The silly season
By Kevin Short- You've got to stand for somethin'
Or you're gonna fall for anything
Yeah you've got to stand right up for somethin'
Or you're gonna fall... for anything
— John Mellencamp
From New Year's until the first day of the Elite Series is the official 2009 "Silly Season."
This is when a casual fan of pro bass fishing might get the impression that the pros are playing some musical chairs kind of game, a la "musical sponsors," but in reality, it's a timing thing. A timing thing, ironically, not unlike the musical chairs game.
Many pros contracts run the calendar year, not the tournament season. The end of the calendar year just happens to coincide with the beginning of the boat show, fishing expo, and then tournament season across much of these United States.
Pros looking to add product brands to their portfolios have been selling, prodding, pulling, and working it for several months, possibly even years, to put together a "deal."
The newsflash of Billy Bob Basser moving to Bubbles brand Beard and Tooth Cleaner most likely didn't come together in a chance meeting of a few minutes. 3B may have worked his butt off for several years to get that contract inked.
So what is this "Silly Season?" The Silly Season is when you see 3B (Billy Bob Basser) move from Toots brand to Bubbles brand.
Maybe he made the move because he feels Bubble makes a better product. Maybe he's just getting 3 dollars more per month and a small supply of face wipes. Maybe Bubbles is the new kid on the block and has money in their ad budget to throw around.
The clincher is if people believe 3B enough to try Bubbles for themselves. It's all in the pitch. Do you believe?
Some pros are pretty stable in their sponsors and endorsements, while others hop around like the Energizer bunny (I'm sure there's a trademark thing in there somewhere). The stable ones obviously believe in the products they are using and endorsing. Does this mean the bunnies don't believe? Maybe they just don't believe as long.
This particular season of silliness will see some movement and shifting by even those at the top of the bass fishing food chain. There isn't a pro angler on tour today that is totally immune from sponsorship cuts this season and in this economy. Not one.
Yep, the business side of pro bassin' is, to some, "ruining the sport" because there's money involved. That dreaded four letter word; cash. Ooh, money bad. Here's a newsflash for those in the money-is-ruining-bass-fishing camp: Money's been involved in competitive bass fishing for a long, long time.
Since the first two anglers dropped their money in a fruit jar to duke it out over which one could haul in the biggest stringer of bass at the end of the day, bass fishing tournaments, derbies, rodeos, or whatever moniker you want to stick on them, have been about the money.
They didn't compete for marbles or match sticks or ginger snaps in the early days, they did it for the M-O-N-E-Y. The thing that's different about today's derbies is simple — it takes more jacks to play.
Is that a bad thing? Only if you don't have the jacks.
So here we are in the midst of an economic meltdown in many parts of the country. Many companies of varied description are struggling to keep their doors open as we, the American consumer, trim our spending habits and hold onto our hard-earned frogskins.
What's the first thing that many companies will trim from their budgets when times are tough? Advertising spending. What do many athletes depend on for income? Endorsements from a company's advertising budget.
Well, OK, big league MLB, NFL, and NBA players don't have to worry about endorsements. In their case, endorsements are usually gravy on top of an already lucrative salary. In a pro angler's case, endorsements insure that he can sleep at night without worrying about paying the mortgage every month.
We don't have to worry about salary caps in the pro bass fishing world. Not for a while. Many of us are pretty damn fortunate to make it from one season to the next while getting all our bills paid on time.
Look for this year's Silly Season to be especially silly as we all scrap and scrabble over already tight ad budget money from an ever-shrinking outdoor industry.
Bring on the Silly.
For more info on Kevin Short or to contact Kevin, check out his Web site at www.kfshort.com.
