Lettuce be real tea, IFBB brahs-The IFBB is simply not a legitimate organization

[BlackNumero]

Over the past year or two I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the way the IFBB handles itself. Perhaps that explains my growing cynicism towards bodybuilding and my inability to take it seriously anymore. It has become ever so evident with the internet, growing forum participation, and webcast coverage of events that the IFBB continuously executes shenigans that damage its integrity and contribute to growing fan disapproval. The IFBB is slowly morphing into a physique version of the WWE-favored bodybuilders get obviously gifted placings and the announcers talk more about storylines and what sells instead of actually discussing things in an objective manner. Instead of trying to provide a niche sport that could be a reasonable cash cow over the long term, the IFBB instead seems to have taken the glitzy showy short term “do what sells” that has been ****ing both the sport and its competitors over in the long term. Granted, most people always try to talk about dream scenarios where the IFBB goes “mainstream”. I’m not talking about that, the IFBB will never go mainstream because it’s a sport that revolves around semi nude men flexing muscles. But it can still be a successful organization that listens to its fans and bodybuilders with well run shows instead of half assed competitions that give out placings to please a couple of people back stage in what can only be described as a “little boys club.” So let me waste some of your time by explaining why I think the IFBB ignominiously fails in three crucial places: judging, show organization, and rules administration. Ready to move on? Didn’t think so.

Lack of Judging Transparency

This is probably the biggest reason why people are so pissed with the IFBB, and its been a perennial problem. The most common way of phrasing it is “IFBB politics” or “corrupt judges”, which conjures the image of shady behind room dealings where important IFBB people and supplement officials discuss predetermined placings, regardless of how people look. Competitors either end up stealing the entire show and get first place or snagging a Top 6 spot that they clearly don’t deserve. There are close calls, and then there are these that even Helen Keller could describe as a perfect example of a complete ****up. To tabulate all such blatantly outlandish placings would resemble a tedious laundry list of bodybuilder names and contests, which I’m way too lazy to do. But we all know the most obvious in recent memory, and this only includes the past couple of years. Mark Alvisi in the 2010 Europa Super Show, Kevin English at the 2011 212 “showdown” (whatever the **** that is supposed to me, the IFBB lets strippers vie for an Olympia title, you can’t have another men’s bodybuilding division get an Olympia?) and 2012 NY Pro, Branch Warren at the 2012 AC and 12 Olympia, Jay Cutler at the 2011 Olympia and Sheru, and so on and so forth. Even in the past two years you could come up with a sizable list that would make any reasonable person think twice when they hear the IFBB described as a “Professional Bodybuilding Organization”. As if.

Granted there are in any sport things such as close calls and controversial decisions. No one says that these should not take place, and down to the wire events are the memorable ones that are the reason why we watch sports. But the problem which prevents a clear delineation between what is obvious corruption and a close call is that the judging transparency is nil-no one truly knows how the damn ****ing shows are judged!. We never get a verbal report of how why bodybuilder X won, what poses, etc etc. We never even know what a winning physique is supposed to be!! Is it most conditioned? Freakiest? Aesthetic? Etc etc. The big “criterion” in the 90s and 00s used to be “Best Back”-its what people fell on to defend some of Dorian’s more controversial titles and what was generally seen to be the criterion to place high at the Olympia. But that clearly can’t be the case, because Jay Cutler won in 2010 and placed 2nd in 2011, with arguably the worst back in the lineup, while Branch Warren managed to beat Dennis Wolf and Evan Centopani twice at the Arnold Classic, whose backs look like the ****ing Mona Lisa compared to Branch’s disheveled mud painting. Perhaps this was why Dennis Wolf was so confused during the post AC 2012 interview when he admitted he always thought the ‘best back wins shows’ and he has no idea what to improve on.



Best back wins. Its really apples and oranges between Phil and Kai-both both have great backs. And they are clearly miles ahead of the competition.



Best back…uh…still wins?



