You've proven your point, Wolf is the class of the Olympia this year.
Now what are you going to say when he's robbed and finishes 4-8?
I'm gonna say I was expecting for it to happen. And I'm not necessarily gonna be mad about it, because honestly, I'd have a hard time if I were them electing him winner here as well. I mean, how do they know how this guy's gonna act if they give it to him? They've gotta know you know how to handle yourself in front of the public and are gonna be there to help them make money and keep everything kosher. To me, it would seem that Wolf remains "uninitiated" in the upper echelon of professional bodybuilders. You know how hard it must be for a big German guy like him to get over in America? Over the next year, Wolf is gonna have to position himself alot better within the industry than what he has, but it shouldn't be that hard for him to after this with all the interest this showing will generate for him. But he's foreign...clearly a gym rat, and probably so hardcore that he hasn't spent much time working on all the connections/networking that Jay has spent his entire life cultivating. Jay was in the inner circle from day one because Ed Connors found him young. Dennis Wolf actually has quite a bit of professional refinement to acquire before he could be considered for the Olympia title. The judges really are in a bind here. I just think it's interesting, this whole thing.
Think about how hard German Gunter Schlierkamp had to work at his professional refinement...plus Gunter had that million-dollar smile that endeared him to most that saw him. Dennis Wolf doesn't necessarily have that going for him. It's kinda like I was saying earlier about Kai Greene for Mr. Olympia. How's that gonna happen, regardless of his physique?
You know I've been reading TONS of old Flex and Ironman magazines from back in the day, ranging from the early 80's to the early 90's...and one thing that was DEFINITELY highlighted to all the readers in article after article was the utmost importance of what it meant to be a professional bodybuilder in terms of it being a BUSINESS, and your ability to make it as a pro and place well based on your marketability and professional business savvy. The characters that made it back then had all forged out their own well-defined identities, and they really spent alot of time "playing the game." Get on YouTube and listen to the soundbytes they gave...all the shit-talking they did back then didn't bring into play the personal lives of everyone involved. You know it took the early online disputes of Titus, Kamali and Prince to really lower the bar for that stuff, making the whole sport look bad. I mean Prince would just say anything about anyone. I remember McGough did what he could in the beginning to try to tell the guys to stop that shit but it was out of his hands after just a little bit....But like I was saying, the early guys played along and worked very hard to portray bodybuilding as a very virtuous pursuit. You just don't have that anymore. With the proliferation of the internet, I think people just gave up trying to convince everyone into thinking it's all about strict diet, visualization and training, but I'd like to think that there ARE still ways to promote the sport in a somewhat realistic and still motivating way.
