The Shorts

The Shorts

Let me be perfectly clear here… 

…without the help and friendship of… 

…Kevin and Kerry Short… 

…I never would have had a career at BASS. 

That is simply the truth. 

I had never heard of Bassmaster. 

Never heard or even thought there was something called Professional Bass Fishing. 

When ESPN sent me to do “some sort of story” about “this Bass fishing thing” myself and a couple of my bosses thought this: “I guess whoever catches the first, or maybe biggest, fish wins.”  

And then the room went silent until someone said, “Might as well go find out what it is…Good Luck.” 

So, I showed up at Lake Champlain in a mini-van waiting for a “Pro” fishing person…and soon a big truck with Arkansas plates pulls up next to me, the window rolls down and I hear exactly this: “You Barone?” 

I want you to just think about this for a second: “You Barone?” two words from a guy in a pickup truck to a guy in a minivan… 

…ultimately lead to 15 years writing NOT ABOUT how to catch a fish with some sort of hook thing… 

…but about the people, about the families, about the crew who put it all together. 

The man in the truck was Kevin Short, the woman sitting next to him was his wife Kerry Short… 

…the day before I met them, I was doing interviews with some NFL players… 

…the week before that I was in an MLB locker room… 

…before that interviews with folks in NASCAR, NHL, NCAA. 

But never once in any of those interviews… 

…did I become family. 

Kevin and Kerry became, and are still, family to me… 

…as are dozens of other professional Bass fishing folks… 

…family. 

And it all began simply with… 

…” You Barone?” 

db