I mean…I guess…with the legs…



Well, hes got some nice veins in the middle, so uh…

In one-ONE calendar year 3 different criterions were used to justify placings. First to kick off the season was Lionel Beyeke’s first place finish at the Flex Pro. Aesthetic but way too out of condition relative to the lineup, Beyeke beat many other people who were in better shape and could easily have won, despite not having as nice muscle flow. Is this the beginning of the reign of aesthetics? No, because just two weeks later Branch Warren beat out Wolf and Centopani, both of whom might not have been as conditioned (or was it just grainyness?) as Branch, but were definitely more pleasing to the eye. The webcast announcers rambled on, mesmerized with Branch Warren’s heroic blue collar comeback (more on the hilarity of the webcasts later), about how freaky and grainy and well conditioned he was. So scratch that set of judging criteria off the list! Then at the Olympia, we hear endlessly about Phil’s aesthetics, conditioning, pleasing and superior muscle. Not saying Phil didn’t deserve the win, I think he did by making up for it in the finals, (while Branch clearly did not), but guys, try to be consistent here! So is it aesthetics and conditioning, just conditioning, mass, aesthetics and no conditioning…what? This doesn’t even go into the 212-in the 11 Olympia and 12 NY Pro we had ‘freak’ Kevin English beat out aesthetic Flex Lewis and Sami Al Hadad, but then Flex Lewis, but then without Kevin English Flex Lewis beats out David Henry, who arguably had a better physique but was not as aesthetic. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad Flex won, but once again the judging criterion completely turned around! There is a different between long term trends (such as from the 70s to the 2000s) and such whimsical vicissitudes that justify judging decisions even a schizophrenic could notice.

The score cards that we receive at the end of each show are not helpful at all, because we don’t see individual judging scorecards, and what poses bodybuilder X beat bodybuilder Y in, or why a particular bodybuilder was ahead of another. Or even if a bodybuilder wins the show because he won Pose X,Y, or Z. Nothing. Instead we are supposed to use our imagination as why something occurred. Take prejudging for example. Despite what people say where it only counts for half, based on the past two years this is really the part of the show where things get set in stone. Granted, placings can shift based on the later rounds, but it does not occur often. So, in prejudging, we get individual posing, then comparisons based on number, then comparisons based on how well you look, then maybe another round of comparisons. All of this crammed into one number on the scorecard. And its just an aggregate, we don’t even get individual judges numbers! Now, I’m not asking for a lab report with a detailed analysis of every bodybuilder in every pose relative to someone else, but, at least throw us a bone here! Explain SOMETHING to us. Explain prejudging a little bit more! Like, perhaps how Jay Cutler managed to sneak into 2nd and beat out Kai during the 2011 Olympia prejudging, or how Freeman didn’t get compared at all at the 2012 Sheru but then placed third? Like, perhaps those could receive a little analysis?

I mean, we do get IFBB head judge Sandy Williamson’s opinion on the show, which granted is better than nothing.

http://npcnewsonline.com/view-from-t...olympia/35015/

Although I’m a bit surprised at how she could analyze the physiques with how fast she was calling out the individual poses, but that actually probably explains the ambiguity of her answers. I swear to god Phil and Kai hit those poses so fast they might as well have just pivoted in a circle. We don’t really get the answers that the fans want. For the two spots that people are interested in, i.e., how Branch beat Wolf and Freeman and Phil v. Kai, we barely get anything. Instead she says that the placings were very close between 6th and 7th (yet somehow Branch soundly beats both of them?) and no real comparison of who won what between Phil and Kai. She says the judges had a hard time deciding, but how is this supposed to be a close Olympia when Phil wins with perfect scores? Given that the last couple of Olympias with perfect scores were 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2009, it seems dubious to say the least. None of those were close.

But while at least some of us have a vague idea of how men’s bodybuilding is judged, none of us have a ****ing clue about fitness, figure, and bikini. If the IFBB is going to force its fans to sit through the tedious Lord-of-the-Rings length webcasts (more later), some information on how the female contests are run would be nice. Like, why are all of the poses things that females would do in the beginning of a softcore porn shoot?



What are we supposed to be looking for here? I know what I’m looking at. Is it the right thing?



Is this a “sexiest” contest or something related to athletics and sports? I don’t care which one it is, but at least let the fans know, and don’t pretend that its something else. The female webcast announcers don’t even know how its judged. And speaking of webcast….

[BlackNumero]

Hackjob Show Organization

Time and time again people have been saying this, but it seems that no one at the IFBB headquarters seems to give a damn, so I’ll try and make it extra clear: The Mr. Olympia Show is horribly organized. There, I said it. For the “superbowl” of bodybuilding, it gives off the appearance of a circus with so much ****ing **** that even the most avid fitness enthusiasts tire during the show. I swear, it reminds me of the U.S federal budget, constantly growing more bloated in size despite all “attempts” to streamline it and cut things.

