Those that know me will be shocked to find that I've changed my view on IKE. I have, until recently, hated his general demeanor and conduct. I loathed the image he projected and worried about my grandson's taking after him.
That was before I got to see him while being interviewed and surreptitiously videoed while taking part in a charity tourney benefitting children. Seeing the way he acted with children and how they adored him and he them, pretty much turned me over.
The interview was pretty revealing as well, in that you can see the he's not taking his antics seriously, he's just doing a little schtick. He's pretty much a grounded straight up guy who finds himself a component of a TV promoted professional business that he doesn't want to stop having fun doing. He's not puffing up on steroids or crack. He leads a subdued private life. He's not a profiling egomaniac that blames everyone but himself when he comes up short. IN SHORT, I don't have to worry about him turning out to be a pompous lout if my kids were uncivilized enough to mold themselves in his image.
I can now see how he is putting us on with antics that started out as an intentional overreaction, just to get others to laugh and laughing at himself, in turn. All that's changed is he has done it often enough that he doesn't break himself up anymore and it hasn't hurt his income either. This last bit of tantrum is contrary to that history and I didn't appreciate it, but would I have even seen it were it not for ESPN going back to it not less than 15 times over two days? Obviously, they're not concerned with what their young audience sees repeatedly.
Ike's loss of Ranger isn't going to make the slightest dent in his wallet. I noted with some interest that guys are fishing out of one brand of boat and wearing the logo for another. The outboard is one brand and the shirt, again is adorned with the slogan of some other make. Every brand, of every component, that is used in fishing just wants to see their logo, on the screen, just as often as possible without regard to who carries it or the circumstance the brings it in front of the camera. Witness the two dufusses in a dufuss boat carrying the Mercury banner back and forth behind the TV anchor's desk at water's edge all during the Classic. Stunning imagery, huh? See, it doesn't matter. I noticed and so did you, if you watched for more than 5 minutes, on any day of the tournament.
As to my (2) Grandsons and their impressionablity, they've seen the schtick a bunch and just point and laugh at him. They've also been on the water with me the day after and after catching a healthy Crappie, will do a mock version of Ike's antics. They know the difference between right and wrong and are not going to take after Ike any more than KVD, just because they've seen them in a TV tourney, somewhere they're unlikely to fish, and by the time they get to Ike's age they'll be doing something a little more founded in the real world. I'm not worried.
Of course, my opinion isn't going to change anybody's mind on whether Ike is an Oger or Hero. Just don't make too much of it and remember:Our guys are dying in Iraq, Cancer still is indiscriminate in taking our most valued loved ones despite billions in research EACH YEAR, little kids are being deliberately and systematically starved in North Korea and other nasty things going on in the world. We need to keep things in perspective, here.
OK, that's my long winded rant for Today.
Fun, don't you think?
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