One thing that all of us should remember, that if you do not promote yourself - no one else will. Some do it one way, others another.
Let's face it, none of them are 'employees', but rather all self-employed contractors - with no actual contract. You need 'face time on the tube' or in the public, to help your sponsors. If you get 45 more seconds because you have a belt that electronically says - 'Never give up', or hair that we can all spot 100 yards away - that's a good thing for them.
If you can't win with a prototype lure, you can certainly draw attention to it - as Ike did. I'm sure that Berkley absolutely loved that comment/plug.
For me personally, I have enough trouble catching keeper bass these days. Don't want to be on a system that produces so many 11 15/16" fish! Had to feel sorry for Martens, as one more keeper probably would have done it for him. And it certainly looked like he had it on his line yesterday, but didn't get it in the boat.
Obviously, there is a combination of circumstances that go into 'where' the Classic will be fished. While Pittsburgh did a great job (by all accounts), and they had great crowds, those type of conditions really don't play well. I also wouldn't want it to be somewhere where virtually everyone shows up with a limit, and there is only 1 lb between 1st and 25th. When you have it like that, then luck plays a huge factor.
I thought coverage was good, but not great. That has a lot to do with the distances that they had to cover on a river system. Last year on Wylie, everything was fairly close, which made coverage much easier. Also, I believe that the pro's moved quite a bit this past weekend, which also makes it difficult.
Tex