First, the webcast sucks. Its 2012, approaching 2013. Does the webcast need to be shaky and skittish for most people? The Arnold webcast is usually fine for me, the Olympia webcast is not. Can’t the fans pay for a better quality webcast, or something? Does the sound need to be ahead of whats showing up on the screen? Could we get more than one person handling the webcast at this event? I could understand how this is complaining given it were ten years ago, but such ineptitude conjures up only incredulity. And can the webcast not zoom in on competitors during comparisons? I never understood this one. Is it really needed? Is THIS what the fans want to see? I think these images accurately describe how all of us feel when this happens:



This is me with my judging face on. Ready to give my shot on objectively comparing physiques to see who wins what pose. But instead Pose X is ruined because:



When meanwhile during bikini:



Second, the lighting and the stages suck. Granted, I thought the 2009 Olympia lighting was great, but in 2010, 2011, and 2012 the stage and lighting seemed very bland. Why this is so, especially when it hurts how the physiques look, is beyond me. Some smaller tier shows have infinitely better lighting. Hell, even the ****ing webcast announcers commented on the lighting and how it washed out physiques! The Olympia stages used to be cool and dynamic. The ones from the 90s, hell I’ll even throw in the 2004 stage, are memorable. The new ones aren’t. The Arnold has some great stages and better lighting, and is really the more professional and adeptly run show (probably because there isn’t nearly as much women’s crap).

The general ineptitude of the Mr. Olympia show is most obviously seen by looking at the Olympia weekend schedule, or lack thereof. Eager bodybuilding fans, from all around the world look forward to the Olympia weekend. Usually its in the third or fourth weekend in September, with two night shows on Friday and Saturday. And its in Vegas. After that, no one has a ****ing clue about A)The components of the actual show and B)When the important stuff starts. Instead, most of us wait for what can only be described as an eternity into the wee hours of the night as endless female divisions are called out on the center stage. For the superbowl of bodybuilding, this is the “Olympia Night show schedule” we are given:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...nd-predictions (The original link to the IFBB website no longer works)

Friday Sept. 28

Fitness, Bikini & Ms. Olympia Finals and Mr. Olympia Judging—7:00 p.m. PT

Saturday, Sept. 29

Figure, 212 Showdown & Mr. Olympia Finals—7:00 p.m. PT

Oh. I mean, lets not go into information overload here! And its not like this is an hour and a half comedy or magic show, I’ve been to Vegas, and I know what standard show lengths are. Webcast preshow included, this is honestly a four hour odyssey. Partially because I was so bored, but more because for posterity of IFBB brahs, I was daring enough to keep track of the entire show on prejudging.
This is me, and frankly all of us when the webcast started:



For me, the webcast aired at 9:30

30 minutes of webcast discussion/commercials

Fitness Routines

Bikini Callouts

Bikini Comparisons

Top 6 Awards Bikini

Ms Olympia Posing Routines

Ms Olympia Posing

Fitness Swimsuit

Fitness Comparisons

Fitness Awards

Top 6 Ms. Olympia

Top 6 Ms. Olympia Awards

THEN MEN START AT ****ING 12:30



Oh, the men are coming up? Let me brush off these cobwebs.

So for 3 hours for those viewing from the internet, or for 2.5 hours for the poor souls whose asses have to sit through all of this, is the price that fans must pay before even being able to watch what they originally wanted…Men’s Bodybuilding. I think its safe to say that most people who go to the events, or watch the online webcast, are there for men’s bodybuilding. I wouldn’t be so mad if the IFBB said “Okay we still want to do all of these other things, so here is the schedule, plan accordingly,” but instead all we are given is a one line sentence that says the show starts at 7. So unless we guesstimate correctly, most of us have to stay tuned, checking periodically every half an hour or so and see if God answered our prayers to make the suffering stop. So for anyone new to bodybuilding, or the people whose excitement causes them to forget each year, we are forced to suffer through an event that takes longer than reading the Illiad. Two contests (Bikini and Fitness, Figure is on Saturday, and female bodybuilding arguably has the criterion that male bodybuilding has) that no one has any idea how they are judged, and with competitors lists that are waaaaaaaaaaay too long. 32 ****ing bikini competitors? I thought this was the Olympia, where the best of the best were supposed to battle? Perhaps the qualification rules (more later) that were halfassedly executed on men’s division should have been made stricter for these divisions? Because its painfully obvious to the viewers that they get way too much time, considering the fact that the 212 Mr. Olympia, erm I mean ‘Showdown’ doesn’t even get its prejudging put on webcast. To be honest I don’t even think the men’s competitors know the schedule, and their last minute prep suffers accordingly. It was obvious to a lot of people that many of the competitors were off in 2011 at prejudging because of poor communication, and Branch supposedly did not even get enough time to pump up before he stepped on stage two weeks ago. Which is quite unfortunate considering these are the competitors who put the most time and effort into their preparation and are what the fans want to see.

