My Observations:
- It didn't matter how Ronnie and Jay looked on Friday -- the judges gave Jay straight 1's all the way. Even if Ronnie got tighter and Jay got weaker on Saturday, the outcome would have been the same.
- How on earth does Jay achieve that low level of BF without a vein in sight? I know naturals with better vascularity. Definitely no Munzer.
- Ronnie absolutely crushes Jay in the front double biceps, the most muscular, the front lat spread, the side biceps, and the rear lat spread and rear double biceps are close. Could somebody please explain exactly which poses Jay crushes Ronnie on and how it adds up to dethroning the champ?
- People who are doubting that Ronnie was told prior to the finals that he was not going to win shouldn't be too surprised. The judges scorecards after the prejudging is not considered a closely guarded secret. All it takes is one of the 17 (or so) judges to tell a friend/spouse/hooker and the word is out. With Jay's Friday scores in the bag, Ronnie had no chance to win.
- Ronnie should hang it up, not because he is no longer an awesome bodybuilder, but because this is the typical IFBB writing on the wall for him. Once the powers-that-be make up their minds about someone, it's over for them. For reference, see Nasser. Or Gustavo. Or Mustafa. Or Arntz. Sure, sucking up can still do wonders (See Kamali. Or Victor. Or Cutler) but Ronnie has too much pride to suck kock at this stage of his career. If he had any dignity, he'd pull a Marvelous Marvin Hagler and never compete again.
- Ronnie and Jay is an apples-to-apples comparison. So we're still stuck with apples. If we're gonna pick apples, let's at least pick the biggest, freakiest apple (Ruhl) to win. Otherwise, let's just pick an orange (Melvin) and dictate the change back to a symmetrical, aesthetic Mr. Olympia. Oh yeah, I forgot. Markus lives in Germany and won't be able to guest pose for $500 every weekend for the judges' own promotions/contests.
That's it. My mouth to God's ears. Deal with the truth.
Special "Straight Shooter" Ed
Ed, I like all of your posts, and you are one of the reasons why getbig.com boards will go down in the history as the best bulletin boards ever created.
But allow me to disagree from what you pointed out here:
_ Nasser is the only one to blame on what has happened to him, ever since '97. Take a look at the guy's body from his last contest apearences , and it will speak volumes as the reasons why he has fallen form
ghrace. I'm sure the IFBB had no choice but to relegate him to the placings that he deserved, showing up at contest time in the shape that he has presenting, lately;
_ Gustavo, with all his tuff guy talking, has been consistently placing high form the last three years, because he has truly shown a very good phisique, despite his wasteline increasing problems. The minute he decreased the quality of his showings, he is dealing with the lowering of his placement in the constests, plain and simple;
_ What to say about Gunther? Everybody has always been busting his chops, saying he's consistently receiving gifts, courtesy of papa Weider, but let's be fair to the guy: Glass has brought out the BEST in him, and he deservingly got the higher placings. This year, with a much higher level of competition, look what happened to him; he dropped horribly form the top 6, his home since last year. If there was something called 'writings on the wall' for this year's O., my guess is his Top 6 spot would be guarantee, no matter what level of the competition he would have mto face, thanx to his affiliation with papa Joe;
_ Now Ruhl is a damn monster, no question about it. But in my opinion he failed in doing his homework of trying to conform his freakiness to the new mandate, in the form of an improved wasteline like Jay shows. His shoulders/bis still raise a lot of questions regarding their 'true tissue'
You simply can't compare Ruhl to Jay. Jay has a kind of refinement that Ruhl simply doesn't posses, yet;
_I loved Ronnie as a Mr. O to death, don't get me wrong. He has consistently put a whole lot of suffering in training and preparing for the comp., and he's always been an excelent ambassador of the commitment that a true Mr. O should sport.
BUT NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THAT JAY'S TIME HAS COME, AS A NEW MR. O?
He works just as hard (if not harder, in order to compensate the genetic freakiness that he doesn't have, if compared to Ronnie's) for that title. Everyone that has watched at least one of his last DVDs can't help but become a fan of the guy, and truly appreciate the efforts and commitments he has put on the line in his chase for the Sandow. And you know what? Look at these pics posted here: he SURPASSED Coleman this year, for sure. How come someone can't show respect for the guy that accomplished something that was unthinked of until some days ago? Come onnnnnnn......
Ronnie has been warned a lot of times regarding the flaws his phisique has been showing. The problem is, as painful as it is for me to say about a guy I have always admired, he became to self assured about his greatness, truly believing nobody could ever touch his toenails regarding phisique development. Proof: his comments about Vic Martinez being the heir apparent, but ONLY when he (Coleman) went on retirement mode.
So let's give respect where respect is due, Ed.
