BASS TOURNEY A TOUGH COVER.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

There are more than 500 square miles of accessibility for the 61 anglers competing in this weekend's Bassmaster Classic, the world's top bass tournament.

That means ESPN, which will broadcast the event on same-day tape, has a lot of ground to cover.

``This is one of the more difficult projects,'' ESPN coordinating producer Tina Thornton said. ``I'm not saying it is the hardest. But it is one of the most difficult.''

ESPN and companion station ESPN2 will broadcast action from the Louisiana Delta, an area that stretches 80 miles south of New Orleans to 90 miles to the west of the Big Easy. The network then moves indoors to the New Orleans Arena for the daily weigh-ins. The three-day tournament starts Friday.

``There are two arenas, and that makes it especially difficult,'' Thornton said.

ESPN will employ 21 cameras, 10 for the arena and 11 for the Delta. It also will use two helicopters and several chase boats. One of the arena cameras will be robotic and directly over the weigh-in tank. One of the Delta cameras will be on the helicopter. The other helicopter will be used for transporting film to the production truck in New Orleans.

``The Delta is so huge that it makes things difficult,'' Thornton said.

It will take some anglers three hours to reach one fishing spot. Thornton, who is in charge of hiring talent and helping piece together the television show's image, says the network will focus on the top 10 anglers, like 2002 champion Jay Yelas of Santa Barbara, on Friday, then concentrate on the leaders on Day 2 and Day 3.

The turnaround from shooting the action to the television screen is so short Thornton said the show will be broadcast while the weigh-in will be taking place, which means the network will employ a TiVo-like device to keep recording action while the show is on the air.

``It's not live, but it's such a short turnaround, it's as close to live as you can get,'' she said.

Networks employ in-car cameras in NASCAR and football players periodically have worn helmet cams. So, why can't the Classic be televised live?

``I don't see it at this stage yet,'' said Thornton, who has been the coordinating producer for two other Classics and also has helped produce the Outdoor Games and the NCAA Women's Final Four. ``I look forward to doing it live, but we're not at that point yet. This is a very difficult project with two venues. It's not like a basketball or football game where you have one venue. Here, you have anglers who go at full speed for three hours, fish for two hours and start back. We're going to try and follow them.''

With only 11 on-water cameras, it will be a crap shoot for the crews because some anglers could get skunked.

``My practice (session) wasn't very outstanding by any means,'' Yelas said. ``It was pretty mediocre. I felt like I had a good area, but they weren't biting. They've got to be biting good for me to have a chance to win after making such a long run.''

Ron Franklin, ESPN's lead college football announcer and an avid bass angler, will be the show host with 1998 Classic champion Denny Brauer the analyst. Jerry McKinnis, whose Fish 'N Hole show on ESPN is the second-longest running on the network, will provide tidbits, Tommy Sanders will offer on-the-water reporting and former NFL standout Deion Sanders, recently signed as a guest host to The New American Outdoorsman, also will be involved. ESPN's lead NFL producer, Tom McNeely, will produce the hour-long programs.

Friday's coverage will be on ESPN2 starting at 4 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday coverage on ESPN starting at 3 p.m.

Keith Lair, [phone]

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com