ESPN'S GRADE ON CLASIC COVERAGE...

[BASS fisherman]

I gave them a D as well.  It was just BAD!

[Cigarlover 1]

F-

When I tuned in Sat morning and they were showing a bunch of specials they put together I was bummed. Then when that segment was over and the next one came on and it was the exact same thing I turned off the t.v. Watched the live weigh in last night on the computer. Waaaaay too long. Not to mention it would've been nice to see on my 32 inch television instead of having to watch on the computer. I can't think of much they could've done worse.

[Troutfisher]

It seemed like they never showed anglers fishing on the water.  In the superbowl, they usually show the game in its entirety, and they wouldn't even think about not showing a great catch, so why can't they apply that logic to the Classic?

I give them a

[move]D[/move]

[gloomis7]

Definitly a D. I stayed up all night sunday so i could see who won and at MIDNIGHT after a 10 minutes spot on the weigh-in i went to bed. I was very dissapointed, for something that is soo huge they really didn't do anyone justice except toyota and purolator. Very Sad. >

[bocabasser]

i gave it a c. reason being, because anytime you can see exactly what a pro is throwing, that alone has to be worth a "c ". i try to block out what they are saying, and just focus on their equipment. espn needs new blood, zona is a kook, tommy sanders is basically a non-fisher, and thank god jerry mcginnis wasn't there to "track" the movements of a couple of bass. i sure did like that delgado chick. too bad is wasn't warmer---i wonder if espn has bikinis for their female reporters!

[The Duke]

D+

[krisjack69]

Failed.Espn don't know how to cover a fishing tourny.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Better than nothing ........... but not by much.  D+

The last two Classics were pretty good as far as the coverage went.  This one was PITIFUL and that's too bad because this one was probably the best as far as the way the tourney shook down.  They got the (+) because they had the live weigh-in online.  What they showed on TV was pathetic.  I also don't really have a problem of when they aired it on TV.  It's getting down to crunch time in college basketball and racing just started up, both of which are way bigger then bass fishing (even if it is the Classic), so they had to show what appealed to their mass audience.  It would have been nice though to see 5 to 10 minute live updates through out the day

[-badhabit-]

Beginning with the 10pm show of day 1 & 85% of days 2/3 were made up of repeated clips. All but the the last 30 min of each show lost out to re-runs of Andy Griffith here @ Green Acres (that's sad).

Even on BASS Insider it was poor.............

[Shadcranker]

I went to ESPN. com  (under contact ESPN member services) and voiced my opinion, and we should all do the same or expect the same or worse next year. Probably won't make a difference, but I feel better for venting to them.

I directed them to this thread.

[tmartin781]

ESPN did little to promote the Classic before it happened, and continued that lackluster commitment during the 3-day coverage of the event.  I feel sorry for the guys at ESPN who put in all the time for the production of this show.  They are obviously after the "human element" (repeated stories of Katrina rescue ,etc.), and are willing to ignore a substantial aspect of the BASS tournament market - the FISHERMEN!

The only saving grace for ESPN was that their website was relatively up-to-date and maintained.  Other than that, most of the shows were a simple rehashing of the previous shows' clips and covered only the anglers they wanted to bring to the forefront.  Unfortunately, all of the negative reaction will probably only result in ESPN pulling coverage of this event in the future and it will become a truly low-budget production (but might actually focus on the fishing).

Grade: D

[KYbass1276]

Honestly It sucked.  I'm so glad I have DVR so I didn't have to watch the crap I didn't want to see.   It dosen't surprise me though.   Do any of you guys honestly beleve that ESPN actually give a rats rear end that were not happy with there coverage.   It's all about the money to them why would they care.   There more interested in the tv adds, and sponsers.  Hence the whole reason they had them wrap there boats they are trying to milk Bass for every ounce of money they can and when they finally run it into the ground then they will throw it away and move on to the next one.   I really don't see this as being that surprising.  The coverage sucked, has sucked for the past couple of years and not just the classic coverage but the whole season.   It's going to get worse.  

[boz24]

Just sent this to ESPN....last gripe for me!

I am am member of BASS, which is owned an operated by ESPN.  I am severly disappointed with your lack of coverage for our "superbowl" of Bassfishing.  You are not winning fishing fans, you are losing them.  What the heck is up with no live coverage, then recap show at 10:30 est?   Bunch of junk.  I wish you would go to www.bassresource.com and check out all of the unhappy fisherman that suppport your organization, and your programming.  You really botched up this one!

Take care..and will be the utmost positive on my very next post!!!!!!!!!

Starting "Fisher of Men" Trail (Delaware) this march...pumped about that!

