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Locked and lubedDate: 06.06.2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United States
Take the image of oiled-up, artificially tanned, vein-popping muscular throbbing male bodies squeezed into man panties and arranged in a row. Now couple that with the image of King Kong at a cheerleading competition. Welcome to the S.C. bodybuilding championship.
Heading into the Koger Center last Saturday, I wondered why National Physique Committee chairman James Manion announced in 2002 that not all media would be allowed credentials for NPC events and only “writers whose credentials are verified by Web sites that are extensions of the normal bodybuilding and fitness print publications.”
Was Manion afraid some immature journalist wouldn’t respect the sport and event? City Paper Managing Editor Todd Morehead lined up my press credentials to the event through NPC State Chair Trey Bennett only after assuring him that I would do a legitimate story. I was determined not to let them down; I knew I could do a story on bodybuilding that was fair, balanced and maintained my heterosexuality.
The event was scheduled for early Saturday morning and I somehow convinced Morehead I’d make it there by 10 a.m. With a typical Saturday morning hangover, I arrived around noon. Bennett quickly escorted me and my freelance photographer through the side door to a moment that would change my life forever.
The band Genesis was playing in the background, while a table of judges instructed dudes in banana hammocks to individually flex each group of muscles: first the thighs, then the back and then the chest. A man-boob twitched on contestant seven while number three struck a pose and quivered like Michael J. Fox. When contestant two’s button fell off during the “Junior’s” competition, my mind wandered with horror as I thought of how he was going to bend over and pick it up to reattach it to his thong.
My photographer took a deep breath, steeled himself and attached his zoom lens. I turned away from the scene and sought out Bennett, hoping that he could give me some perspective on the sport.
“It is a progression like High School, College, Pro,” Bennett said. “Those guys compete until they win and then they get into the open division. They are six weight classes, light to super heavy.”
Bennett admitted that the judging confuses some people because “the biggest doesn’t always win.” Instead, he says, it’s whoever “presents that package on stage the best.”
While I wasn’t mentally prepared to come back to see the professional portion of the competition that evening, I have a pretty good idea of who won. If your flexing can pop off your contestant button, you definitely have a powerful overall package. |
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