Business is business. The cold, harsh reality is that Dexter Jackson is not the type of person that makes someone grab a magazine off the newsstand and plunk down their $4.00 or more for it. No offense towards the newly-crowned Mr. Olympia, but he was basically not controversial enough to warrant any good (or bad, depending on which way you’re looking at it) press. Thus, he didn’t warrant any covers in the world of bodybuilding magazines.

For right or wrong, Jackson is too ‘vanilla’ and this industry survives and strives by the ‘wow’ factor, which Jackson doesn’t bring. Is he a champion bodybuilder that deserves cover features? Absolutely, but a publisher has to look at the bottom line. The main selling point of print industry is the cover and headline. Why do you think piece of shit rags like the New York Post and the National Enquirer have made such an impact?

Jay Cutler brought an air of controversy with him due to the blocky look that attracted so much criticism. Was he a great champion? That is debatable, but he was and still is a face and body that sells. Like him or not, Cutler’s popularity cannot be disputed.

Perusing the newsstand shelves and the covers of the latest bodybuilding mags, ‘Muscular Development’ has Dennis Wolf; ‘Flex’ gives us a UFC-theme with Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar; ‘Muscle & Fitness’ stayed in the octagon with Frank Mir; ‘Iron Man’ has a faceless bodybuilder and ‘MuscleMag International’ shows Johnnie Jackson with a sub-heading of “Who Got Robbed at the Mr. Olympia?” Interesting indeed.

As far as Wolf is concerned, he may be the most overrated bodybuilder of today’s era. Because so many people try to compare him to Arnold, he receives a hell of a lot of attention that he really doesn’t deserve. Jackson is a decent guy, but an odd choice for a cover and not one that would make a difference as far as star power is concerned. Oddly enough, his name doesn’t even appear on the cover. The UFC angle is something that is a good cross-over market, but to have not one, but two publications from the same company go in that direction is a bit odd. There must be more to the story or at least some type of agreement in place.

So, there are many reasons why our new Mr. O is getting pushed to the back pages of even his own industry publications. And that is a shame, indeed.

If the NFL Network had to do it all over again, they probably would have named Bob Papa as their play-by-play man from Day One. The radio voice of the New York Giants is a valid choice and will handle the job with dignity while bringing something to the table. Unfortunately, this comes a year too late and after football fans had to deal with Bryant Gumbel calling games, who’s style was reminiscent of the lead character in “Weekend at Bernie’s.”

While he may have been a decent studio host many years ago on NBC, Gumbel was an odd choice to be in the booth during the fledging network’s first season exclusively covering Thursday night games. His years as a ‘Today’ show host seemed to have taken a lot of his being considered a ‘sports’ person away. No matter what color analyst Cris Collinsworth did to attempt to salvage what was being said over the microphones, Gumbel’s inability to even have a deep knowledge of the game reared its ugly head on more than one occasion. If that wasn’t bad enough, his style was so laid back that even his calls of critical touchdowns had the same intensity as when he called for a commercial break.

Papa has been with the Giants since 1995 and has been called “one of the most talented and experiences announcers in the business” by NFL Network president Steve Bornstein. While being accused of being a ‘homer’ during Giant games, Papa won’t have to hear that on a national scale. His broadcasts sound as if he is having fun and not just doing a job, a claim that Gumbel cannot make.

The NFL Network’s first game this season will be on November 6 with the Denver Broncos at the Cleveland Browns.