Swindle Speak
Category: article
Aug 3rd, 2012 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Aug 3rd, 2012 at 12:00 AM
It is rare to find an individual in professional sports that will provide honest answers to serious questions. Often, due to contractual relationships with a team, sponsors, their league, etc., they feel the cliché pat answer is the way to go.
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| Gerald Swindle (Photo BassFIRST) |
Fortunately, for BassFIRST.com readers I did not ask Gerald Swindle any serious questions and he was very forthcoming in his answers.
DL- What is your all-time favorite sport other than hunting and fishing and why?
GS – Baseball. I played football and basketball, but baseball has to be it. I played a lot of travel league growing up and in a men’s softball league. I truly enjoy it.
You can make so many different athletic plays in baseball. Players need to be able to run the bases, make catches, field groundballs and fly balls, throw accurately and hit a baseball. It’s a great sport.
DL – What is your least favorite sport and why?
GS – Women’s basketball! It is just miserable to watch. It finishes just like it started, slow.
I mean, the highlight is a lay up or a bounce pass. In the men’s game, you never know when an alley-oop or some other remarkable play will happen. Women’s, well, there is nothing interesting about it to me.
DL- What is the worst meal you’ve ever had on the road?
GS – I’ve had plenty, but I have to say anything from Wendy’s. I just can’t choke it down. From chicken sandwiches to cheeseburgers, I just can’t do it. I avoid all of the fast food places now. I get subway instead when I have to eat on the go.
Also, Cracker Barrel. You’ve got to wait to sit, wait to order, wait to get served, and wait to pay. Hell, they oughta be good at getting one of those things done right. Nothing is homemade; it’s all out of a can.
I’ll stick with the Waffle House. Something about cigarette smoke and eggs really turns me on.
DL – Are you a fan of Kid Rock?
GS – I love his stuff. I like everything from his personal story of how he worked his way up from nowhere to his writing and his music.
I like that he is a rebel and offers such a variety of music. He plays anything from soulful to southern rock and then being able to flow with a rap tune. I’d like to meet him.
DL – Do you donate to PeTA?
GS – Oh hell no! I tell ya what I would donate to them. I’d donate 75 pounds of back strap off a doe I gut shot with my bow!
DL – If you were an animal, other than human, which one would you be and why?
GS – I’d be a lap dog. Don’t have to do anything. My owner would carry me outside when I had to take a leak. I could pop off to all the big nasty dogs. I could scream at ’em all day and the big dogs couldn’t do anything. My owner would pick me up before any trouble.
Plus, my owner would hold me against her boobs when I get cold.
DL – What look do you wish you could rock?
GS – My head shaved bald. I mean smooth. I’ve thought about it, but never have done it. The ease of maintenance would be great. I’m just not sure I could pull it off.
DL – Who is your favorite angler to beat or place ahead of in a tournament?
GS – I like to beat everyone, but when I have a dollar bet with KVD it is fun to beat him. When we have a bet I really have my eye on what he is doing.
Whoever loses has to sign the dollar. He’s got more of my dollars that I have of his. I keep his dollars in my office. I don’t care if I finish 49 and he finishes 50, if I have a dollar bet with him that makes me happy when I win.
DL – Should professional athletes be allowed by their various leagues to take performance enhancement drugs?
GS – Yes. It’s their body. Hell, some of these athletes use cocaine, beat their wife and they are still allowed to play.
What is the difference between a 401-foot home run and a 421-foot home run? It’s still a home run. If these drugs help them perform better and help them recover why not? I bet when doctors are administering steroids and monitoring the athletes its safe than some of the supplements they are taking that are legal with god knows what in them from China or somewhere else.
DL – Who is your favorite pro wrestler?
GS – John Cena. I met him once at a Fox Sports awards show in Atlanta. Really nice guy. Humble and real. Plus, he is a freaking monster when you stand next to him.
DL – What is your most vivid fishing memory?
GS- All of my tour career memories kind of blend together. There are a lot of good memories, but the most vivid stuff for me has to be fishing with my father when I was a boy.
Paddling down a creek on a July day when it was too hot to farm. Watching him catch all of the spotted bass. That memory always comes to me.