“…the process works.”
Brandon Palaniuk
Bassmaster Elite Series angler
Dateline: B.A.S.S. Nation Championship
To all the anglers in this Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Magellan Outdoors shindig I ask only one question of you, and it is simply this: “Why not you?”
To you from all over the U.S. of A., to you from Mexico, to you from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nambian, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy, Portugal, I ask simply this: “Why not you?”
One of you will win this, all of you have the chance… over these next few days it comes down to one simple thing…you.
Time to put on your big boy pants because I’m going to put this very simply, you are not here to party, you are not here to sightsee, you are not here to Facetime the guys in your club back home.
You are here with the opportunity to change your life forever.
Let me say that again: change your life forever.
Win this event, and yeah you get some goodies and bragging rights, but you also get a ticket to the Classic… the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods… the biggest event, the biggest prize in the game.
Your name will hang in the rafters of every Classic to come.
And guess what at this point in your life, right now, today, you are 30 fish (15 at the Nation Championship and 15 at the Classic), 30 really good fish from changing your life…forever.
“…seven years ago I sat right where you are sitting now…”
Why not you?
Some simple words of advice from a dude that has been around the greatest athletes, the greatest sporting events of the last couple decades… me.
Rule #1: Your only competitor is yourself.
All competition is within, I’ve seen it over and over again. I’ve been asked hundreds of times what I think was the greatest performance of all time and for me it has always been an easy pick, one that will transcend time, one individual competitor standing tall… Jesse Owens.
Jesse Owens, a black man takes to the track in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany and in front of Adolf Hitler wins four gold medals. Here is what Jesse said about it:
“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.”
And:
“One chance is all you need.”
Since then a bunch of athletes have won more than four gold medals, but none so in the time and the place as Mr. Jesse Owens.
For the record the only athlete I look to as a hero in all of sports is… Jesse Owens.
Rule #2: Always substitute the word “can’t” for “how.”
“Can’t” ends it.
“How” begins it.
“Can’t” takes you out of the game the moment you say it, “how” keeps you playing and if you are playing you can still win it.
Write down “How,” and tape it to the dashboard of your boat.
“How” wins.
“Can’t” loses.
Rule #3: Catch your first fish… first. Play what you are standing in, you only have to concentrate on the pitch coming at you, not the next one, not the one before, play the moment you are in.
Rule #4: If it ain’t working… change.
You will not force what you want to do on the game, the game dictates what you do. Listen to the game, learn from the game, adjust to the game it won’t adjust to you.
Rule #5: And this may be the most important rule…take a moment and look around, take a moment and take it all in.
Move your boat off away from all the other boats, put the rods down, put down that last minute bait you think you have to tie on, and just look around.
Enjoy the moment, enjoy the moment before we say three, two, one…go.
To be honest, you may never come back, you know how hard it was to get here, so take a moment, use that moment to build the story about all this that you will tell your kids, your grandkids, your fishing buddy back home.
You have proven that in this year you are the best of wherever it is that you came from to be here, that’s special, take one moment, you deserve it.
Then fish your butt off.
“…and now I’m standing up here in front of you…”
Why not you?
Believe in kindness, believe in good, in God, and in yourself.
Only you know what’s within, everything else is just the costume we wear for others.
This moment is yours. Believe in yourself.
In 1994 Kurt Warner was bagging groceries in the HyVee Market in Iowa making $5.50 an hour.
In 1999 he was voted the NFL MVP & Super Bowl MVP for quarterbacking a team that went from worst to first in just one year. A team Vegas had at 300-1 to win the Super Bowl that year.
From Kurt: “If you’re willing to put yourself and your dreams on the line, at the very least you’ll discover an inner strength you may not have known existed.”
The key there there is “inner strength,” not just in sports, not just in fishing, but in life.
In all phases of life those with “inner strength” win, those who follow their beliefs and not the crowd, will in the end, come out ahead.
This is a game of one, you.
Believe in yourself.
Listen to yourself.
Trust yourself.
‘Why not you?’ is up to you.
I wish all of you the best.
One of you will become the best.
Why not you?
“…I am here to tell you that this event, that one day here changed my life for the rest of my life and it can do the same for you, I’m proof.”
Brandon Palaniuk
2010 B.A.S.S. Nation Champion
2017 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year
Career Winnings: $1,056,360.00
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