I've been waiting now for over two weeks to see which angler brought home to the $20,000 top prize in NJ SAT (Surf Anglers Tournament) FEST which was held Sunday November 24th. Surely there was winner because there were a ton of slot sized fish up and around the Seaside Heights/ IBSP area and they said there were 13,000 anglers entering the tournament.
As it said in the rules the winner would "have to take the test (a lie detector test) 2 weeks after the tournament is over and must comply with all of the media requirements "promotional videos" before payment is given". So any chance of keeping that bag of cash for yourself and hidden from Uncle Sam is out of the question. I mean this is is a big event even gathering support from Congressmen Jeff Van Drew and entered into the permanent Congressional record of the United States of America.
If you paid the $185 fee, plus the $50 to drive on the beach, and you haven't seen the standings or anything aren't you a little suspect? In order for a tournament, or a drawing, to have credibility, it has to have believability. I can't believe that we haven't heard from the biggest surf anglers tournament in the United States of America. And let me tell, I know some surf casters, some of them ugly, mean, and won't take bullshit, or fraud, sitting down.
So let's move past the lie detector test and the two weeks after. Two weeks from November 24th would have been yesterday, December 8th. That's after all the promotional videos and press releases were sent out and the scheduling done for FOX News, MSNBC, and CBS. So that guy or girl must have got all tightened up this week with a new set of duds for their big world wind tour. And those press releases will show the winner holding up that 28-31 inch striped bass and a check, or lots of hundies, totally $20,000.
So how do you get $20,000? If you just went by the participants top break even you'd need 108.10 participants at $185. If you told me that I had a 1/108 chance of winning $20,000 by catching a 30.75 inch bass on November 4th? I'd would have broke out the spinning rod, tied on an Ava, and casted 30,000 times over those 5 hours. It would have been worth the $185. But there were 13,000 entries, at $185 per that's $2,405,000. That's some serious business right there.
Now the weigh ins already happened. The anglers had to weight them in on the boardwalk at Seaside Heights by 1pm on November 24th. You mean to tell me that not a single person snapped a photo or leaked that angler who came in with a 30.90 inch striped bass? C'mon man.
You may think I'm just being a douche mentioning this but I really want to know how the tournament went down. Every year we buy tickets for the Mercedes Benz raffle at the Lady Star of the Sea Church in Cape May. We did it again this year but didn't win.
Imagine if they set it up like this. They sell a ton of tickets. The drawing is on October 31st. But we won't announce the winner until November 14th...maybe. And you'll be subjected to a lie detector test and forced to be in videos, pamphlets, autograph signings, and an Only Fans cameo. I don't think that would go over well.
I went over to the NJ SAT FEST website for the two-week announcement of the winner. That was yesterday, Sunday, December 8th. If you are a participant and waiting to find out if you won I hope you're not holding your breath, or your urine.
And I also hope you aren't like Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation who ordered a new pool for the family only to realize the bonus he got was a years subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club. Stay tuned.