Finals night wasn’t nearly as bad, probably because the show featured stuff that people actually wanted to watch (mostly 212 and men’s Olympia), but still featured some time hogs, including the supplement awards (which could have NOT been done on the webcast), and the final giant 10 person Mr. Olympia comparison. Maybe my memory isn’t serving me too well, but I don’t remember anything like this in 2011. Why did they have the Top 10 competitors line up again, when they are tired and depleted, to do mandatories before the posedown? Was this honestly something that impacted the judging? How on earth could this possibly influence placings considering they had to look at 10 bodies hit a pose within a span of 3 seconds? Because if they were only concentrating on a couple of people, why not just have them pose? Again, more information on the scorecard might have helped this one, because I was pretty ****ing clueless. Again, perhaps if we got the scoring results for only this comparison we could see if it was really needed.



Think you’re a good judge? Do the rankings of this pose in 1-2-3 Times up!

What irritates me the most when it comes to the major shows is how the commentators try to hype up stories. I have no problem with these per se, but it gets frustrating when they create rivalries when another competitor really should be in the running, or they say one guy is going to flat out win when he shouldn’t. The two most obvious cases that come to mind are 2011 Cutler v. Heath (the “teacher” versus the “student”) and Branch Warrens 2012 arnold classic comeback. I can see the Cutler v. Heath going into the show considering the 2010 Mr. Olympia, but then when it becomes painfully obvious that Jay does not deserve top 2…or top 3…etc that they still include him and picture it as a close race. Huh? Like, what happened to Kai? Its obvious that from the prejudging that hes clearly better than Jay, shouldn’t he be the one next to Heath in the final prejudging callout, etc? Nope. Jay even manages to beat Kai at the Sheru guest posing (contest??) event. Then Branch Warren. “Oh, you can’t even notice his leg”, “Wow, its so amazing how he did all of this” “Hes destroying the competition”. All of this crap when at the very least it’s an extremely close down to the wire victory or a gifted placing. Nope. None of that. Instead, in WWE fashion, Branch wins with a “trifecta” (whatever the **** that is) to make for a good story. With a perfect score, of course.

And of course whenever things don’t work out the way they want them to, the IFBB always changes the rules, not to make the shows better, but instead to make it work how they want it to….

[BlackNumero]

Poor Rules Administration (non feet over the line issues)

This is somewhat of a minor point compared to the two big issues above, but I still think it deserves mentioning. Recently, every year or so the IFBB changes something about qualifying or scoring to the show. While sometimes they can be good ideas, I think its obvious that they don’t actually do them because they are good ideas but to influence judging they way they want it to go. And when it doesn’t produce the intended consequence, they then haphazardly change the rules mid season without so much of a thought about the consequences. Frankly, its not very professional, and because of the overall ineptitude in running the shows their new rules generally end up making things worse.



Mandatory Ronnie Coleman picture. Why? Because I don’t have any pictures to put in this section, and hes bound to come up anyway.

Back in 2009, Branch Warren shocked the bodybuilding world by managing to eek out a 2nd place finish and bested reigning Mr. Olympia Dexter Jackson by one point. This type of Reigning Mr. Olympia less than Top 2 place finish hadn’t happened since the early 80s, and no one saw it coming. The reason? While Branch beat Dexter during the finals comparison, Dexter was ahead of Branch just enough in prejudging to still claim the silver medal. However, Branch beat Dexter in the posing routine and just barely snatched 2nd. So for next year the IFBB makes it official that posing will no longer count in a routine. Frankly, I like old school posing, back when it was to classical music, or hell, even when the guys tried to do some creative shots. Now, because posing doesn’t count anymore, half of the guys put no effort into it. There is no incentive! Most of them are to Rocky/Eye of the Tiger dialogue clips and them talking, fist pounding on stage and hitting most musculars. Exciting! And it wasn’t to make the show better, I firmly believe it was done so close calls like the above wouldn’t happen again. Now, I can see them dropping posing if the IFBB wanted to make the shows more objective, after all, judging posing (was) perhaps the most subjective part of the score. But the IFBB clearly isn’t interested in being objective (see the earlier section), so that rules out that justification for scratching off posing routines. Nor am I sure that if they reinstituted they would ever actually judge posing, but instead make it a popularity fan “WWE” event, probably to justify Branch Warren winning the best posing award at the 2012 Arnold Classic. And since counting it out ruins the incentive to pose well, an extra 30 minutes of lackluster activity is added to the show when its not needed. Do all 15+ competitors need to pose when there isn’t a scoring reason? Half of them don’t give a ****! If its not going to count for points, limit it to the top 10 or something. Or make it count.

