even though Ronnie in 98 was so far above dorian 97 it wasn't even funny, ronnie knew how political dorian's later wins were and knew the the judges would have looked the other way like always..
he was just being smart and realistic..
leave it to ND to not understand this and misquote what he said.. 
Way to try and put words in Ronnie's mouth.
You don't know what Ronnie was trying to say anymore than ND.
BTW, there you go again throwing up the worst pics from the 97 O you can find. (I agree that Dorian was far from his best that year)
The thing is, Dorian was the benchmark up until that point. Had he not retired, he still would be the benchmark. That in and of itself IMO would cause the judges to go with him again. He was dwarfing Ronnie at that point all around. That was Dorians heaviest, and Ronnie was much lighter in 98, so he would still be the benchmark, had he competed. And he wouldhave been training his upper body again, remember in 97 Dorian couldnt train his upper body for several weeks before the O. In addition to the tears, thats why he was so small in the arms. s