FLEX vs MD: The battle gets dirty

[MCWAY]

THAT blows my mind....what the hell?  Iris Kyle, yeah, I'd run screaming too. But little MBP?  Come onnnnn.

It's true. I remember the issue of MuscleMag that I bought. It was #200, Brant-Peckham was on the cover with Milos Sarcev. One kid in particular was mimicking Peckham with a deep voice, talking to his friend, "Want to go out, baby?.

This ain't the first time I've seen someone accuse a MuscleMag cover girl of looking masculine. I was watching an episode of Entertainment Weekly or Entertainment Tonight (I forget which one). It was covering a swimsuit issue with some "fitness models". The mother of a friend of mine saw one and claimed that "she's looks like a man; that's nasty". To my utter surprise, the woman about whom these comments were being made was a MuscleMag regular......Stacey Lynn Boetto.

[Bulldogs]

^^^ cuz fat girls (most women) HATE to see that a woman can look tight and in shape.

They'd rather put the in shape chick down and continue to stuff their fat faces with Cheetos.

That's why I won't touch a chick unless her bodyfat is in the teens.  Most cows are in the 20's somewhere.

No Fat Chicks.  Period.  And that even means those "skinny fat" hoes :p

[MCWAY]

^^^ cuz fat girls (most women) HATE to see that a woman can look tight and in shape.

They'd rather put the in shape chick down and continue to stuff their fat faces with Cheetos.

That's why I won't touch a chick unless her bodyfat is in the teens.  Most cows are in the 20's somewhere.

No Fat Chicks.  Period.  And that even means those "skinny fat" hoes :p

Being fat has nothing to do with it. This lady is in her 60s but is one of the most active people I know (in fact, she frequents the gym where her daughter teaches an aerobics class and can outlast women half her age).

The point is simply this: Many actual and so-called fitness girls are perceived as manly-looking. Again, these ain't "female bodybuilders" of the Kyle/Chivesky/Francis look. These are fitness/figure girls: Brant-Peckham, Boetto, etc.

[Crusher]

the guy who came in with David pecker said blechman came with his wife only...read the whole article, you'll see.

I read that too.  I see they came alone.  I'm suggesting MAYBE Romano was already at the restaurant seated with other people - you know just in case a certain tabloid publisher known for his short temper decided to melt down at lunch?

[LurkyLurker]

I read that too.  I see they came alone.  I'm suggesting MAYBE Romano was already at the restaurant seated with other people - you know just in case a certain tabloid publisher known for his short temper decided to melt down at lunch?

That's a good point John. So, were you there?

[Crusher]

That's a good point John. So, were you there?

It's so funny how some of you think I'm him.  I've said many times that I know him, I work for him, but I'm not him. I imagine exposing someone's identity would really be an accomplishment.  And if believing it makes you happy, go for it. I have no problem saying who I am - to a point.  I do enjoy my privacy. 

Was he at the Bleckman/Pecker lunch?  It is a good point, you are right.  And, I am sure if a law suit comes out of this you will find out.

[kmhphoto]

Was he at the Bleckman/Pecker lunch?  It is a good point, you are right.  And, I am sure if a law suit comes out of this you will find out.

If he was there I'm sure that he would have included that in his article to help substantiate it?. As it is his article is based on hearsay. So far the only person who has given a first person account is Kevin Hyson. Steve Blechman chose to use John to write his version of the events. Did he do that so he could say "Well John wrote it, I have nothing to do with it. it's in his contract that nothing he writes is censored?"  Before you say that is ridiculous I'll point out that he has said that before.

At the end of the day, all of this could and should have been avoided. You say this all stems from a time years ago when Peter wrote something that John found offensive. Was this when MD did their infamous turn against pro bodybuilding and insulted just about everyone involved in the sport including FLEX and all the athletes and declaring nobody using drugs would be featured in their magazine?

Then they did a 180. If I'd gone from 100% anti-drugs to more pro-drug than Ciba-Geigy I'd have felt like the dumbest ass in the world and trotted off to the dentist to have my foot removed from my mouth.

But since then, John has repeatedly attacked Peter McGough, FLEX, David Pecker, Kevin Hyson and is not averse to including their families in his little jibes. And all because he was upset when someone defended the sport they're passionate about? If so, I'm surprised you previously mentioned thin skin.

John's atttacks have never been repsonded to until now. How many times can you prod someone before they react?

John's a talented writer, but I personally think there is absolutley no place for personal squabbles in the pages of the magazines. They should be filled with well written articles, great photography and ideas on how we can make this sport grow so the athletes and us make lot's more spondoolies - money for those not familiar with the slang term

We're all getting a little too old for throwing punches at one another. Arranging the DVD rights and webcast also takes the fun out of it.