A year later in 2010 another shock came when 2x Arnold Classic winner Kai Greene and Victor Martinez were knocked out of the Top 6. Many expected Kai to win and Victor to place well after he took some much needed time off to heal his legs. But Dennis Wolf and Ronny Rockel, who looked better than Kai and Victor during prejudging but not finals snagged 5th and 6th. And since they scored so high on Friday, no matter what they did they could not compete in the finals round. So then the IFBB adds another round of judging for all of the competitors on Saturday. Was this really done to make the show better and add another round of objective judging? Nah, I don’t think so. Probably because there are plenty of times when the placings don’t change even when there is justification for doing so. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily against the idea of having the Top 6 variable to change after the first round of prejudging, but I don’t think the IFBB did it to make the show more competitive like some people might benevolently assume. And if you do have another round of judging, then cut down the amount of competitors!

So then after the 2011 Olympia, it finally becomes painfully obvious to the organizers of the show that it takes about 10 ****ing hours too long. The large amount of competitors in every division is screwing up some of the other competitors last minute prep, and the quality of some of the competitors diminishes the “Best of the Best” prestige the Mr. Olympia is supposed to embody. So I think the IFBB does the right decision and tries to change qualification rules. 10-15 competitors in each division. The true best of the best (making the heroic and possibly unrealistic assumption that the IFBB objectively judges the shows, but lets entertain this fantasy for a minute) battling it out on a stage. I’ll be honest, I might actually be interested in some of the other divisions if there was only a couple of them. Kinda like the strongman at the Arnold. Not too many guys, so the last weightlifting competition at the end before men’s awards is pretty entertaining. Anyways the IFBB decides to tighten its belt and crack the knuckles. We all saw this notice last September:



Although I probably would have made it effective starting after the Olympia, because it is unfair when you change the rules like that last minute. That type of tomfoolery wouldn’t fly in another sports league. And of course they do it again this year, making it so Top 5 gets the qualification; the proverbial dick slap to Dennis Wolf. So the new rules increase the amount of times competitors will have to compete during the year and limit the amount of people on the stage in September, which reduces the amount of time the show goes on for. Win win, right? Well, except for the fact that the IFBB then, at the beginning of the season, decides to allow the next 5 best people qualify according to a “points system”. So this lets an additional 30 competitors go to the Olympia when the show clearly needed to go on a diet. Why does the IFBB do this? Are the head officials inflicted with such poor foresight that they couldn’t see that certain competitors would be barred from going to the show? What probably happened is the IFBB, horrified at the thought that to make this rules system work they would have to judge objectively and not let certain people compete, caved in. So after all the professed Olympia austerity, we get this magnanimous change in competitors from 2011 to 2012:

2011 2012
Men Open 24 19
212 19 16
Figure 29 25
Fitness 13 16
Bikini 28 32
Female BB 17 13
Total 130 121

A measly 9 person decrease. And 8 of them came from the men’s divisions (43 to 35) while only one from four female divisions (87 to 86). I’m all for cutting down the men’s to about 10-15, but the women’s divisions are the ones that really need to shrink. Compare this to the Arnold, the infinitely better run show that INVITES (hint) its competitors:

2011 2012
Men Open 14 14
212 -- --
Figure 16 16
Fitness 14 16
Bikini 16 17
Female BB 13 14
Total 59 63

While the total did increase, its much more acceptable given that the total amount of competitors is literally half the size as the Olympia. Assuming, for the sake of argument that we add in the amount of 212 competitors equal to the number in the men’s open, we get 73 and 77. So even if the IFBB actually went by its original qualifications rules, and 30 less competitors were at the Olympia, the numbers would still be larger than the Arnold Classic by about 10 people! Why they did not try and model the Olympia after the much better organized Arnold boggles the mind. I can only hope the IFBB does a better job this time around and limits the amount of people (this assuming, of course, they judge correctly).

