And the Nuggets and Avalanche.

You have to understand its all about TV guys. Where was the NFL before TV? These pros get paid by advertisers to get their jerseys shown on TV and talk about how they caught all their fish using the bait their sponsor makes. The more time they are seen on TV the more money they make. With BASS and FLW their TV is very limited. MLF is actually a fishing infomercial. Its a veritable gold mine for sponsors. Johnny Morris recognized it right off and jumped in both feet! Its stock car racings format with sponsors plastered all over the place! Its pure freaking genius!

The reasons I, and my wife (she loves to fish, but mlf is the ONLY fishing show she will watch) like to watch MLF are:

-- they don't get to pre-fish (like us when we fish in a tourney, we NEVER get to pre-fish, because we both work), i think it takes MUCH more talent to win a mlf event than it does a regular tour event because of this

-- since you know the size of fish all others are catching, you know if you have to go for #'s or size, or both...some of y'all are saying its a dinkfest, but many times it the angler with the highest per fish avg that wins...hack, poche, etc... what takes more skill, to fish for a few days, find 2 or 3 spots to catch 5-7 fish on, or having no clue where you are fishing, breaking down the lake in a 15 ride around, and then fish??

-- i like that the events are broken into 3 or 4 groups, and you have to finish top 3 or 4 to move on...it lets you see what each angler is doing, how they are doing it, and if their decisions were the correct ones; and, to be honest, I like to see some of the best sticks struggle, like I do at times, when the fish aren't where we think they should be, and then watching how they fix the problem

My opinion...I love the MLF format because I am bored to tears with the TV presentations of "video fishing." Watching a guy sit in open water dropping his cricket under the boat isn't compelling theater to me. I am not saying I wouldn't like to be standing beside him helping. I am saying I don't care to watch it. To me MLF did not cheapen the competition, it re-created the competitive balance. There is now a price to pay for the time you spend graphing; looking for the motherlode. For while you idle, Earl is hammering two-pounders.

I'm assuming this is sarcasm?

MLF and PBT are two different formats. The PBT will be an announced lake with practice period just like the Elite tournaments are. MLF is show up and fish.

Just curious, what is PBT?

Pro Bowlers Tour