People can be jerks — especially when they have a keyboard in front of them, a social media account and a lack of both information and decency. There are countless examples of trolls, bullies and liars who spout negativity in the name of righteousness.
Pick a topic. Politics, fishing, pickleball. Someone out there wants you to believe they have something meaningful to say. But what they really want are clicks and likes and for you to “hit that subscribe button.” The truth doesn’t matter. The sport doesn’t matter. Just the views. Allow me to offer a recent example.
Easton Fothergill, a tremendous young angler from Minnesota, won the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour. He overcame incredible odds just to hold a rod and reel — much less compete at the world’s biggest fishing event against the world’s best anglers. And the kid won. With every reason not to succeed staring him in the face, he prevailed.
“Another kid using $20,000 worth of electronics to stumble on the right fish. Where’s the skill in that?” said one commenter. “Technology wins again, not instincts,” said another.
Other comments were simply too nasty to include here.
And I have to ask: Why? How could anyone be so relentlessly negative about a kid realizing his dream?
Fothergill is one of the most inspirational stories our sport has seen in a very long time. He moved from Minnesota to attend college in Alabama, fishing for the University of Montevallo. In 2023, he won the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s. He graduated to the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN and won not one, but two of those events in 2024 in what some consider the most stacked fields in competitive bass fishing.
Then, after a dismal start to his rookie season on the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series (finishing 101st and 93rd in his first two events respectively), he rolled into Fort Worth and broke Kevin VanDam’s total weight record for a Classic victory. He hoisted the Ray Scott Bassmaster Classic Trophy and etched his name in the history books.
Fothergill fished his way to the top in college. He fished his way to the top in the Opens. And then, after getting gut-punched in his first two Elite events, he picked himself up by his bootstraps — it was Texas, after all — and fished his way to the pinnacle of our sport. That, by definition, is inspirational.
As he stood under a shower of confetti after being crowned Classic champion, how many kids in that arena — or watching at home — thought, “If he did it, so can I”?
How many high school and college coaches can now point to Fothergill and say, “If he did it, so can you”?
Work hard. Chase your dreams. Get up when you’ve been knocked down.
That’s the lesson we should be celebrating.
Damn the critics and the keyboard warriors. Fothergill is precisely the champion our sport needs. And I challenge every B.A.S.S. member reading these words to join me in ignoring the negativity. Let’s celebrate our sport. Let’s applaud success and support each other.
And if you still feel the urge to be negative, I hear there’s a lot of controversy in pickleball.