Then again, I hope the IFBB changes a lot of things. It’s the type of crap like this, shady judging, badly managed shows, and constantly shifting rules that diminishes the IFBB’s reputation. So frankly the IFBB needs to clean up its act. And not necessarily because of the fans, but really the athletes. Stop treating them like dogs. . Some of these people dedicate their lives to these competitions (e.g., Nicole Nagrani), and potentially risk their health, and for the IFBB to not give a **** makes them reek of bad character.


/end rant.

[Loctus]

[Gorky88]

would rep you 10 times if I could

[JanesLastResort]

I didn't read any of that.

Repped for the effort anyway.

[anapolon]

[AdamOakley]

-agreed re. some of the new divisions- its difficult to see what's actually being judged. Given that conditioning and muscularity are discouraged...well what are we looking at? Muscle development to a certain level that isn't actually specified. Its like having a 100 metre race in which you're not allowed to run under a certain time.

As for the judging, and bad/inexplicable decisions; if you're going to be a fan of BB'ing you just have to live with it and tell yourself its down to the inherent subjectivity etc...we know there's more to it, but its not going to improve.

[Gorky88]

I didn't read any of that.

Repped for the effort anyway.

you should. would take 5 minutes and it is worth it

[stealth_swimmer]

"best back wins" is a rule of thumb - it merely *happens* to be the case because tons of competitors are close from the front and there seems to be more variation between them from the back (for example, the judges often look at the glutes to see which competitors got striations there and which ones don't).

The best physique overall wins...and of course that's always gonna be subjective. The judges have criteria to guide their decision.

[PillClinton]

If you can condense this I would read it (not saying bullet points, more so just stick to what you are trying to say). Hell, I think you should make this a letter and turn it into the organization itself.

I would even sign it as support and recommend that others sign it as well.

You want to be serious? Take it a step further.

Not to sound cheesy, but it is along the lines of "if you build it, they will come."

if you make a good enough case, people will support you.

[BlackNumero]

FYI guys, its partially supposed to be a joke. I know its long, which is why I tried to add humor to make it somewhat more enjoyable. I think it contains alot of stuff people have been thinking for a while. If you can't read it all, then read a section.

I did lul at Loctus picture because that is what I feared it would turn into.

[santana77]

solid fkin post. Agreed with everything. I love bodybuilding but sometimes.......... damn I hate it.

[DomzyCuttin]

Great read. I agree with almost everything. The one thing that really gets to me is that all shows are run poorly. At the Ontarios last summer they were so adament about us being on time. Then the damn show started an hour late. most people didnt go up till 3 hours after the scheduled time. Then you have to sit through all the pointless crap like bikini. Your family gets there to the night show thinking they will see you in a bodybuilding competition. They have to sit through hours of crap to see you go up at 10.30 for 2 minutes. Then at that point the audience is empty because 80% of the them were bikini fan girlies. So the mens overall literally has a fifth of the spectators there. The men have just been dehydrated for upto 72 hours, everyone backstage is complaining. You can hear half the people talking about how bull**** bikini is. Everyone is saying I just want water, why the **** are we still here. At this point you just want to get the **** out and take down a sundae, but you are so exhausted that you can barely drink a beer without going into a coma.

I understand why it is this way. We need bikini and 9 other useless classes to bring in admission and ticket sales. Its for the greater good. Hopefully one day bodybuilding can be big enough that we can either get rid of all the crap or separate the shows into two events. Until then, they should atleast get the men up first. I know the arugment has always been, "well the if the men go up first, people will leave. Its the highlight of the night so save it till the end." Well this happens anyways because each bikini skank has 6 of her ginas in the audience, her extended family and her puppy there. I think we the bodybuilders should have the advantages at these shows, since we are the glue that holds it all together. Dont make us suffer if this is OUR competition. Make the extras suffer and let them be happy they have a place where they can show off the sweet beach bod they got from moderate training, bulemia and or coke use.

[flangmasterj]

Still trying figure out the title. Once I do I'll give the post a crack.

[Gunn21]

Don't have time to read all that right now (will read later), but I scanned through it and get the impression that I probably agree with most of what you said.

