And again, after you say that, you are saying what I've said before.
This era of mediocrity was brought forth by none other than Jay Cutler---or rather those who allowed Jay to be Mr. O.
But, it started before that. It started when Jay was being groomed to be Mr. O, namely his 2nd place finishes at the ao and his Arnold Classic wins (over a far better Chris Cormier). Also, coinciding with this, the giving out of Pro Cards to inferior conditioned competitors---which means the feeder system to the Pros was producing bad stock.
And it's odd that the really good ones like Richard Jones and Phil Heath were earning their Pro cards on their first try---because everybody else was inferior.
Phil is just the best of the rest. A Flex/Kevin hybrid. And really nobody can really touch him at this point.
Yeah, the best of the rest when compared to people like branch, and thats not saying much. Compare heath to dorian, haney, arnold, he gets blown out of the water. Shit, even Levrone, who never won a Mr. O could rivals phils physique. When I look at Levrone, I think he actually looks better than Phil. When I look at Levrone, I dont necessarily think he looks better than dorian, ronnie, or arnold. What does that tell you? Phil is VERY lucky to be competing in this era. His physique is not bad or anything, but he should thank his lucky stars he is not competing during the 90's. Would definitely not be a Mr. O.