I don't think anything has changed since yesterday. The opinion piece jsmith referenced above was written before Mac decided not to apply for the record. It's just what it says it is, an opinion piece, and the circumstanes under which it was written have changed since Mike Jones wrote it. Clearly the WRB chase is still alive.

From a factual standpoint, bassfan.com has been doing a great job covering the entire thing IMO. They didn't rush to put something up online, they took the time to get direct interviews with all involved and you can read each of those interviews with plenty of direct quotes on their site.

Let's summarize since it can get confusing:

3/21/06 - Interview with Steve Barnett
http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=1660

3/22/06 - Interview with Kyle Malmstrom (bottom half of article)
http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=1661

3/23/06 - Interview with Mac Weakly
http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=1664