Blechman sinks Martinez?
I’m watching MDTV (the hat cam wasn’t cuttin’ it) and saw an interview Flex Wheeler gave with MD publisher/owner Steve Blechman.
Maaaaan, isn’t there some feud between the IFBB (okay, Flex magazine) and Blechman and crew? If bodybuilding is at all political then the high praise that Blechman heaped on Victor Martinez might just put the kibosh on his chances at placing ahead of Ronnie Coleman (apparently improved over last year’s condition) and Jay Cutler (allegedly in far worse shape than his Olympia-winning condition in 2006).
Looking forward to the announcement tonight, of course. Many have put Jay in 3rd or 4th behind Big Ron, Victor, and maybe Dexter Jackson. The Blade said Jay and Ronnie were both off. Ron finally showing his age and Jay perhaps suffering from his year-long schedule of appearances as Mr. Olympia.
Giant kudos to Bob Cicherillo and Dan Solomon on their handling of the men’s press conference. Quincy Taylor shot his mouth off big time, but apparently he backed it up on stage with his best condition ever. If you haven’t scoped out the press conferences courtesy of bb.com video then you might want to give them a look.
Thank you BodySpace and Bodybuilding.com for the experience!
September 29, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Jay 3rd or 4th? Were we watching the same pre-judging Curt? I’v got Jay 1st, Victor 2nd, I think they’ll give ronnie 3rd out of respect, even though Dexter is clearly 3rd, then Melvin, and Wolf 5th.
September 30, 2007 at 10:22 am
heh :)
Your prediction was much better than mine. I was hoping for Ron to win his 9th Sandow so I don’t have to read about Coleman and Haney both having 8 Olympia titles for the next hundred years. Then Jay second and I really didn’t care who got what so long as they all came into the contest in shape.
I thought Jay looked off at pre-judging, but, hey, you’re right. I do need a stronger prescription in my eyeglasses. ;)
Wolf got boos - well, the judges did for placing him 5th. I could have seen him taking a higher placing, but who would have been pushed out of the top four to allow that? Coleman’s the only one. Okay, maybe Jackson. To move Ron down one spot may have been too disrespectful.
Otoh, you’re right, Melvin could have taken 4th. I just like Wolf better. Schwarzenegger said something like, "Who would you rather look like?" with regard to judging bodybuilding. Wolf is tall and has the chest and arms. I guess I’d rather be Melvin in a club (his pop lock skillz) with a low ceiling (he’s 5′8" compared to Wolf’s 5′11"). ;)
September 30, 2007 at 10:26 am
Yo, but Blechman apparently DID sink Martinez. If politics is in it at all then think about this: Pecker/AMI benefits from readership (Flex, M&F, etc.), so why would the Olympia want Martinez (MD magazine) to hold the title (and perhaps exclusive rights to "Victor Martinez content")?
Wolf is on Team MD, too. I can’t help but think there’s some stink there. Otoh, Ben Weider actually thanked Ironman magazine’s John Balik during his Mr. O opening ceremony speech.
Kudos to Ben and Joe for making the Olympia a reality.