OCdockskipper

I agree. There wasn't a single pass interference call on either team in regulation, so the defensive players continued to push the envelope to see what they could get away with. Similar to an umpire calling a certain location strikes during the game, even though by the book, those pitches should be a ball. Both teams benefited from the lack of pass interference calls. If I were a Saints fan, I would resist the temptation to blame the refs. Your team had a 13 point lead early, a 10 point lead in the 2nd half and a 3 point lead with under 2 minutes to go. You had the ball inside the 20 with under 2 minutes to play and, because of coaching decisions, ended up only burning 15 seconds off the clock to leave the Rams with 1 timeout and 1:44 to play. You had the ball first in overtime and got to play the game at home, where the crowd gave your team a decided advantage as far as the ability for either offense to communicate. Do you really want to say you needed a call at the end of the game in order to win? In any case, the Saints are a great team, had a great year and most likely would have won the Super Bowl had they made it.

A couple of pregame thoughts this morning with a historical perspective: A lot has been made of the recent playoff failures of the Chiefs and success's of the Patriots, causing many to say that the Patriots will win. This line of conversation reminds me of 17 years back when the Patriots had a history filled with failure and their only 2 Super Bowl appearances resulted in blowout losses. They were facing a Ram team that was considered immensely more talented and who had beaten them earlier in the year. The problem with this equation was it was comparing past Patriot teams to the current Patriots team, who had not contributed to that losing history. For the Rams versus the Saints, I think back to the Pittsburgh Steelers championship season at the start of Big Bens career. During that playoff run, the focus was on Jerome Bettis, who was looking for his first Super Bowl ring and the defense of Steelers, who were questioned as to their ability to stop an awesome Colt offense. There was not a lot of media pressure on the young Steeler QB. It reminds me of the outlook on the Rams, the media focus on CJ Anderson and the Rams defense, with not much attention being paid to Jared Goff. My prediction - Chiefs and Rams win today, with no clue as to what happens in the Super Bowl.

Like most things in life, there is a bit more going on than meets the eye of the casual observer. The lane conditions, how quickly they are breaking down, how the breakdown is affecting either player, things like that. No different than any other contest. "What do you think KVD is going to do here Bob"? "I think he is going to try to catch some fish".

I think it would be fun to weave your way thru that mess, throwing the largest size whopper plopper parallel to the boats, just to see what reaction you get from people. Odds are you might hook a bikini top or two...

Like you, the Rebel Ringworm was one of my first plastic worms (along with Mister Twister Phenom). For the past few years, I have used Zoom's Dead Ringers, mainly because I hadn't seen any other ring worms that caught my eye. Seeing the Lake Fork worms, they look pretty good. If you have used Dead Ringers, how do the Lake Fork Ring worms compare to them?

Notice I said fishing, not bass fishing. In 2017, over 49 million Americans went fishing https://www.statista.com/statistics/190202/number-of-participants-in-outdoor-activities-in-the-us-2009/ In 2017, over 23 million Americans played basketball https://www.statista.com/statistics/191632/participants-in-basketballl-in-the-us-since-2006/ In 2017, over 45 million Americans went bowling https://www.statista.com/statistics/191898/participants-in-bowling-in-the-us-since-2006/ I fish every week. I have a basketball pole in my front yard, but I haven't shot hoops in 3 years.

I've bowled in leagues & tournaments since 1978, the last few years not withstanding. The number of games played and number of leagues running nationwide has dropped enormously over the past few decades. Here in Orange County, in 1980 there were over 35 bowling centers, the largest being Regal Lanes with 72 lanes. Now we are down to 14 (including a few that don't do leagues) despite the population doubling in that same time frame.

Fair enough, but how much total airtime over all networks is devoted to bowling versus bass fishing? BTW, you won't see anymore PBA on ESPN, they are now on Fox (hoping to reclaim the glory days of ABC's Saturdays PBA coverage in the 60's & 70's). In participation versus watching, the big 4 (football, basketball, baseball & hockey) are highly skewed towards watching by people who haven't participated in that event for years or decades. Bowling, Fishing and those type of activities have alot more people who will participate once or twice a year while never watching them on TV.

