ike dq’d

mike iaconneili dq’d from first day for un sportsman like conduct. culling dead fish and braking stuff in boat.BIG NEWS. looked horrible on tv…….

I like Ike but I think he just gave our sport a big black eye…

He was dq’d?? I just watched the weigh-in and nothing was said about him being dq’d.
Ryan Hale

it was on sportscenter immediatly following coverage

unfortunatly this is something we are going to be hearing/talking about for a long time. its going to be a media explosion

So he’s done for the whole tourney again? Thats 2x in 3 years.WOW.
Ryan Hale

i dont know that the whole tourny is done. i know day one is there working on the story on bassmaster.com as we speak

Ike’s antics have worn a bit thin. His “freak show” antics have become low class, IMHO! Releasing a dead fish in the Classic, no less on NATIONAL TV, come on, you gotta be kidding me! He shouldn’t be able to fish tomorrow for such a STUPID decision. Couldn’t believe my eyes!

Go Luke & Mr. Clunn! What a young super stud and experienced superstar that show respect for the sport, I hope one of them can pull it off!

He was dq’d for beating up his boat in frustration not the dead fish culling…apparently thats legal in a Florida BASS tourney but it sure looked awful when he did it on camera.

i picked clunn

i did not say it was for culling dead fish, i said it was 4 unsportsman like conduct

I also like Iconelli, but thought he looked pretty poor out there today. How old is he? I may have done something like that in my early-mid 20’s but not now.

I kept trying to like the guy, thought it was good for the sport to show some emotion, but now I just don’t know.

The story in the end will be interesting. Did he cull dead fish? The guy obviously is emotionally dynamic. Will be intersting.

You guys are being nice. This guy is an absolute %^$#&**(**@#!!! What a piece of crap. How in the world can you do that to a sponsors $45k boat? Better yet, how can you drop a dead fish over the side and say “We will deal with that later”. If a tournament fisherman did that in sight of me I can tell you that he would regret the decision from both a physical and mental perspective.

Is this what tournament fishing is becoming? When one of your “ambassadors” acts that way? If not, you guys should kick him out. If so, you guys are the enemy.

Does it say he called dead fish ? I know of sportscenters coverage that says he swore & kicked a lightpole, opened his failed livewell & saw dead fish. Maybe there is more to it somewhere else but I haven’t seen it yet.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/classic/news/story?page=b_classic_Ike_DQ

i can understand completely being upset to the fullest, do i agree with the the behavior?….NO WAY!

Lets stop and pay homage to SAINT Bigdog10 . A person that has never lost control of their emotions and done something that they regret later.
Do I approve of what Ike did? No, but I will not judge someone based on what I see in a 5 minute blurb on TV that is controlled by the producers of ESPN. They are after the almighty dollar and the easiest way to do that is to have a villain. Ike is that villain for them. So you will see every move that he makes, because it gets you to watch. On the otherhand, you will not see Joe-Shmo the angler that throws back every gut-hooked fish without an after thought.

So before passing judgement, then holding down the shift key and playing with the number keys BDOG, remember that when your livelihood depends on something, you do not always make the right decision.

Well, it’s obvious your a Ike fan and to each their own. But, I don’t think Ike is getting his “bad” name from this inncident alone. He acts like an azz everytime the camera is on him. Some think he’s good for the sport and from a media standpoint that’s true. He brings attention…

The first day I saw him on TV I thought to myself…what a blabbering, loudmouth idiot!! Now I think the same, only add unsportsman like to the list!! Culling a dead fish, come on!
He obviously takes no pride in our fishing resource and has no respect for his sponsors.

BIRDDOG

Like_Mike-Ike Before we go any further in this discussion, there will be no bashing of other members on here
Now, on to my opinion of Ike. What he did today is the same distasteful antics he does on a consistent basis. This is not just a one time incident. Personaly, I feel he brings a bad image to the sport of bass fishing. He can catch fish without a doubt, but the yelling, screaming, and throwing fits on t.v. is terrible. Do you see the legends or other top name guys that built your sport acting like this? Heck no, they have more respect for themselves and the sport. The culling part has nothing to do with his disqualification. It was within the limits of Florida law, so it is a non-issue here. So now we get to watch and see what he can pull out of his bag of tricks to salvage the rest of the Classic

Being controversial makes a lot of people money. TV, especially, ESPN knows that and feeds on it. They then cut/paste and edit a broadcast to make any person look the way they want. Give me 8 hours of tape, I can make Ike look like an angel and any of the others look like a jerk.

Culling a dead fish? Was it dead? Do we know? Do we know if any culled fish survives?

Maybe ESPN should take some heat for showing the scene as well. Go and DQ him, but don’t show it and then talk about how horrible it was. Unless you (ESPN) want the money.

I wasn’t bashing, just saying there are always at least 2 sides to a story.

