A while back a good friend of mine named Robert Callaway told me a story about his time in the U.S. Army when he had an encounter with a gang member on a weekend trip to Las Vegas.
My buddy was walking out of his hotel room wearing a red UNLV hat when the self-proclaimed “gangster” told him he’d be wise to leave the hat in his room. The man went on to explain that the infamous gang the “Crips” had a major presence in the town and sometimes didn’t take kindly to even random people wearing red.
As they talked more and the man learned my buddy was from Alabama, he said something that shocked my friend. He said the gang members from the Southeastern United States were often more dangerous than the gangsters from out West, where the concept actually originated.
“Out here, we’re legit,” the man told my buddy. “Those guys are wannabes — and they all feel like they have something to prove.”
It’s wild that I was reminded of this story while watching a TikTok clip about pro bass fishing, but the parallels were just too numerous to ignore.
In today’s digital world, we have some fine podcasts from the likes of Mike Iaconelli, Dave Mercer, Chris and Trait Zaldain and Luke Dunkin. Matt Pangrac does a fantastic job with “Bass Talk Live” and “Stray Casts” which is as entertaining as it is informative.
The folks who produce those programs are legit, with either personal experience in the industry or a mountain of contacts to educate them before they go trying to educate others.
But then you have a growing list of sad wannabes — people whose only qualifications for operating a fishing podcast are a Wi-Fi connection and a cheap camera their wives ordered for them off Amazon. Those folks are dangerous, and you should extinguish them from your life like weeds from the garden.
Oh, they put on a good show. Even as they’re spouting bogus nonsense with no basis in fact whatsoever, they sound very authoritative. But don’t be duped by that. Listen if you want, but consider the lack of credentials I mentioned above before you allow them to affect your thought process.
Those same yammerers will likely question my credentials as well — even though I’ve been in journalism for 30 years, won dozens of awards for writing and covered events their little so-called “shows” will never get them into. They’ll question me because, of all things, I’ve never fished a major tournament.
I have to wonder, which genius pulled that argument out of thin air?
How many tournaments did Ray Scott fish? What about Bob Cobb? I guess by the wannabe argument, you’d have to say they weren’t qualified to comment on bass fishing either — even though they basically created the sport as we know it.
Seriously, name for me a profession where the rules and commentary are all done by people who are in the Hall of Fame for that particular profession. You think every NFL owner rushed for 10,000 yards? You think every music producer has 50 top 10 hits?
It’s a dumb argument at best — and the last flare from the lifeboat for wannabes who have nothing genuine to say.
The hottest director/producer/writer in Hollywood right now is a guy named Taylor Sheridan. Perhaps you’ve heard of his shows. They include “Yellowstone,” “Tulsa King,” “Lioness” and many more. He said himself that he got into writing and directing because he realized he wasn’t going to make it as an actor.
A billion dollars or so later, I doubt he’s making any apologies for never winning an Academy Award for an acting role.
A person’s credentials are often most evident in their content or total lack thereof.
A podcast host doesn’t have to be a former Classic champ like Ike or a Bassmaster emcee like Dave Mercer to provide valuable information.
But if they’re constantly going more for the kind of goofy punchline that hasn’t been truly funny since the junior high lunch table, hit the block. If they’re constantly stirring trouble instead of telling you all sides of an important story, hit the block.
Like I said, I never won an Academy Award, but I know a bad movie when I see one. I never won a Grammy, but I know to hit the seek button on the radio when a song sucks.
Exercise that same discretion with these wannabes — and watch them disappear off the face of the earth.