot on ice should be reason for concern.
With that said, the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza didn't start out as smooth as it runs now.
Only time will teach the Big Bobber organizers what parts of their tournament will need to tweaked. And in their defense, Minnesota State officials realized they were losing people from the crowd and hurried into the drawing.
Perhaps next year, they will change that format. Perhaps next year, the contest will continue to grow and parking on the lake will be a greater concern.
Of more importance is how great the prizes were at the contest. Sixty nine fish were caught, and there were 100 prizes. So prizes 70 through 100, including the $1,000 prize for 100th place, were raffled away.
Basically, people paid $35 to help a good cause with a chance to win some good prizes. Oh, and a 1/2 pound sunfish was worth $2,500.
I posted photos from my Twitter account throughout the tournament, and I even posted a few videos. You can view what I posted on my Twitter account.
Here is a little video montage I put together from those cell phone video clips I took on the lake. You can tell in some of the clips the filming is a little shaky — my hands hurt and I was cold by the end of the day.
Maybe credit a Japanese film crew for that.
With the exception of a lot of small fish, I'd say the tournament was a success. Now, that doesn't mean some things could have run smoother — the wait after the end of the tournament to the start of the drawings was a bit long and groups of people left who might have otherwise stuck around.
Parking, too, concerned me. Yes, I'm a little bit of a chicken when it comes to vehicles driving on ice, but a mass parking lot on ice should be reason for concern.
With that said, the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza didn't start out as smooth as it runs now.
Only time will teach the Big Bobber organizers what parts of their tournament will need to tweaked. And in their defense, Minnesota State officials realized they were losing people from the crowd and hurried into the drawing.
Perhaps next year, they will change that format. Perhaps next year, the contest will continue to grow and parking on the lake will be a greater concern.
Of more importance is how great the prizes were at the contest. Sixty nine fish were caught, and there were 100 prizes. So prizes 70 through 100, including the $1,000 prize for 100th place, were raffled away.
Basically, people paid $35 to help a good cause with a chance to win some good prizes. Oh, and a 1/2 pound sunfish was worth $2,500.
I posted photos from my Twitter account throughout the tournament, and I even posted a few videos. You can view what I posted on my Twitter account.
Here is a little video montage I put together from those cell phone video clips I took on the lake. You can tell in some of the clips the filming is a little shaky — my hands hurt and I was cold by the end of the day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)