but, the pics show the mistake immediately.
They do, Hulkster, but the problem is, they also don't show the whole picture - just an instant of a contest where a guy who placed over another guy could look far less impressive than the lower placed guy because of the time and angle from which that pic was taken.
You always make the mistake of saying Ronnie 99 was in better condition than he was at 98, which is just not true. Ronnie was fuller and in better shape in 99, with his conditioning at nearly 90% of his 98 shape. But in 98, he was bone dry - his skin had very little water underneath and looked like it was made of paper. Contrast that with 99, where he's holding a thin film of water under the skin, although that also enhanced his look another way, making him look fuller, rounder and bigger.
Same way, you are judging the SOS with a bunch of pics showing Ronnie to have better shape than Gunther. But if you saw the video, you'll realize that overall, Gunther beat Ronnie in a lot of the poses, was in much better condition and simply out-muscled him.
Why do you think Ronnie took his training up a notch for 2003? Why didn't he refuse to participate in the 03 Mr Olympia if the SOS had been fixed? He knew he'd been getting sloppy since his 2001 AC win and he busted his butt, which is why he showed up in 2003 about 40 lb heavier and won convincingly again.