Agreed, I see Boyd's fingerprints all over this. Where was this after Stage 1? It was the BPT Bashing in Stage 2 that caused this to happen.

If he's really going through all this I feel for him, but it's not like he started acting this way just recently, he's been this way his whole career. I see this as just another CYA press release TBH... but hope I'm wrong.

BASS made him and BASS sustained him with edited airtime. He no longer fishes BASS. He fishes an invite only professional anglers tournament series.

Mike Iaconelli has been a top topic on this forum for the last several weeks if not months. The truth is that elite tournament fishing is now about celebrity and moving product more than it is about winning tournaments. So from what I can see Mike is at the top of the game.

Rick Clunn, a guy who is arguably the best bass fisherman of all time recently won an elite tournament in his mid 70's! How much attention is he getting on the web? And Ricky Clunn is all class.

IMO, Iaconelli is responsible for more product being moved than a lot of guys who are "classy". So he isn't going anywhere.

Unfortunately society today / media loves the foul mouth no morals people. Not that Ike is that bad but it is what it is today.

I think his book fishing on the edge only shows the tip of the iceberg of what he has dedicated himself to as far as being a winning bass tourney guy. Has admitted before he has depression issues, probably manifests itself a lot when he is driving 8,10-18 hours to go fish somewhere. I can relate with him in some ways, but heck I forget to turn on the radio most times when I am out now, just focus on the fish, what I am doing and enjoying not being at work. He gets something different from it, I get it and he channels a lot of energy (+ and -) put that way IMO.

I was an Ike hater for a long time. Then one of my best friends from my club spent a day as a marshal in his boat. Turns out he is really nice guy. He would speak candidly about the techniques he was using and gave my buddy a surprise hug after he caught a big one. After weigh in he sent a long video message to a club member's spouse who was in the hospital battling cancer. I was really surprised to hear what he did and now I've got nothing but respect for the man. If I had cameras on me every time I missed a fish or was in a bad mood I'd have to apologize to the public too, and I don't have any fans.

If it�s attention he is after, as many here believe, it�s working! Topic of conversation on the TFF.....AGAiN!

Spot on right here. Copycat Gerald Swindle can go ballistic over a 2 pound bass, and the board loves it. I think it's all unprofessional and gets old after a while, but at least Ike was the original.

So what did he do?

Think about this though... To be honest, I�d rather eat paint chips than watch s tournament full of clunns .
At their level, there�s much, much more to it than just catching fish.

I refuse to waste my energy hating Ike.....I also refuse to waste my time watching him.
He's a tiny turd in a pasture of cattle.

It's just another Iaconelli incident. The guy is an intense competitor and he's emotional. I don't need his apology or explanation for being who he is.

If he does those things and I am not saying he doesn't, don't you think he would look better to the public if he acted like that all time? Instead he acts like a 3 year old throwing a fit. If one of my kids did those things I would whip their [censored].
Do you not think that any kids watching the things he does when he is on TV thinks that it is ok to do those things. They say Mike does so it must be ok. Well its not at least in my opinion.

If you as a parent use sports personalities as role models for your children then you�re doing a lousy job as a parent

It make no different what I do, its what the younger generation see. Can you always be with your kids or even young adults that have left home? No you can't so while they are seeing a grown man act like a juvenile they are soaking this in. That's why we have such a disconnected younger group today. They see people acting like this and they are getting attention from it and they think I can too.