You are right, there are 2 sides to the story. And in the next few days, we will know more But, Mike himself admitted what he did in the interview tonight. So, we know what ESPN showed was true and happened just as it was shown. In a few days it will be forgotten when they crown the champ and the press moves on to whoever that may be. I think we can all agree, it is bad press on both parties; Ike and ESPN
My point about bashing was geared toward the bold print. I know you like Ike and were just showing your emotions, all I was asking is too not take out frustrations on somebody else about their opinions So with that, we can move on

From what I saw they DQ’ed him for unsportsman like conduct. That is debateable. I am sure worse things have been done/said/or filmed before.
I also heard them say on ESPN that it is not considered illegal in a BASS tourney to cull a dead fish, but……in almost every state the law states that wanton waste is illegal. As they said on tape(Velvick, and Grigsby), as long as an officer of the law/warden wasn’t there to verify whether the fish was actually dead or not, he is in no trouble. But we all no from the tape we saw, it was dead or at least darn near dead. I can’t believe he released that fish, especially with a camera on him.
That is probably the real reason the DQ’ed him. I think his loud mouth antics are getting old. His great excitement and happiness when catching and doing well is unfourtunatley over shadowed by his vulgar out bursts when something doesn’t go his way.

i will add 3 things to this post
1. Mike Iconnelli is an icon and he didn’t get there by being non contorversial. I will use ellen dgenerous (sp) When she was just a good ole stand up comedian she was bareley a somebody and when she came out of the closet and said she was gay and struck up a relationship with Ann Hash (sp) she became famous almost overnight. Now i am not saying that Mike did these things on purpose for plublicity but he definitely won’t hold back. Everytime we see mike in the public eye he does something to wow us. And every time it has to get a little bit bigger to wow us. This is just a nother rung in the ladder
2. I think personally he should have gotten dq’d for breaking the light and not cause he broke it but because it is a piece of safety equipment. Theoretically lets say it gets foggy and dark and he nolonger has that light and gets t-boned by another boat doing 60 well everyone is going to wish he had that light then.
3. ESPN bought bassmasters and have turned it into an ESPN thing. They do a good job of hyping it up and getting the public involved emotionally by giving you history on the fisherman like with MR. Spinal menengitis ( my heart goes out to that guy) and with Aaron martens and showing his family traveling with him. It is these kind of things that get people watching and build relationship with fisherman. When we invest our emotions into something on the tv the producers have us right where they want us.
so with that said mike did some things that revealed some of his character and who he is and right or wrong it will get plublicity and that means $$$$. Money is an cheap and easy thing to become slave to.

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They then cut/paste and edit a broadcast to make any person look the way they want. Give me 8 hours of tape, I can make Ike look like an angel and any of the others look like a jerk.

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Right, He really doesn’t act that way, they just make him look bad. That’s hilarious!

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Culling a dead fish? Was it dead? Do we know? Do we know if any culled fish survives?

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Yes. If that fish wasn’t dead then it was one of his ever so famous 10 pounders.

BIRDDOG

Is this joker sponsered by anybody???I don’t know if I’d want my company’s name on the boat when you have an adult throwing a hissy fit like a 3 year old!

I think whether you like him or not.. You have to remember, when John McEnroe threw fits & shouting matches abusing umpires in tennis.. organizations let him get away with it because it drew more attention & therefore more money to the sport.

When the Minnesota Wild send Derek Boogaard onto the ice to go pick a with someone (which he does quite well at 6’9″) it’s allowed because it draws attention, therefore making money. Some people say it’s a disgrace to the sport of hockey for people to fight & it teaches young people the wrong values. Maybe they’re right but most are drawn to it anyway. They remember it & come back to see the team again.

Ikes no different & neither is the media..It happens every day. The media tints an angle to generate the most stink. The most controversial angles they can hang at you are hung & you either tune in to see “Oh.. I wonder what’s happened to Ike now ?”. Maybe you don’t care what’s happening with Ike. Then you tune in your focus on the hundreds of other pro anglers you identify with or gravitate more naturally too. Either way your tuned in. The media recognizes that more people will tune in over these things then will tune out altogether.

That’s my 2 cents worth. Keep the change.

How can there be any question? They should have dq’d him from the entire tournament. 1.) His profanity used in front of specatator boats is ridiculous. 2.) Culling dead fish may/may not have been against the law…its a question mark. In most states this falls under the wanton waste rule and it is a game and fish violation. 3.) Throwing the light into the water is littering. 4.) There was an American flag attached to the light pole. Do throw this in the water shows little respect for our great country.

I’ve been neutral about his antics in the past to gain marketing exposure. This crossed the line. BASS needs to rethink what type of animal they’ve created here. As Denny Brauer put it this morning, “he was acting like a jerk.” This is 100% unacceptable in the event coined the superbowl of bass fishing.

Like him or not after spending three days following him as a camera boat for ESPN on Wissota and hanging out with him afterwords, the guy is a genious. I know like most on this site that getting support and recognition in this sport is very emotionaly draining. This guy can get all the coverage that is needed and expected by sponsors without having a good day, thats why he has what he has. He is a product of what is exspected to keep the sponsorships rolling in. The pole he broke off will prbably be worth 100k on ebay someday and he will end up finishing last in this classic. The fishing and catching is actually the easy part in this sport, its getting the support to be able to be in enough events to show case it, thats the tough part. I was not star struck and support him because I spent time with him, rather impressed that he can turn it on and off to be able to steal the spot light when needed, yet be a very average guy that is great with the youth and the guys that envy him . I’m nuts, not Ike nuts, but could be to be in his position. Dennis Rodman could only rebound but look what he did for himself, not including CARMON ELECTA, by getting the attention. Like him or not, I just take it for what it is.

gs