Did he earn that in 2018 or is that his lifetime earnings? I ask because I believe Darts may have a difficulty in attracting high dollar sponsors, which limits the income available for the pros. I think the most blatant example of this is Professional bowling. Walter Ray Williams is the all time PBA money winner with career earnings over 4.7 million. This was earned over 30 plus years, with a season record of just over $400,000 in one year. Compare that to golf, where tournaments with 1st place purses eclipse that one year figure and multiple players earn more in one year than WRW , the all time money winner, has earned in his career. Why? When was the last time you bought a bowling ball? How many have you bought in your lifetime? The more money spent on materials associated with participating in that sport, the more money available to the pros of that activity.

By "following", do you mean the number of people who watch others participate in the sport or activity or do you mean the number of people who actually participate in the sport or activity? I ask because fishing and bowling are two activities who have a high participation rate (many folks will do either once or twice a year), but have a small following as far as being an audience. Other activities such as football are the opposite, lower participation rates but high audience rates.

I agree, most of those (including bass tournaments) are what I would consider to be contests, not sports. A couple of decades ago, I came up with what I believe the criteria for a sport should be: It must require athletic skill - By athletic skill, I mean more than just hand-eye coordination. Contestants who have attributes like balance, co-ordination, strength, endurance or agility should have an advantage over others who do not. Out of shape participants who do well in a sport should be rare. This would knock out things like Darts or Bowling; The scoring system must not be subjective - If a winner is determined by points awarded by a judge or group of judges as opposed to a contestant accomplishing something faster or more than an opponent, I believe this rules out something from being a sport. If the judge is more like a referee, awarding points for things accomplished (like in wrestling), then that meets the criteria. Things like Gymnastics or Ice skating, while meeting the first requirement, are examples of contests that don't meet this one. The odd one for this item is boxing or MMA, because you can win by knocking out an opponent, but you can also win by judges subjectively awarding you the win. Make all bouts unlimited rounds with no scoring... Defense must be part of the contest - Defense allows a contestant to impose his will upon his opponent, an element I find to be oh-so important in sport. This makes things like track & field better defined as athletic contests than sports.

Missouri?

The main advantage of Zman products is not just their buoyancy, but their durability. I have a couple of other non-ZMan products I use on Ned rigs (Roboworm Ned worm, Berkley Moneymaker) and while they produce, you just go through so many more compared to Elaztech products.

According to Jim from "Taxi", its gotta be 3 to 1.

Why? In what universe could you expect the Cowboys to beat the Rams away from home? I could see being grumpy if Dallas had lost to Seattle at home, but this loss to the Rams was expected. The spread was 7, they lost by 8. This year's version of the Cowboys could only compete with the Rams or Saints if the game was played in Dallas. Away from home, they are a tier lower than those two teams. Dallas had a good year and beat a tough opponent in the playoffs. Celebrate the success as they retool for next year.

With the Eagles out, the remaining four teams are eerily similar. All four have offenses that can run up the score on average to worse defenses and defenses that are middle of the road, but can look good for short periods of time if their offense is controlling the game. All four teams can win or lose in a shootout, so it may come down to the defensive performances to make the difference. Ironically, even though all of these offenses are good, none operate in the same manner. Two teams have Super Bowl winning veteran QB's, the other two have younger QB's coming into their own. Both games on Sunday are rematches of shootouts earlier in the season. The only ***** in the armor of any team is the Patriots record on the road (3-5), but that may be counterbalanced by their playoff experience edge. I know many of us, myself included, believe the team we are rooting for will win, but any result over the next 3 games really shouldn't be much of a surprise. It is easy to imagine any of these teams winning the Super Bowl. Go Rams!!

I originally carved a piece of Plexiglas & clamped it on to an old trolling motor shaft that I had cut the motor & head unit off. Later, I ended up using this (https://bullnoseproducts.com/rudder/) on the same TM shaft and it has worked great for years.

