Wow! The things I miss when I enjoy a beautiful day outside!! I just looked at the pics on bodybuildingdotcom and here are my worthless observations:
1. Chick - looked a little softer than standard Chick-soft. Clearly has the widest shoulders which creates the best taper and he has big quads, so he had the best frame out there. His front double-biceps is far superior to the other guys and he obviously practiced his poses, which many of the others did not. Based on the photos, I would have had him second. But I thought he was much better than Pavol. Congrats Bob on your first win.
2. Johnny Stewart - the thickest back in the show, but man, what a horrible looking physique. He's got plenty of muscle, but damn its ugly. This is the highway robbery, not Chick's.
3. Pavol Jablonicky - Pavol looks great standing still - good shoulders and arms and a cool-looking physique, but he can't pose for shit. His front and rear double biceps look terrible. If you can't properly display what you got, that's no one else's fault but your own. No complaints about 3rd here.
4. Claude Groulx - This was one grotesque looking body on stage. He's always had great shoulders, but he used to have other bodyparts. Now he's nothing but delts. Pathetic arms, horrible symmetry, and the GH-insulin bloated gut that I thought was being downgraded. Another gift.
5. Stan McCrary - Stan showed up in good condition and hey, he knows he's no Lee Haney. He doesn't hit his poses properly and his legs suck, and he doesn't have a nice shape, but hey, it's TOPAMANIA!!! Congrats Stan. No problem here with 5th for Stan here.
Placing Unknown: RUSTY JEFFERS - In my opinion, the CLEAR WINNER based on the pics. I kept searching for photos of Rusty next to Bob and THERE WERE NONE. I'd love to see if they got a call-out together since they appeared to be the clear top 2. Rusty had by far the best combination of shape, size, and conditioning of all of the entrants. Terrific abs, great taper, good legs, just a SUPERIOR package on this day. A spot-on Chick could beat him, but not a watery Bob. Sure the Christopher Street mustache is Out, but c'mon, it's the year of Brokeback Mountain. Well, I guess if Crash can beat Brokeback, anything can happen.
Also overlooked: John Simmons
As always, I'm being objective and balanced. No axes to grind here.
Special "Dogbreath" Ed