Van Dam wins again

Kevin Van Dam is amazing. This weekend, he not only won the Bassmasters Classic for the second straight year and fourth time overall, he made it look easy with a winning margin of more than 10 pounds.
And he didn't do it by finding some obscure hole where he fished by himself for three days, he was in the same pocket, often within casting range, of his closest competitors. And what he was using - spinnerbaits and then crankbaits - was no secret. He just plain outfished them.
I especially enjoyed the fact that he won with only a short run from the launch ramp, while others ran something like 150 miles to where they thought they would catch bigger fish. Granted, fog delays hurt they guys making the long runs, but that's part of the game. Frankly, from what I've read about the delta, There's no way you should have to run two or three hours to find good fish. But hey, I wasn't there, so what do I know?
OK, so KVD has now matched Rick Clunn with four Classic titles and I believe he's matched Roland Martin for total BASS tournament wins. He's also won something like $5 million in tournaments. He still has three Angler of the Year titles to go to match Martin's nine, but does anybody doubt he will not only match, but exceed, that?
His dominance of his sport reminds me of Tiger Woods at the top of the golf world and Gary Kasparov as world chess champion. They didn't necessarily win every time they played, but if they were entered they had to be considered a favorite to win. Not because they didn't have worthy opponents or that they were necessarily more skilled, but he manages to focus his skills and concentration better than the others and he obviously thrives in pressure situations.
Ho many of us, with $500,000 on the line, could stay on a hole for a couple hours, until the fish he was sure would be there, started biting? Most of us would give up after an hour or so and head elsewhere.
But then, that's why he's at the top of the fishing world and we're not.