A side track to the topic, I am surprised any fishing gear would have a lifetime warranty. Items with moving parts or that are handled frequently will eventually break. One of my vendors has in-wall & in-ceiling speakers that have a lifetime warranty (they are well built and on the higher end of similar products). This seemed like a low risk proposition because the speakers are in a environment (inside) that won't create damage, are not something that you ever touch and don't have moving parts that create friction (Yes, I understand that the woofer & tweeter vibrate & move to create sound, I see friction as the culprit that wears things out). Their lifetime warranty doesn't cover abuse, so if someone blows a speaker out or sprays acid on the grilles to clean them, the warranty would be void. Basically, the lifetime warranty is to let the uneducated buyer know their speakers will last as long as other things built into or installed in the home.

Yet I live in a county of over 3 million people and I don't think we have a dozen members. There are small towns throughout the south with populations in the hundreds who have more members than we do ?

Did you notice the shot across the bow in the article by David Brown (also on their website). It is about catching larger fish in winter and states in the byline "Anyone can catch a bunch of dinks, but who wants More Little Fish?". By capitalizing each word of "More Little Fish", they are definitely referencing MLF. I think that is a smart way of differentiating themselves. While I do enjoy watching MLF, it does seem a little cheesy when compared to an Elite event. I personally like to catch numbers of fish as opposed to the five biggest I can, but I never consider what I am doing to be akin to professional fishing. Pro's in any sport are pro's because they do things that non-pros can't. I'd say that most any decent bass fisherman can find a school of keeper bass and load the boat (which can be a lot of fun), but these same amateurs can't consistently catch limits of 3 & 4 lb fish for multiple days. MLF has some good ideas and a niche for some specialty tournaments, but I don't see them being the top organization in their current format. I believe tournaments like Texas Fest are the future, where the five largest count and fish are released immediately (with a few lunkers brought back for the crowd).

Congratulations! I can't give any tested advice on hull protection, my situation is different than yours whereas my hull never touches land or the bottom of the lake. However, I wonder if it would work to have the bottom sprayed with the same stuff they use on truck beds (Rhino Lining is one name brand). I would guess it would be easier to spray that than a truck bed, so it may not be too expensive. BTW, when you figure out the best way to store rods with that new hull, whether it be some kind of modification or not, go ahead & post it. I am curious about what could work best with it.

Yes it is. A full footcontrol unit would be cramped, the Bigfoot doesn't take up much room. I have noticed over time that often when I hook up, I instnctively spin the throttle to reverse and mash the Bigfoot. It allows me to back out of an area hands free while fighting a fish. It is as close to a must have that a mod can be.

The difficulty in doing so is that you end up compromising when you don't need to (unless you are under contract with said company). For example, I find Zman the best when it comes to small open hooked plastics & trailers. However, I would hate to be forced to use any stick worm besides Senkos or any straight tail worm other than Roboworms.

It has been a great little boat, given me over 4 years of service with no issues. I run a bow mount 42lb thrust on the front with a rudder on the rear for better control. I did a lot of modifications (bigfoot power switch for the TM, depthfinder, on board battery charger, bilge pump, carpeted floorboards & battery cover, upgraded seat, etc), but it was well worth it. I can haul all my gear and 8 rods without being cramped (if I fish by myself). A couple of things I noticed different between the original Prowler & the PP2: First, the PP2 rides higher in the water. This would be a plus in areas where you may get waves or rougher water, but is a negative as far as landing fish. I like being low to the water, I can lip any fish without leaving my seat. Second, the side rails on the PP2 have some obstructions on them that appear to create issues with storing rods on them. I know they have rod holders, but the locations of those are right where you would be casting, so they are useless. You may need to make some little modification to give yourself areas to lay down a pair of rods per side. Lastly, the PP2 did a better job with the locations of tie down cleats & handles (front & back). Those will definitely be handy when you are loading & unloading the boat.

The Cowboys played well in beating the Saints this year and lost at home to the Rams last year, so I would have thought different. I know last year was last year, but both the Rams & Cowboys improved about equal amounts from last year. If this the 1970s, I wouldn't be looking forward to the Cowboys coming out here. Those teams (& the Vikings) used to always find ways in the playoffs to beat Rams teams that were arguably more talented. Since then, not so much. Go Rams!!