Striking fear
VanDam in prime position for Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year
By Steve BowmanThere is something ominous that came out of Florida, at least for all the Elite anglers except one.
You may not have noticed it. As a matter of fact, the best guess is the only ones who did were a few of the Elite anglers with lofty goals.
The exception is Kevin VanDam: He doesn't feel anything but euphoria. The rest of the crowd should be feeling the KVD cloud starting to surround them.
Why is that?
It's best explained like this: VanDam sucks in Florida, or at least usually sucks in Florida. Meanwhile, the past two seasons, he has been on a personal mission to add a fourth Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title to his resume.
The last two seasons, he's finished a few points behind Michael Iaconelli and Skeet Reese. And in one of those years — 2006 — he missed an entire event because of a disqualification.
If not for truly inspiring performances from Ike and Reese, KVD would be slapping this sport around like a crippled shad.
Going into this season, or any season for that matter, everyone knows VanDam will be an Angler of the Year factor by the time the last fish hits the scales.
But in this one, there was at least a chance the Florida factor would keep VanDam at bay long enough for one of the Elite anglers to get a lead and make the race interesting.
You can't say it won't be interesting at this point. But VanDam certainly hurt some feelings at the Kissimmee Chain.
Did the point get across that VanDam sucks in Florida?
Evidently, not any more. But historically, he's been so average that one of his biggest fans and proponents, Mark Zona, felt compelled to take him off his Fantasy Fishing team.
It's almost fun to get that gig into Zona. But if you are a student of the game, it's easy to see how he might come to that conclusion.
VanDam has 13 Bassmaster wins, scattered all over creation, but he's never really even threatened to win in Florida. That fact isn't lost on many.
Before each Elite Series event, ESPNOutdoors.com asks about 15 of the pros to pick three anglers they think will win that event. Historically, VanDam shows up as perennial favorite as one of the names to watch in 80 percent of those picks.
At Kissimmee, only three anglers thought VanDam would fare well enough he might win, and we assume they were drunk on the KVD Kool-Aid or doing it out of habit.
Or maybe they just have some insight the rest don't have. Regardless, VanDam did win — and besides the $100,000 and trophy, he left with a few other things as well.
You can almost see him picking his teeth, saying "I'm leaving Florida with a win, a fifth place position in the points standings and headed to all those structure-filled, post-spawn lakes where the fish just love me."
He's positively giddy right now.
The rest of the field? Not so much.
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