Let me back track.

At the IHSA bass fishing tournament this weekend at Carlyle, I saw people running around in hoodies with a neat logo on them. And made a mental note to buy one as a piece of outdoor history, the world's first statewide high school bass fishing tournament.

Sprinting toward the press room after the final weigh-in Saturday, I remembered. So I found the IHSA trailer and bought one. At $35, they're overpriced, but they look good and are a connection to outdoor history.

Tonight, I dropped my boys off at karate and ran to Kroger's. It was just cool enough that i slapped the hoodie on before going in.

In the check-out line, the strapping kid bagging my groceries pointed at my hoodie and asked, ``Where you there?''

I said yeah and he asked which school I coached. I said I was there for the Sun-Times. And he said, ``I fished it.''

And I asked, ``Are you Nate Bass?''

And it was the kid from Bradley-Bourbonnais who weighed in the first ever bass at the IHSA's first state championship. He was still pretty excited by it all, the television cameras and everything.

With a name like that, I don't think it was an accident that he weighed the first fish.

I'm sorry, but I love this stuff.

I thought I had a photo of Bass from the weekend. If I find it, I will post it.

For general finals stuff click here. That gives options for things like patches too.

For the bass fishing hoodie, click here..