I don’t think half of you even understand what you’re defending most of the time. The “MLF Cups” are Reality TV drama shows.. re-enactments, scripted, choreographed, with directors....

From the history of MLF:
The second phase of the anglers’ vision was focused on the way fans would view the competition. The group was looking for less emphasis on the fish caught, with more emphasis on personalities, the struggles, the strategies, the conflicts and the emotions of the anglers.

These made for TV events are fictionalized, they are not real fishing tournaments, they are TV shows built around what happens at a fishing tournament, including the drama.Read about it here.

Hey Mark, if Big O turns out to be right will you tell us how they get the fish to cooperate so that the show can be scripted, choreographed, re-enacted? How many takes does it take to get the scene right?

Lol, you clearly haven't seen a Cup event on TV. Perhaps you should watch one and join us here in 2021...

Emphasizing drama doesn’t equal “fictionalized.”

I turned on the live today for a few minutes and just happened to hear them talking about a tournament a while back where they actually made an agreement not to fish the best area to make the show more of a show. Thought that was interesting

Imagine that! Freudian slip of the tongue.

I see where it makes for a better show, maybe. I like to see guys find the best spot on the lake, that's kind of the point of a tournament. Which pretty much shows what Big O is saying is right. Boys has always held his position on it not being anything other than a TV show. That's just their model. I wouldnt have thought they would manipulate results, well I wouldnt have thought the anglers would have let them do that.

Of course I am right, and most know it. For cripes sake, even BassFan which has a rankings for anglers doesn’t include those MLF Cup’s in the equation for determining ranklings, and rightfully so. And that publication is owned by KSE, which is also owned by the majority owner of MLF.

Some of these guys are giving blind loyalty to something that they don’t even understand what it really is. In another thread the topic of the “cups” also came up and I tried sending a subtle hint by asking the question if the results from them were counted in the official anglers rankings, hoping that if they realized they weren’t then the light bulb would go off in their head... but some are just to thick. It’s sad really.

Emphasizing drama doesn’t equal “fictionalized.”

The Cups are not BPT. You keep bringing up the Cups to bash MLF in comparison to BASS. The Cups aren’t intended to be competition to BASS.

The Cups did popularize the MLF-style event, which was innovative and much different from a traditional best five bass tournament. It laid the foundation that led to BPT.

I’ve said it a lot but it bears repeating: I’m not some MLF superfan and I’m not a BASS hater. I enjoy both. I understand and enjoy the drama of the anglers knowing in real time exactly what they need to win or make a cut. It is exciting to watch, in my opinion, when a guy catches a fish with five minutes left that puts him a few ounces into first place and the guy he just passed knows it and has a chance to catch one more to retake the lead. It’s the way every other sport works. Tom Brady knows the time and score. Lebron James knows the time and score. Watching them engineer a comeback in real time is exciting. If they didn’t know how many points they needed to score in the last minute of a game, and the other team didn’t know what it needed to do, sports wouldn’t be as exciting.

I enjoy both styles of fishing tournament, but MLF appeals to people who aren’t historically pro bass fishing fans because it’s more like traditional sports. But comparing the Cups to Bass when BPT is the true comparison is silly.

I thought Hack went back to the Elites?