According to reports, they need a budget of $12,000 in order to bring it back in 2010. 

Without the Tampa show, there are only two remaining contests to determine who has qualified for the Ms. Olympia, the New York and the Atlantic City Pro shows.

Some people never learn. Even when their team is going through a miserable season in which they were lucky to have the one win they can show for themselves, selfishness rises to the top. In the case of the Cincinatti Bengals, what could go wrong has gone wrong. Head coach Marvin Lewis somehow manages to keep his job as the inmates have run the asylum during his watch. The leader of the pack has been Chad Johnson…oh, excuse me…Ocho Cinco. It pains me to have to do that. On second though, screw him. I’ll call him Johnson if he likes it or not!

While his antics may have been amusing in the past when the team was playing decent football, that act has gone cold mighty fast. Whatever the reason(s) why the attention-seeking Johnson was deactivated approximately 10 hours before a Thursday night kickoff, the fact of the matter is that he is a lightning rod for controversy. Is he talented? There is no questionof that, so to leave him out of a game where he could have made a difference is even more glaring.

What appears to have occurred is Johnson having a disagreement with one of the assistant coaches during a team meeting and him possibly walking out of the room. What makes this even more annoying is teammate John Thorton stating that Johnson “has done worse” in the past and didn’t get suspended, and that Lewis was making a “statement” by doing so. The problem that I – and everyone else should – have with this is that if Lewis had done his job before and layed down the law, Johnson would have never dreamed of committing such insubordinate acts, if he even was still on the team.

Maybe this is just another prime example of why Lewis took so long to get a head coaching job in the NFL. He was being lauded as such a great defensive mind when he was on the staff of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, and rightfully so. But to be the ‘bad guy’ and have to throw down the hammer is a totally different situation that being an assistant coach.

They say misery loves company, but if you’re Donovan McNabb, you probably wish that your own teammates would just be quiet and let this thing die already. No matter what defense is put forth, the fact of the matter is that professional athletes – numerous on one team alone – were totally unaware of a very simple overtime rule.

Brian Dawkins was the latest Eagle to jump on the stupid sword and admit that he, too, was in the dark at one time with the game ending in a tie. His mistake was back in 1997, so maybe he should have made sure that the rest of the guys knew the situation.

Dawkins’ not only sounded ridiculous by getting so uptight over the situation, he didn’t even explain himself correctly. At a press conference, he told reporters that if the Eagles had “won the game and he (McNabb) had said what he said, would it be a big deal now?” Oh…yes! Why not, Brian? He would look just as stupid regardless of the outcome of the game. Then, Dawkins takes it a step further by saying, “But because we lost the game, now it’s a huge deal.” Hey, Brian…you didn’t lose the game. It was a tie, and that’s where all of this nonsense started.

Don’t get me wrong. McNabb has been a class act and could be given a pass here, but that is impossible. You are getting paid millions of dollars to play a game and you should know a rule like that cold. It isn’t some obscure section in the back of the rule book. Just because it does not happen often doesn’t make it something to fluff off.

To cap off a session that made him look like the most uneducated person on this planet, Dawkins got on the media for taking the team to task, which has been richly deserved this season. “You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “Either get on us when we know the rules and win or leave us alone both ways. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous.”

It certainly is, Brian. You said it yourself – twice for emphasis.

When people think of bodybuilders, the first name that comes to mind is Arnold Schwarzennager. The ‘Terminator’ definitely did put bodybuilding on the map in the 1970’s and is still a great ambassador for the sport, but the fact of the matter is that Arnold does not hold the record for overall Mr. Olympia titles or even consecutive championships on the big stage.

That would be Lee Haney, who stood by himself holding the Sandow Trophy from 1984 to 1991, when he retired from competitive bodybuilding. Governor Schwarzennager won six straight Mr. O titles (1970-75), and his last in 1980. Ronnie Coleman matched Haney’s record from 1998 to 2005.

The humble Haney still marvels to this day how he was able to stay on top for so long. “Who would have thought that I would have won eight?” he said. “To accomplish one is a feat in itself. Words couldn’t express [what it means] to win eight.”

Since walking away from the competition, Haney has been a personal trainer for many different athletes from all different sports, such as; Evander Holyfield, Shannon Sharpe, Gary Sheffield, Fred Stokes and Kevin Willis.

Because of his involvement with these types of athletes, Haney scoffs at the notion that bodybuilding is not a sport. “It can be nothing but a sport,” Haney said. “All of the athletes I have trained, the sport of bodybuilding has enhanced their abilities. You have to strive to be the best. When you’re sleeping, another guy is getting the edge.

“There is no on and off season,” continued Haney. “You need the discipline of diet, supplementation and applying that training. It’s actually a sport/science.”

Haney sees the difference in the size of the competitors today – such as current Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler – as opposed to when he competed. “We had smaller waistlines and were more sleek with our physiques,” he said. “Now they’re so much bigger, more massive now. I’m not saying it’s bad. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Haney’s career has come full circle since he won the first NPC World Amateur Heavyweight Championship in 1982 in New York City’s Town Hall. This year, he will once again be involved promoting the organization’s 25th Anniversary at the 2007 BodyWell NPC National Bodybuilding and Fitness Championship, which was to be held November 16 and 17 in Dallas. “I am very happy to be a part of it and [it’s] celebration of 25 years,” said Haney.

For more information on Haney’s career, his line of supplements and personal training, be sure to visit his website (www.leehaney.com).

Archived from the January 2008 issue of “New York Sportscene” magazine. Photo courtesy of Flex magazine.