My Thoughts

So the big boys (and girls) will get their shot at millions of dollars in prize money next week when the White Marlin Open returns to Ocean City, but the old guy will probably just let it pass without getting too wound up about it. Sure, there is no shortage of excitement surrounding the event from the tour of boats leaving the Inlet at the crack of dawn on the first day and chugging out to canyons all over the charts searching for the big score to the first big white or blue marlin hauled up the scales in front of thousands of fishing enthusiasts at the big shindig on 14^th Street.

Insider caught a few white marlin when he was a younger man and seeing them dance across the water in all their glory is something everybody should experience some time in person, which is why the daily weigh-ins at the Open are so popular. Most of the lubbers on the docks never get to see a majestic white marlin up close and personal in their natural habitat, so seeing one run up a scale with millions of dollars on the line is the next best thing I suppose.

The White Marlin Open is a game for big boys and girls with deep pockets and the excitement it generates is well deserved, but is there anything better than the unbridled joy on the face of a kid catching a fish no matter how big or how small? That joy was on display all over the place last weekend when little ones of all ages competed in the annual Kids' Classic tournament.

The old guys hears over 300 kids were involved this year and hundreds of fish of all shapes and sizes were caught from croaker and spot to white marlin and tuna. Nice going kids. It appears fishing in and around Ocean City is alive and well with another generation or two of young anglers lined up for the future. Most will enjoy a lifetime of luring an unseen creature to a baited hook and maybe even one or two of them will haul in the big prize at a White Marlin Open in the future.

Speaking of kids, a young guy and his wife recently officially completed the adoption of their handsome young baby boy, and the old guy was struck by the length and difficulty of the process. They finally reached the finish line, or the starting line, after jumping through countless hoops and filling out mountains of paperwork.

What struck Insider about the whole thing is how difficult the process was and how it will all be worth it and already has been. By contrast, any knucklehead couple with the right hardware can have a baby and be sent off with the keys and the instructional manual with few questions asked. If only the same scrutiny applied to adopting couples was applied to all aspiring parents. Somebody famous, I think it was Werner Von Braun, once said humanity is one thing that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.