Van Dam wins; Triton sold

There's been a lot of news in the fishing world just in the last few days, including these three items of note:
1) Saturday, Kevin Van Dam pulled off a dramatic victory on the Alabama River to win another BASS Angler of the Year title, again beating out Skeet Reese in the final round of competition.
2) The biggest news, however, occurred in the last few days, when it was announced that the company that owns Ranger and Stratos has purchased the glass Triton boat line from Brunswick, which brings up a lot of questions about how the boat industry with shake out as a result. Plus, what will happen with angler sponsorships and each company's recent association with FLW (Ranger) and BASS (Triton).
3) A third bit of news was that the Lindners (Al, Ron and Jim) have signed a sponsorship deal with Quantum reels, leaving Shimano. Quantum seems to have been particularly aggressive in trying to increase its share of the fishing reel market in recent years and the Lindners have significant followings in more than just the bass fishing world. However, I don't think they are as visible as they were before selling In-Fisherman and their attaching religious messages to their fishing shows is annoying.
I can't begin to cover all the aspects of these three items, but you can red a lot about them on the BassFan and Wired2Fish websites. I've added both top the list of inks to the right.