While too much has happened for a "Let's Hug, and be friends" moment. Let's focus on what we're doing, forget the insults and get on with our jobs?

[Crusher]

If he was there I'm sure that he would have included that in his article to help substantiate it?. As it is his article is based on hearsay. So far the only person who has given a first person account is Kevin Hyson. Steve Blechman chose to use John to write his version of the events. Did he do that so he could say "Well John wrote it, I have nothing to do with it. it's in his contract that nothing he writes is censored?"  Before you say that is ridiculous I'll point out that he has said that before.

At the end of the day, all of this could and should have been avoided. You say this all stems from a time years ago when Peter wrote something that John found offensive. Was this when MD did their infamous turn against pro bodybuilding and insulted just about everyone involved in the sport including FLEX and all the athletes and declaring nobody using drugs would be featured in their magazine?



Then they did a 360. If I'd gone from 100% anti-drugs to more pro-drug than Ciba-Geigy I'd have felt like the dumbest ass in the world and trotted off to the dentist to have my foot removed from my mouth.

But since then, John has repeatedly attacked Peter McGough, FLEX, David Pecker, Kevin Hyson and is not averse to including their families in his little jibes. And all because he was upset when someone defended the sport they're passionate about? If so, I'm surprised you previously mentioned thin skin.

John's atttacks have never been repsonded to until now. How many times can you prod someone before they react?

John's a talented writer, but I personally think there is absolutley no place for personal squabbles in the pages of the magazines. They should be filled with well written articles, great photography and ideas on how we can make this sport grow so the athletes and us make lot's more spondoolies - money for those not familiar with the slang term

We're all getting a little too old for throwing punches at one another. Arranging the DVD rights and webcast also takes the fun out of it.

While too much has happened for a "Let's Hug, and be friends" moment. Let's focus on what we're doing, forget the insults and get on with our jobs?

You make it sound like Romano made a career out of bashing Fat Mac.  What it amounts to is about a half dozen shots in over a decade. They must have been good ones, because that's all you seem to remember. What it seems like is that no one could believe that anyone would have the audacity to shoot back at the almighty Flex and McGough.  Tough shit - the deserved it.   John has covered some interesting stuff over the years.  Whatever stance he and MD took over the years was intended as the right thing to do, or merely to just tell the truth.  On the rare occasion they missed the boat.  No one is perfect.  I'm sure you meant 180 and not 360 above, but I get your point.  But you know, trying to compete with Flex in Weider's world is not easy.  I'd like to see the choices many of you would have made in defining your identity and carving out market share in a crowded environment if the shoe were on the other foot.

And you Weider guys love to exaggerate.  "John has repeatedly attacked Peter McGough, FLEX, David Pecker, Kevin Hyson and is not averse to including their families in his little jibes."  John has never "attacked" Hyson and has never bashed anyone's family.  John made one reference to who he thought was Peter McGough's daughter - who it turned out was not even his daughter but Kevin Horton's wife - and therefore NOT family.  And, all he said was that she was hot.  If that bothers you guys so much I'm sure he can write a retraction and take it back.  Which would be stupid because Kevin Horton's wife is hot.

There has never been any move on the part of Flex to make peace and work together.  They started the whole thing by maintaining nothing but a hostile environment.  And that goes straight to McGough.  Joe Weider called Romano last week. There is nothing but good will between them.  This whole thing reminds me of the Bully who finally gets his ass beat.   He's taking his ball and going home - boo hoo.  Just remember, this is the last year AMI is doing the Olympia.  You never know who will be doing it next year.  Maybe it will be Flex asking MD for press passes next year.

[kmhphoto]

You make it sound like Romano made a career out of bashing Fat Mac.  What it amounts to is about a half dozen shots in over a decade. They must have been good ones, because that's all you seem to remember. What it seems like is that no one could believe that anyone would have the audacity to shoot back at the almighty Flex and McGough.  Tough shit - the deserved it.   John has covered some interesting stuff over the years.  Whatever stance he and MD took over the years was intended as the right thing to do, or merely to just tell the truth.  On the rare occasion they missed the boat.  No one is perfect.  I'm sure you meant 180 and not 360 above, but I get your point.  But you know, trying to compete with Flex in Weider's world is not easy.  I'd like to see the choices many of you would have made in defining your identity and carving out market share in a crowded environment if the shoe were on the other foot.