Reps for the insane amount of effort. Seriously, you'd have to pay me to wright all that out. Good job OP.

[Loctus]

Still trying figure out the title. Once I do I'll give the post a crack.

Not sure if serious.

Lettuce be real tea=Let's be reality=Let's be real

Can also be written in even forms such as "Lettuce ketchup to real tea" = Let us catch up to reality

[DavisForman]

solid fkin post. Agreed with everything. I love bodybuilding but sometimes.......... damn I hate it.

Nothing wrong with bodybuilding man.

Bodybuilding federations on the other hand...

[Loctus]

btw skimmed the posts a bit, seems like a good read and I think you're speaking for a lot of people with what you're saying. Will read full post later, gjdm

[TTimmerman]

i will read this post later when i'm fully awake, i'm already damn impressed by just skimming it!

[ZBlacktt]

I came in wondering, scrolled like a mother on down. I will ask, OP did you write every word of this?

[FAN0FdaSport]

yeah 95% spot on

good job

[BlackNumero]

I came in wondering, scrolled like a mother on down. I will ask, OP did you write every word of this?

Yep. Wrote it over like two days, taking my time and having fun with it.

Went something like this:

[Gunn21]

BlackNumero, you should be working for MD or Flex. I haven't read either of those mags in quite a few years, but from what I can remember, you wright better than everyone that does work for either of them.

[wastedtime]

excellent post good sir

[FAN0FdaSport]

honestly though supplement awards in the middle of the show...

[62Wolf]

Repped and agree. I was in the audience for the Olympia and I thought there was going to be suicides when they announced that there was going to be a "Confirmation Judging Round" of all 32 Bikini girls AFTER they had already done it earlier. Plenty of forehead slapping, audible groans and "WTF's!!!???!!" G-Zus! I've got nothing against hot girls doing "Ass-Pouts", but g'damn! 32 Bikini girls, 20 some odd Fitness AND Figure Girls, Pus the Olympia Women. The women had more than double the men's competitors. And you mentioned what I've said about that female judge giving more time for the Bikini girls' Ass-pouts and skank struts than she did for the Olympia Men to do thier poses. Merge the damn Fitness & Figure divisions and LIMIT the number of Bikini Girls. 32? Really? C'mon! The men have to qualify for a spot and there sure as hell wasn't 32 of them. At least let them go 1st. One guy I met said that he always gets there an hour and a half late so he doesn't have to sit through all the bull****. I felt bad for the Supplement Award guys up there hearing nothing but crickets, but everyone was just so f'ing butt-burnt out, that it was time for another drink/bathroom break. Talk about unorganized, I could go on about everything from the event to the the Expo. I covered some of it in another couple threads, but I had a 1st timer with me and she commented something like, "Are you kidding me? This is The Superbowl of Bodybuilding and they run it like this? Wow, if I didn't know better, I'd say it was thier first or second time and they are still trying to iron out the bugs." SIMPLE THINGS like, oh, I don't know, maybe a real schedule, signs and/or maps at the Expo, people who know what the hell they're doing at the Expo (Asked 4 people where the freakin' stage was and none knew!), direct the VIPS (Who paid extra) to the damn door for early entry at the Expo (5 workers didn't know where it was!), and my personal favorite: Keep the numbers on the floor chairs the SAME for both nights. Dumba**es! Went from 1 on up from left to right the 1st night, then they had the numbers reversed the next night so there was plenty of musical chairs going on AFTER everything had started. While we're on that subject, if someone tries stealing a better seat, kick thier a**es out of the building with no refund. We saw the same pair of guys get "moved" 3 times during the events and they basically disrupted everyone around them. I won't even go into the ticket fiasco that I had with them.

[JIsaiahE]

This was a nice read/rant. Makes a lot of damn sense with a good twist of humor in there. Lots of truth in this thread.

[weltweitefurcht]

Repped

Although these guys would probably want to neg you.

[featureless]

Read the whole thing and repped. There was a lot of time and effort put into that but I repped you for your passion for this sport. I think the judges should have to explain their reasoning for their placings. It could be submitted in a report afterwards which is made public (hell, everything else in life these days requires paperwork). Also, if there is a particular look the judges are going for, that should also be revealed to the athletes and the public. I have no doubt the judges are given orders to favour a particular look (there has been far too much mention of aesthetics lately for this not to be the case).

The Toney Freeman incident recently at the Sheru was the worst I have ever seen, what a mess. Would love to see someone explain that one.