I think there are some interesting points in this thread and Bob is giving us the 'company' angle. If he would throw that book away and just talk to us re his own views then we might get somewhere. Do we have to hear those absurd arguments about how great bawdybuilding is and how much the IFBB is doing? From where I am I can tell you I have no interest in going to bodybuilding contests anymore. Not many are going. Remember back in 1965 Bob? Well, I will tell you what the scene was like. There were a few health spas around and a few gyms that bodybuilders could train in. Girls didn't lift weights in those days and not that many people went to a gym. The equipment was pathetic and there were not many machines designed to help you get bigger muscles. Joe started the Mr Olympia that year to have a contest all the champions could enter. Who were those champions? Anyone who won a top title. Well, up until Sept 1965 the top title you could win was the NABBA Mr Universe held in London. Steve Reeves, Reg Park, Bill Pearl, Arnold S, Frank Zane and just about all the top guys won that title or wish they had won it. Some won it many times especially the professional title. NABBA held a top Professional Mr Universe in 1970 that many of the top guys enterred and Arnold beat Sergio for the first time. It took many years for the Mr Olympia to be recognized as the top title. The public assumed that Mr Universe must be more important than Mr Olympia. Decades later the public probably still don't know the difference but bodybuilders do.
Go back and read how Larry Scott was treated when he won that show. That was an experience he will never forget and I wonder if it will ever be repeated. "Larry, Larry, Larry, Larry", they chanted and long after the contest was over! Larry received a silver plate and $1,000 prize money. I am sure those early winners would have been content with the title and trophy. That was all anyone wanted in those days. The crowds came to see Larry and Sergio and Arnold and those guys were heroes. Compare that to the present day when controversy after controversy happens and the drug issue just won't go away. What is being done about the drugs, Bob. Don't give me that crap about your being a professional. You guys should all be ashamed of yourselves because you are all drug cheats. Every last one of you. You are cheats because it is against the rules. The official IFBB rules. Or am I mistaken about that? What is being done about the drugs? It is against the rules. You come on here and try to dismiss me and genuine guys like Keith and Lee. Well, good try. If you had a good case maybe you would succeed. However, you have a weak argument and it really is pathetic to see you stick to your agenda and try to make guys like me the dickheads. I care about this sport as much as you do. I have been around since 1959 and I challenge you to find someone else who has my wide background in the sport. I have university degrees in philosophy so I am not some uneducated jerk just posting nonsense on discussion boards. I look at various people the IFBB have appointed to represent them and I shake my head in disbelief. What on earth are these people doing recruiting the people they do? You are not recruiting the best people nor are you a democratic organization. There are no elections for the most important positions in the IFBB. It is a closed organization. What are you doing about that? Well, it is obvious to me that you can't do much at all. That is what we are hearing here. Oh, you attend meetings and present proposals and sometimes they get accepted and everyone feels good about the progress in the IFBB.
The plain truth is the sport is dead. Especially women's bodybuilding. You guys haven't accepted it yet. The whole darn sport is contaminated. Everyone who has some muscle is tarred by the same brush that you officially are doing bugger all about. Steroids, other drugs, diuretics, synthol, silicon, and who knows what else is used to enhance a physique instead of building muscle. You guys have lost the plot. The fact that DeMilia is waiting in the wings with his alternative contests means you cannot do drug testing in a rigid and strict fashion because most of the big guys would go over there unless and until they test, too.
You know, guys get lifetime bans for cheating in track and field and cycling. What happens in bodybuilding? Well, we all know what happens in the open and professional contests. Nothing. The whole mindset is that you have to use heaps of chemicals or you cannot be competitive on stage. Everyone knows the IFBB rules against drugs won't be enforced. So what are you doing about this problem, Bob? Don't you think the single most important thing you can do for bodybuilders is to make sure they don't risk their health just to win contests. I guarantee bodybuilders would compete for less money and maybe none at all if they knew it was fair dinkum and that no one could cheat and get away with it. If you bust your gut in the gym and are drug free you soon realize you cannot stand on stage and compete against those who do use. It really is a sad game and I have seen so many young fellows give bodybuilding away because they do not want to use drugs. I salute them but how disappointing is that? Instead of having thousands attend our contests the crowds are about the same as they always were. I can tell you there are many, many more gyms in Sydney even in the last 10 years. These are big fitness clubs and there are literally tens of thousands of people training in gyms. We should have huge support and these contests should be on TV and all the rest. What do we find? No one wants to broadcast anything. The main sponsors push supplements.
When I won my title back in 1970, Ray Beck took me down to the Vancouver Sun in Vancouver and thought they would do a story about me. I was the first guy from Western Canada to win the national title and had just graduated from UBC. The newspaper wasn't interested. There was no story, no photo, no announcement. Ray took out a small ad that week to mention that I won that contest and worked at his Western Gym. Gosh, I was bitterly disappointed about that. There were no offers to appear on any magazine covers and if I didn't write two articles and send photos into Muscle Builder and Ironman I wouldn't have had any publicity at all. I look at the huge guys that win today. The same thing happens and they get no mention in the media. We are training and competing in a virtual vacuum.
