Today dawned with the kind of anticipation that churns fans' stomachs yet pulls them irresistibly into the game.
Fandom delivers great joy, but not without great cost. The thrills of victory push us to the peak, but sooner or later, we will endure a stumble. It happens. Always does.
Nobody is perfect. Not in baseball, football or fishing.
Today dawned with me launching the Bass Cat on the Ohio River for the annual "King of the River" bass tournament. I won't know the outcome until later this afternoon, of course, but I had high hopes for a satisfying victory.
As you read this morning, I'm pitching for smallmouth bass with teammate Tyler Woak with confidence we'll catch our limit, but knowing we had to hit a couple home runs to stand a chance of fending off a slew of river rats with eyes on the prize.
I'm a competition junkie. This is why I have fished in countless bass tournaments since the mid-1980s. The old saying "You can't win them all" certainly describes my four decades of tournament experience, but I started every day of every tournament with a strong sense that the win was within reach.
And so it will go later today when my Cleveland Guardians will square off in a game critical to how history will judge their season. A win today propels the Guards one step closer to the World Series. Later today, Ohio State takes on Oregon. A Buckeye win is necessary for a Big Ten championship and a shot at the national title.
My stomach is churning even as I write this the day before the Big Day. Winning, as legendary Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi told us, isn't everything. It's the only thing.
So my first focus is on the Ohio River. The forecasted conditions looked favorable for the game plan Woak and I formulated. The river is running clear and the sky is supposed to have just enough puffy clouds to put the fish in a feeding mood.
We'll be hunting for wolf packs of smallies eager to crush topwater lures and inhale our jigs. We expect the fishing to be good and we're hoping to sack an early limit.
But we also know our competition will be formidable. The other teams are experienced on the river and knowledgeable about the tricks necessary to get big bass in their boats. Average fish will not be enough to outscore the others.
Mid-afternoon, even with fishing still to be done, we'll turn our attention to Cleveland. Like I'm sure yours is, too, my stomach will be churning with anxiety over
the Guard's second win-or-go-home game this week.
The task is simple. Push more runs across Progressive Field's home plate and the Guards move on. The fan in me says we can do it again, just as sure as David Fry can blast
a ball over the left-field fence and lay down the textbook perfect squeeze bunt.
By nightfall, it will be all about that gridiron in Oregon. I'm visualizing a game of tough defense boiling down to a win by the team that makes a big play and no mistakes. My vision sees a big red O with more points than the yellow Duck O.
October is a great time to be fanatical about fishing, playoff baseball and Big Ten football. But as I said, it comes with a price.
All of this weighs heavily. It's gut-wrenching. We must tame the Tigers and dunk the Ducks. But first I've got to bag a hefty catch of Ohio River smallmouth bass. The goal today is three W's.
Sunday will come regardless of the outcome, but it will dawn a whole lot sweeter with big wins today.
Jack Wollitz has written this fishing column weekly since 1988. He also is the author of "The Common Angler," published in 2021. Contact him at [email protected].