And you Weider guys love to exaggerate.  "John has repeatedly attacked Peter McGough, FLEX, David Pecker, Kevin Hyson and is not averse to including their families in his little jibes."  John has never "attacked" Hyson and has never bashed anyone's family.  John made one reference to who he thought was Peter McGough's daughter - who it turned out was not even his daughter but Kevin Horton's wife - and therefore NOT family.  And, all he said was that she was hot.  If that bothers you guys so much I'm sure he can write a retraction and take it back.  Which would be stupid because Kevin Horton's wife is hot.

There has never been any move on the part of Flex to make peace and work together.  They started the whole thing by maintaining nothing but a hostile environment.  And that goes straight to McGough.  Joe Weider called Romano last week. There is nothing but good will between them.  This whole thing reminds me of the Bully who finally gets his ass beat.   He's taking his ball and going home - boo hoo.  Just remember, this is the last year AMI is doing the Olympia.  You never know who will be doing it next year.  Maybe it will be Flex asking MD for press passes next year.

Obviously you want to continue insulting people so I'll leave you to it. I do agree that my wife is hot though that's why I married her. No need for a retraction. He can write whatever he likes about me but if he wants to include my wife or any other members of my family, as long as it's respectful, I have no problem with it.

[Crusher]

Obviously you want to continue insulting people so I'll leave you to it. I do agree that my wife is hot though that's why I married her. No need for a retraction. He can write whatever he likes about me but if he wants to include my wife or any other members of my family, as long as it's respectful, I have no problem with it.

How do you get that out of what I said?  "hot" in this day and age is a compliment.  Nothing disrespectful either. You guys have such thin skin.  Maybe McGough should have considered that before he picked the fight.

[kmhphoto]

How do you get that out of what I said?  "hot" in this day and age is a compliment.  Nothing disrespectful either. You guys have such thin skin.  Maybe McGough should have considered that before he picked the fight.

Read the first line of your previous post and the comment about "Fat Mac". I consider that insulting, obviously you don't otherwise you wouldn't have written it? Why John wanted to bring my wife into it - complimentary or not - is a mystery to me but he can expalin it to me at the Olympia.

i should add that I haven't seen the article so the first I knew of her being mentioned in it was when you posted about it here.

[Anal Iceman Lubeth]

i would like to see a FLEX vs. MD debate of some type.

[kmhphoto]

i would like to see a FLEX vs. MD debate of some type.

Start one then

[Crusher]

Read the first line of your previous post and the comment about "Fat Mac". I consider that insulting, obviously you don't otherwise you wouldn't have written it?
Why John wanted to bring my wife into it - complimentary or not - is a mystery to me but he can expalin it to me at the Olympia.

i should add that I haven't seen the article so the first I knew of her being mentioned in it was when you posted about it here.

No, not on this board.  But, fine, I'll give you that.  I'll save you the trouble of reading the article.  Here is the entire verse of what amounts to "including their families:" referring to the fact that it is a shame there is this feud, John wrote "it's too bad, I thought McGough's daughter was hot."  If the woman sitting next to him was his daughter and not your wife, I hope you could see the humor in that, but you probably can't.   Try to remove yourself from the situation and maybe you might.  But that is the sum total of anything having to do with anyone's family and it turns out she wasn't even a member of his family!  But, you guys make it sound like it is an every day occurrence.  The same with the rest.  Over the last 10 years how many times did John jab at McGough?  Maybe half a dozzen and it was never unprovoked.  You guys make it sound like it was every month.  It wasn't.  But you guys like to exaggerate and continue to instigate more trouble.  Face it, you guys don't want to get over this.

[kmhphoto]

No, not on this board.  But, fine, I'll give you that.  I'll save you the trouble of reading the article.  Here is the entire verse of what amounts to "including their families:" referring to the fact that it is a shame there is this feud, John wrote "it's too bad, I thought McGough's daughter was hot."  If the woman sitting next to him was his daughter and not your wife, I hope you could see the humor in that, but you probably can't.   Try to remove yourself from the situation and maybe you might.  But that is the sum total of anything having to do with anyone's family and it turns out she wasn't even a member of his family!  But, you guys make it sound like it is an every day occurrence.  The same with the rest.  Over the last 10 years how many times did John jab at McGough?  Maybe half a dozzen and it was never unprovoked.  You guys make it sound like it was every month.  It wasn't.  But you guys like to exaggerate and continue to instigate more trouble.  Face it, you guys don't want to get over this.

Thanks for printing the text, but why the need to take jabs at my possible lack of humor? Isn't that more likely to instigate trouble?

If you read my posts I think you'll find my position is quite clear. I don't believe that any personal attacks are professional.

I may disagree with MD's editorial policy but I've chatted briefly with Steve Blechman and his wife at shows. He asked me once why there couldn't be friendly rivalry between us all and I told him that the personal attacks were the cause.

I said before, there may never be a group hug leading to some people getting a room but let's just get on with our jobs and stop the petty with the petty insults?

