Invited to the Dance But Nothing to Wear
Posted by Pete Robbins on May 3rd 2021
When the field blasts off on the first day of this year’s Bassmaster Classic, I will not be there. I had the option to work the event for B.A.S.S, as I have every year since 2010. If for some reason that had fallen through, under most circumstances I would have gone as a fan. After all, the last one I missed was 2007, and the last one before that was 2003. This will end my streak of 14 in a row, and I’m not thrilled about it, but it is what it is.
We’ve had plans to host a large group in Mexico that same week for well over a year. When the Classic was scheduled for March, that wasn’t an issue, but B.A.S.S. and the city of Ft. Worth took stock of COVID, balanced the equities and moved it on top of the one thing I couldn’t change.
So now I’m left in something of a quandary: Even though as a lowercase-j-journalist I’m not supposed to favor one angler over another, there are several who I’d really like to see win the big show. For some of them, just qualifying each year is far from guaranteed, so you take the win when you can get it. At the same time, I’d genuinely like to be there for their big moment. My presence might not be worth a hill of beans to them, but I’m invested enough in their success that I’d like to be there when their moment in the sun arrives. Will I root against them? Absolutely not. Should they win I’ll get the news, open up another Pacifico, and move on to 2022, when this wretched virus and it’s butterfly-wing-effects should mostly be behind us.