[johnrrigg]

I wish I had been watching on tv, with the option of changing the channel. I am sad to say I was there. I had get up and walk around just to stay awake. It is time that ESPN and BASS bring back Fish Fishburne to mc the event! When Fish was the mc he kept things moving, would get info and make it exciting. Just my $.02 worth. JRR

[DEISWERTH]

Big fat   F

[cbfishalot]

VERY POOR COVERAGE PERIOD!!!!!!!!!

The same things were played over and over again.  Last years coverage they showed what each angler was using and none of that this year.  If ESPN whole goal was to save money and time then I give them an A for that but thats not what I want to see.

[logger]

First of all I was watching the day one coverage and then they started telling who was in the lead on day 2 "LIVE" when they hadn't even showed the weigh in from day one yet so really that kind of ruined the last hour of the day one coverage for me.  I don't get it. I am not a huge fan of watching golf on TV but why can't ESPN cover the even in the same way. Show different anglers live or almost live and just switch from boat to boat the whole time.  Instead of talking about a guys entire season for 5 minutes and then showing him fish for 15 seconds. I am so annoyed by the amount of time they spend showing the guys in the studio talking about the same thing over and over (this year Swindle's DQ, Last year IKE's DQ) Seriously I am a big Zona fan but I watch the classic to see the fishing not the anchors talk about the fishing. Wouldit be that big a problem to just have actual live coverage? Every other sporting event can do it, why can't ESPN get it together? I just continue to be dissapointed with ESPN2 at every turn. F

[Jeff_NHBA]

F- no live weigh in coverage, and re-ran the same covg all weekend. Ran only 10 minutes of weigh in coverage? I didn't even see Skeet Resse in final weigh in, and he lost by four ounces????

Terrible effort in my opinion.

They should have just waited and had a recap show the next weekend and edited it down to a one hour special.

I'm glad I went fishing Saturday instead of staying around to watch all the "live" action of Friday's fishing day.

Absolute joke.

For what it's worth, ESPN is doing a recap this Saturday...

[squid]

COOOOL......LIVE RECAP.......LOL

[VaBass80]

Complete garbage, still watched it cause its the classic but honestly it seems like the whole time you're watching a long infomercial, with 15sec clips of fishing. I miss the days when they literally showed 5-10 mins of non stop fishing of various anglers in contention.  I clearly remember classics when Rick Clunn and David Fritts won they would go into detail of the patterns, gear and all the other stuff that most people watch fishing programs for, sigh I guess those days are long gone

[Ky_Lake_Dude]

I absoulutely HATED!!! > > > > that the Sunday coverage was from 9:00-11:00PM o'clock I have to go to bed at 9:45 so I didn't get to watch most of it. Also there were no live weigh ins. The little coverage I did see was good though so it gets a D.

[boondocks]

Not very good

[Fisher of Men]

I clearly remember classics when Rick Clunn and David Fritts won they would go into detail of the patterns, gear and all the other stuff that most people watch fishing programs for, sigh I guess those days are long gone

You make a good point.

Didn't the old TNN (now Spike) network carry the Bassmasters prior to ESPN? I sure miss their old format. (Drag racing, Hank Parker, and Bassmasters)

[kbj3579]

Let me say first, I was very disappointed myself in the coverage. Especially when they billed Saturday and Sunday morning as being live, when all it was was repeat after repeat. Like one other post said, if I knew they were going to just show the repeat the next morining, twice (Saturday and Sunday), I wouldn't have got up when I did. I also think BASS has a very unorganized web site, I mean getting around that thing is tough, am I on Insider, Espn Outdoors or Bassmaster site, they have you jumping all around and your not able to just link back to where you were to start. I'm not one of those BASS bashers either, I'm a huge supporter of BASS and I want them to grow.

Having said all of that, I think the thing they haven't worked out and may be almost impossible to do, is covering a live fishing tournament. I mean unless you have a ton of cameras or they are fishing on a 5,000 acre round lake, it has to be extremely tough to cover these guys that are spread all out on a lake. It's not like Nascar where everyone is within a 1.5 mile circle. I think also the footage that you do get is probably tough to edit down in the short amount of time that they have. I agree that I wish they would show more guys fishing, for me I would like it even if they aren't catching fish at that time. I love to see how these guys think and what they are doing to try and figure things out. Plus, it would be better for their sponsors, more face time and I believe it would help the sport grow by showing these guys personality more. I think we are a long way, at least technically, from seeing a live fishing tournament. I just don't think the technology is there yet. I do like the flw hat cams, but I don't want to see a whole tournament like that either.

So the long and short of it is I'm going to give them a C overall, just for the fact that they did try and cover it the whole weekend, even though it was mostly repeated stuff. The actuall weigh in I'm giving them a big fat F, they showed them weighing out of order, didn't show all of the top 5 weigh in, they were jumping all around. I felt like I was on their website.

[squid]

I CAN'T BELIEVE SOME PEOPLE GAVE IT AN A AND A B....LOL