COLUMN
NEWELL’S NOTES
ROB
NEWELL
A
16
It’s All About “We”
friend of mine, who has been out of the bass tourna-
ment scene for nearly a decade, recently watched a
few tournament weigh-ins online and came away with
an interesting question.
“Why do all these pros say ‘we’ on stage?” he asked. “I
thought pro fishing was an individual sport.”
My buddy is right. Many years ago bass pros would get on
stage and often describe their fishing day in first-person sin-
gular case: “Well, I made a long run up the river. When I got
there, I picked up a jig, and I caught a big one on the first
pitch.”
But these days weigh-in stage talk has a much more plural
vibe to it, as in, “Well, we had a great day. We got a limit early,
which allowed us to go fish some new water. Then another
school came up right in front of us, and we dropped the ham-
mer on them. Hopefully, we can do it again tomorrow.”
So – as my buddy points out – if there is a marshal in the
boat who is not allowed to fish the last two days and just one
person is actually fishing, who are all these other people who
also get to “drop the hammer?”
It’s a great observation that has made me acutely aware
of pronoun usage on stage these days. And I must say that
“we” is rampant – but I understand why. When you stop and
think about it, the two pronouns are virtually interchangeable
in our sport.
Not including local team events, pro bass fishing was once
strictly viewed as a competition between individuals. The
early pioneers of professional bass fishing often traveled the
circuits alone with little support other than a “good luck” over
a long-distance call on a pay phone.
By comparison, tournament fishing in the modern era has
become much more of a team sport. For starters, the word
“team” became a big part of the pro fishing vernacular during
the height of FLW’s “team deal” days, when earning a spot on
a “sponsor team” became an esteemed accomplishment.
That was followed by the successful FLW College Fishing pro-
gram, which adopted a team format.
Over the last 15 years or so, many of the young pros who
have entered the sport through FLW’s tremendous gateway
to competitive fishing have become far more comfortable
with the team concept than their predecessors.
These days, however, the real source of the team “feel” in
professional fishing is family. Now, more than ever, families
throw their unwavering support behind anglers trying to
launch pro fishing careers.
Anxious moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters,
brothers and cousins fill the stands at events and sit through
long weigh-ins in all kinds of weather to support the cause.
The wives who have learned how to back a bass boat down a
dark ramp in the early morning darkness are a huge part of
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