Alliance package

Hi
I was just reading Bass Times in the Federation Nation Championship and saw that Montana who place 3rd receive a fully rigged Bass Boat values at $50,000.00 for the highest finish. Jay Evans was 3rd from Montana and Scott Parker from NH placed 2nd. How come NH didn't get the boat????

Thanks,
Jean

Because Scott is not sponsored by Triton/Mercury, so he was supporting his own sponsors and stood to win 50K himself (from Skeeter) if he won the event. In other words, the Alliance contract states that the highest finisher at Nationals whose state is in the Alliance, AND has the angler wearing Alliance clothing, wins the boat. In this case it was Montana that fulfilled all the criteria.

What Dave says is NOT intireley true. Scott was sponsered by Triton and the federation. The Federation gave Scott a check to help pay for his week of prefishing. This money was from Triton and the alliance package. He was told that he was required to wear his Triton shirt at the weigh in. Scott did not even bring his Triton shirt to the event. He left it at home. He had no intention of ever wearing it. If he was supporting Triton or the Federation ( who sponsered him and gave him the opportunity to go to the nationals) he would have brought his shirt with him. Yes, he would have won a substantial amount of money from Skeeter IF he placed first overall. If he had his Triton shirt with him, he could have put it on the last day. Once he knew he was not going to place first there was no reason to snub Triton and the Federation that he claims to support. If he cared about the Federation he would have had his shirt in his boat. Our Federation could have used that money. We could have done allot of good things for the Federation. Not one person, the whole Federation. More and better prizes at opens, reduced membership fees, support for the Jr. Bassmasters program, and PVA just to name a few. His actions effected everyone in the federation. IMO it was very selfish and he should have been up front with the Federation when he was looking for money to go prefish. Thanks for your support Scott.

Wow, I have to say I am surprised by the response to this thread. I am part of a new club that decided to join the NH BASS Federation Nation vs. the other guys because of the quality of anglers fishing in the Nation. I don't know Scott personally, but I did read about him in the BASS Times and online and this is a GOOD NEWS story for the NH BASS Fed. Nation. I would think we would want to support Scott (even if it is on the surface only) while he gets ready to compete at the Classic. I can understand the Federation's stance that a lot could be done with the money raised by raffling off the boat, but I don't know any of the circumstances as to why Scott would not wear the Federation shirt at the weigh-in (does anyone know if Skeeter offered him something?).

Is Scott still a member in good standing? If so, putting this type of message out to the masses makes it look like we are not in his corner. What would his message be about us if he WON the classic? Would the Federation NOT have given him money to compete if he said he would not wear the shirt in advance (I think our dues go into funding any angler that competes at this level - although I could be wrong). Again, I am just making an observation and I don't claim to have all the info on what went down with Scott at the Fed. Nation Championship. Although, riding his success to the Classic could go a long way to recruiting new clubs (like mine) into the fold.

Scott is still a member in good standing. I hope he does well at the classic. I am not saying Scott is a bad person. I am sure he is a fine upstanding young man. He had a choice to make and his choice effected all federation members. That being said , I have heard allot of negative things murmered in passing about Scott through the years. I did not know Scott so I defended him . At the time that Scott went to the nationals I was VP of the Federation. I am only commenting on what I saw first hand.
Would the Federation have given him money to practice if he told us he would not be wearing the Triton shirt? Good question. I do not know the answer to that because Scott did not take a stance on behalf of his sponser. I can tell you that like almost every other state in the nation , because of this event our state team will be required to sign a contract to qualify for the team. The contract will protect US as federation members, from losing out on a winfall like this again. Once again this is our federation not one persons federation. As a group we should and will, all benefit from anything that helps the federation. I can tell you that when we split from the other side our goal as board members was to help the federation prosper. Also we wanted to make competing in the BASS Federation Nation fair and equal. When we started this we stressed that there would be NO favoritism. The rules would be the same for EVERYONE. These are the reasons we have grown as a group . I for one saw many things in the old federation that were a problem. These problems were also noticed by many others. If you went to the federation meetings you would have heard the talk amongst the reps outside the meetings. These issues were never addressed. We have gone out of our way to make sure everyone has a voice in our federation. At our federation meetings we incourage partisipation WITHOUT ridicule. Because of this and the way we have worked hard to make competing equal to all members, we have IMO a better group of fishermen.
Would our federation shine if Scott does good at the classic? Of corse we would. I hope he wins the whole thing. That is not the point. The question presented was "why did we not win the boat?". I gave the answer without the political crap. Cut and dry. I feel personally that honesty and fairness as well as good competition will bring new clubs and members. If a club does not want to join our federation because we are up front and honest then there are other options out there. If you want to fish the BASSMASTER CLASSIC this is the only place to get there and we strive to make it fair and equal to ALL.
Thanks for your input.

This situation with Scott and the Alliance deal is a tough call. In a way it is like being on a baseball team-an individual may have success but that doesn't necessarily mean his team will win because of that success.
I did speak with Scott recently and he did address the tough decision he had to make regarding this issue. He was honest about it and I respect his decision.
I knew this would probably be a hot topic and it should be discussed at the monthly meetings in the future. Not to stir the pot further, but from my perspective (and some others I've spoken to) New Hampshire hasn't exactly acted like a "team" in recent tournaments. I am specificaly speaking about the Eastern Divisionals in September. not being there to accept their check was one issue that stands out. Another item is the lack of help given or offered to the two Jr's who also fished that event. As the father of one of the boys I was surprised that nobody in the Federation (except the other boys Dad) extended an offer of help.
There are many issues to be discussed as this federation evolves, but hopefully it will lead to an open, honest organization that we can all be proud of. As Youth Director of my club I know that I am proud to be associated with this organization (and BASS) and look forward to making our state federation one we call all be proud of.