Classic TV schedule

[Dan]

007 BASSMASTER CLASSIC ON ESPN2

Saturday (Feb. 24)

7 - 8:30 a.m. - Bassmaster Classic Day 1

8:30 - 10 a.m. - Live from Birmingham

10:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. - Bassmaster Classic Day 2

Sunday (Feb. 25)

6:30 - 8:30 a.m. - Bassmaster Classic Day 2

8:30  10 a.m. - Live from Birmingham

10 p.m.  12 a.m. - Bassmaster Classic Day 3

[Dan]

So much for the "Live from Birmingham." I got up at seven only to find I could have watched the same thing at 8:30. Was really disappointed in the coverage.

[Bender]

The weigh in is live here: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/classic/news/story?page=Classic_2007_Live_Weigh_In

[Cy]

Dan,

I agree!  I was really feeling screwed this morning when I realized it was the same show twice.  How stupid!  I hope the 10 PM show is better.

Cy

[bshaner]

I'm on espn2 and it shows "fishing" on the guide/info.  Why the heck am I seeing NASCAR?

B

[Orlando Jon]

If this is the coverage we're getting for the Classic I'm concerned what we'll get for the rest of the season.

[motocross269]

ESPN owned the coverage rights to Supercross for years..It was horrible we had the same type of problems with interupted coverage..Supercross was not going anywhere...publically (sp)
Clear Channel bought the rights to supercross and now live Nation has taken over..The coverage has been 100 percent improved.  All of the races are either covered on Speed channel, VS or CBS. I originally questioned this move but it has been great for the sport.
Now there is more money in racing for everyone.
That is what BASS Needs is for a more modern aggressive marketer to Buy their rights. Look at the young guns that are taking over the sport. The potential is huge.
I know money is not what fishing is all about..But at that level it is about the money.

[fowlmouth]

I wish they would com up with some new backrground stories, the Hackney story and Ike's DQ are both old news. Tim Horton's double was pretty cool though, did you see how bad he was shaking after he boated them?

[Orlando Jon]

I miss that adrenaline overload, hooked on crack feeling.

[Dan]

Don't know why I expected to get up Sunday to anything else but last night's rerun. Schedule says "Live from Birmingham."

Wait a minute is that new material?? It is!!

[yukonjack2]

Their coverage sucks - 7am or midnight.  Take out the add, and old katrina stories, and you have about 4 min of actual fishing in a 2 hour show.  Nice Job ESPN!

Jack

[Hooksetter]

I couldn't agree more. I don't know if you could cover the Classic worse if you planned it. I wonder if those involved in deciding what the content of each segment is going to be ever watch their own programming. Most of it has been old news.

Willie

[dartag]

swindell getting DQ'd.  they must have showed that video 50 times.  looked like Cass lake on a weekend tourny.   guess it beats looking out the window at the sleet and snow...

[fiker]

Why don't they cover the whole thing live like they do for golf matches? 
Potentially I think they have a gold mine.  The cameras are already there, the announcers are already in the booth.  I don't know all the logistics, but.... it just might be worth it in the ratings game.

Personally, I would find live coverage of the Bassmaster Classic a lot more interesting than the final day coverage from the Poe Dunk Golf and Country Club of the Shasta Open. 

Think how cool it would be to actually  have a live view from the back of the winners boat when he hooks the winning fish.  And what about the educational possibilites. 
"Kevin has chosen a green pumpkin 3X worm on a 1/4 oz shakey head to go after these fish........."
"Gerald takes out his finese rig to go after these post cold front Bass..."

[Skip Johnson]

I sure am glad that ESPN is showing track and field instead of the classic and I just sent ESPN an e mail to let them know how happy I am about it.

[Chewy]

Our family (Husband, 9 year old son, 6 year old daughter and myself)planned our summer vacation two years ago to go to Pittsburgh and watched the whole Classic, we had a blast!  Then the next year the Classic is changed to February - that eliminates the chance for family trips to the Classic unless you take kids out of school or have the means to fly down for the weekend.  Now the last straw is the terrible coverage ESPN has had of the Classic.  How many 10 year olds are going to be allowed to stay up and watch the 10-midnight slot?  Of course since the 8:30 showed the same stuff I guess he could've watched that - not that we knew that.  But, I feel that ESPN is keeping it's future fishermen/future ESPN subscribers from getting a chance to be excited and watch the CLassic.  I've been very disappointed.  I think the showing of G-Man flyin' through was possibly overdone too.  Maybe they could've shown it just 25 times
Hopefully, more people will write to ESPN and share their concerns like I already did too, otherwise they will not change a thing.  I'm just the wife of a huge fishing fan, I can't imagine how the fans themselves feel.  It is the Super Bowl of fishing after all, one weekend of coverage for it wouldn't kill them!

Chewy's wife

[Duke]

I also am very disappointed in the coverage. We should all email them so hopefully they'll get it right next year.

Who'd of thought Boyd Duckett???

[MBell]

Who'd of thought Boyd Duckett???

I'd never even heard of him before the classic.

What a waste of time that coverage was, glad I didn't spend too much time on it.  It's almost hard to follow B.A.S.S., with this type of coverage.  At least FLW has a good website.  If it wasn't for bassfan I wouldn't even follow the elite tour.
-Matt

[Bassman24]

 Boyd Duckett...this is the reason ESPN will never put the Classic in a live slot again.  Pro fishing is so different than any other sport.  The closest popular sport (in format theory) is golf.  On any weekend you watch golf you will see the same TOP 5-8 names on the leader board.  With fishing, because there is really no established process for being a pro, anyone with money could end up in a top spot.  This makes marketing tough for a station like ESPN who markets characters more than anything.  Also having two "Pro" circuits like FLW and BASS is a problem for obvious reasons.  

To me, the only way fishing will be come a true PRO sport will be the day someone establishes "PRO TOUR" highlighting only the top 25-30 fishermen in the nation.  That would bring familiarity to the participants and allow more promotional cash to be used for marketing those individuals.  Everything ESPN is based on. The truth is the BASS Master Classic is not the Super Bowl of fishing.  Only when the top anglers from both circuits are there will it become that.  

And this is nothing against Boyd Duckett, he kicked butt and I think it is awesome when an underdog takes the spotlight.  But how does ESPN market this guy?  It just won't work.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for fishing and TV.

GT

[REEL_MAN]

anybody want to buy BASS??? It appears that ESPN is starting the process with less coverage and what there is is poor!!  Hey, maybe Genmar will buy it! I dought it, their plate is already full with a great tournment format.

REEL_MAN