[Crusher]

Thanks for printing the text, but why the need to take jabs at my possible lack of humor? Isn't that more likely to instigate trouble?

If you read my posts I think you'll find my position is quite clear. I don't believe that any personal attacks are professional.

I may disagree with MD's editorial policy but I've chatted briefly with Steve Blechman and his wife at shows. He asked me once why there couldn't be friendly rivalry between us all and I told him that the personal attacks were the cause.

I said before, there may never be a group hug leading to some people getting a room but let's just get on with our jobs and stop the petty with the petty insults?

My job is to gather information and feed it to John.  I'm going back and forth with you as much on John's behalf as you are on Peter's.  It's not by his authority I'm saying anything.  But, what he has said is that he's fine with burrying the hatchet and moving on.  It has nothing to do with having to buy a ticket to the Olympia.  He bought his last year too.

You know, I remember a call a long while back during a spat Romano was having with Lonnie Teeper.  John Balik had an issue with something Romano had written.  He called Romano and told him how he felt about it, asked him to stop, and that was it.  Never a problem again.  Tons of mutual respect.  In fact, Romano and Teeper get along just fine now. That is all McGough had to to way back when he first realized he picked a fight with t he wrong guy.  I'm sure none of this would be happening right now. 

I know John, would be more than happy with everyone just getting along and moving forward and growing the industry.  Remember, Flex is for sale, and this is the last year of AMI's involvement with the Olympia.  You never know who you might have to gt along with next year.  It would be smart if everyone started now.

[HUGEPECS]

INTENSE!!!!!!!!! Next months cover, the month after that and the month after that

flex is getting monotonous with their Articles, almost everything is repetitive. It's like,  the same freaking article by different Pros

[kmhphoto]

My job is to gather information and feed it to John.  I'm going back and forth with you as much on John's behalf as you are on Peter's.  It's not by his authority I'm saying anything.  But, what he has said is that he's fine with burrying the hatchet and moving on.  It has nothing to do with having to buy a ticket to the Olympia.  He bought his last year too.

You know, I remember a call a long while back during a spat Romano was having with Lonnie Teeper.  John Balik had an issue with something Romano had written.  He called Romano and told him how he felt about it, asked him to stop, and that was it.  Never a problem again.  Tons of mutual respect.  In fact, Romano and Teeper get along just fine now. That is all McGough had to to way back when he first realized he picked a fight with t he wrong guy.  I'm sure none of this would be happening right now. 

I know John, would be more than happy with everyone just getting along and moving forward and growing the industry.  Remember, Flex is for sale, and this is the last year of AMI's involvement with the Olympia.  You never know who you might have to gt along with next year.  It would be smart if everyone started now.

You may be back and forth with Jonh but I've not had contact with Peter over this at all. What I write is my own opinions and should not be seen as representing anyone else.

Just a thought but you mention that John Balik called John Romano about a problem and it was over. You say that this all started with a comment Peter made, so why didn't John call him?  
Considering a recent incident I'd suggest keeping comments about "picking fights" to private messages

With a change of ownership looming, the future looks interesting, let's hope for a peaceful one

[Crusher]

You may be back and forth with Jonh but I've not had contact with Peter over this at all. What I write is my own opinions and should not be seen as representing anyone else.


Same here. Just a thought but you mention that John Balik called John Romano about a problem and it was over. You say that this all started with a comment Peter made, so why didn't John call him?

I don't know, McGough was the guy who was bothered. All Romano did was fight back.  Considering a recent incident I'd suggest keeping comments about "pickinh fights" to private messages

?  McGough picked the fight.  Common knowledge.  You can go back and read it all for yourself. I have. With a change of ownership looming, the future looks interesting, let's hope for a peaceful one

Totally agree!

[kmhphoto]

McGough picked the fight.  Common knowledge.  You can go back and read it all for yourself. I have.

If that's the case why didn't John call him?

[Joe Roark]

I have a complete collection of MD, but I have not filed it for several years.

I would be interested, though, in going back and reading the relevant sections to see how all this originated.

With what issue and page should I begin?

Thanks.

[240 is Back]

People, take this stuff to PM.  You guys are representatives of your magazines, right? 

[kmhphoto]

People, take this stuff to PM.  You guys are representatives of your magazines, right? 

I represent myself.
I agree it must be getting boring though so I'm done.

[Tre]

"The eagle does not chase the fly."

[Joe Roark]

People, take this stuff to PM.  You guys are representatives of your magazines, right? 

An argument stands or falls on merit, not on association. I have a column in Flex, but are only those not associated with magazines permitted to post?
Anyway, a lead to the beginning article would be helpful.