“There are places I’ll remember…”
Dateline: Pickwick Lake 2018 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship
“God gave us memories that we might have roses in December.”
J. M. Barrie
It has always been my favorite gig, this B.A.S.S. Nation Championship Tournament stuff.
Sure, Elite events are cool, the Classic is showbiz, but the Nation gigs, especially the Championship, real world, real people, real dreams.
And laid back.
Egos checked at the door.
Last week those competing here were plumbers, carpenters, truck drivers, insurance guys, this week they are vying for a berth in the Bassmaster Classic, next week they will be plumbers, carpenters, truck drivers and insurance guys.
Reality suspended for one week in November.
At this tournament no one forgets from whence they have come because next week they go back to it.
That’s what I love about it, when I look into the eyes of those who are competing here I know that all of them will remember this week for a long, long, long time.
Nation memories.
“…all my life, though some have changed…”
I remember the first time I was asked to, “Go cover the Nation event please…” to which I replied, “Really what nation do I have to go to?”
There was silence down there in the worldwide headquarters of B.A.S.S.
“…I’m not sure if my passport is up to date.”
I was in my second year of a three-year deal, it’s the safe year to be stupid.
“It’s in Florida, on the Harris Chain.”
“Oh, huh, chain of what?”
“Life is all memory except for the one present moment that goes by so quickly you can hardly catch it going.”
Tennessee Williams
It was 2009 October, Florida, when I walked into a hotel banquet room and came face to face with this thing called a “Nation.”
I don’t know how many of those “Nation” faces there were but they were looking at me in about the same way I was looking at them with the universal look of, “What the hell is this?”
I didn’t know any of them, not a one, so I just sort of smiled, they sort of smiled back, and then I went and stood in the back of the big room leaning up against those room divider things that move when you lean against them.
Truthfully had the dividers opened even a slight bit I would have squeezed through it and left, but then I started noticing something, the back of their jerseys.
Nebraska.
Wyoming.
Kansas, New Jersey, Maine….on and on…mixed in I saw some backs from other countries. I remember the exact moment when leaning against shaky room dividers in some hotel ballroom I realized by reading all the backs facing my way, that in fact, the “Nation” had come to me.
“Nations” actually.
“…some forever, not for better…”
“Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.”
Bob Dylan
That first Nation tournament launch I stood at the end of the dock by myself. I just wanted to watch, just wanted to be a spectator, let the moment envelop me in the hopes that I would “get” what it was I was watching.
I listened to the names of state after state being announced along with a country or two, and halfway through I finally got what it was I was standing in… the Olympics for this sport.
Amateurs from all over the United States and elsewhere competing and at weigh-in flags from all over the place, languages, dialects, the flavor of the games.
At home before I came here I dug out my old story notes for the event, shuffled through all of them quickly until I came to the last note, it was scribbled on some scrap paper, I wrote it down as I was driving home, this is what I wrote to sum up what I just saw: Bass Nation = Bass World Cup.
To this day that’s how I see this Nation thing.
“…some have gone and some remain…”
“Sometime you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. “
Dr. Seuss
Now through all these years and looking back at the dozen or so Nation events that I have covered there is one moment, one day, that I will never forget.
Boston, 2012, September.
It was at a Nation regional and the Massachusetts Nation leaders had a surprise for many of us. They somehow commandeered a passenger van and loaded us up and took us to Fenway for a night game.
For me I had covered a bunch of things there so it wasn’t earthshaking except for one small part, I was going with and sitting in the stands next to a good friend, the President of the B.A.S.S. Nation club from Spain, Xavier Gonzales-Mestre, M.D., H.S.D. or to us, Haaby.
Haaby founded and was Secretary General of the Catalan Institute of Health in Spain. We had over time become great friends and while we were in the van driving to Fenway he told me in pretty good English, “I have never been in seats to a baseball game.”
To which I replied, “Haaby you’re going to be in some old seats in a historic stadium and oh by the way, the Red Sox are playing the Yankees tonight.”
And even with a bit of a language problem between us, he smiled, he got that, Red Sox vs. Yankees in Fenway.
We sat next to each other in the stands, I explained some stuff, told him I would be right back “have to hit the head,” and left but it was a lie. When I came back I handed him a small bag of peanuts and a box of Cracker Jacks.
When I sat down he just patted my leg and smiled, through baseball we had made a transatlantic connection that needed no interpretation.
My second favorite memory is climbing back in the van to go back to the hotel and seeing Haaby sitting in the back smiling and wearing a Boston Red Sox cap.
“…all these places…”
This is my last Nation (Bass World Cup) gig, my last B.A.S.S. event of any kind, it is as I wanted it to end with the plumbers, carpenters, truck drivers and insurance guys, regular arse folks with dreams.
It is here where every launch is a new adventure for those in the boats, and one that will be seared into their memories.
Three from here will move on and fish the 2019 Bassmaster Classic, all the rest will go home to so many different states, so many different countries.
To all of those here this week I ask, please take a moment, take many moments and look around, slow down this week as much as you can, it is your time in the limelight, your time on stage, and it may never happen again.
But know this it is not about the may never stuff, it is about this, you did it, you made it here, and that is the memory you will share with your children, with your grandchildren.
This week will fly by.
Slow it down, take it all in, enjoy.
Because that my friends, is the true gift of this week.
Nation memories.
“…have their moments.”
In My Life
The Beatles
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“The one thing I need to leave behind is good memories.”
Michael Landon