here are his thoughts.
http://www.bassfan.com/rayscott_article.asp?ID=46
looks like Ike will not be getting a christmas card.. also nothing about Luke winning.. maybe because he is an FLW / Ranger guy..
at least he says the federation people are all happy...
Those aren't surprising comments from him. I agree that Ike's tirade got too much media attention. Out of one side of their mouth, ESPN was denouncing Ike as bad for the sport, but out the other side of their mouth they couldn't stop the airing the tirade all throughout the classic coverage and keeping in the face of the viewing public. So ESPN is as much to blame for how this event has been percieved by the public as Ike was for getting out of line. I think that's exactly why, when asked on the 2nd day of the classic by Tommy Sanders about the contraversy, Denny Brauer, who had apparently had enough of the talk about it, said in no uncertain terms that we should stop talking about it. He refused to talk about it anymore and wanted to get back to the classic coverage. But as we all saw, ESPN wouldn't let it go. So if ESPN who owns BASS thought is was so bad for the sport, they should have stopped talking about it after the initial DQ. But did they? No. Why? It got them more viewers. I agree with Ray Scott for the most part, although I think he's being a little too hard on Ike. But I wish ESPN would have had the class to put this story to rest after the DQ and move on to better coverage. But as we all saw, the coverage stunk. Ok, enough of my tirade. Hey, maybe ESPN will air these comments over and over and over and over and over and over and over again...
I used to really admire Ray Scott, but over the last few years I have been disappointed with how he has represented himself. There is no doubt he is the father of bass fishing and to him all that credit belongs. My beef are the comments where he uses the word "I" all the time. When "I" did this... What "I" did... etc., like he needs to continually remind us of the above mentioned.
And he is no different than anyone else when it comes to loyalties...He goes where the money talks. Like you said, not a mention of Luke at all. That is sad, no matter what the reason.
Maybe it just me. I sure don't mean to offend, but like I said, he is still a great ambassador for the sport, I just wish he didn't have to remind us of it all the time.
GT
The language Ray used about the federations/TBF are exactly what BASS needs to do more of now to make the best of a very bumpy period. I'm glad to read it.
I hope that the end result is not just smaller federations or splits or confusion, but TWO organizations offering anglers more choices so it is more likely that more anglers get organized by joining one or the other (or both) so in the end, the TBF or Fed Nation individually might not be as big as the old structure, but together have more members who will help work on the important thngs.