1999 Emerald Cup (Audience Notables) By -Jabber Audience Notables: It was announced that Dale Tomita and Sandy Renaldi were among the judges at this show. In a booth was the ever-flexed abs of Ms. Theresa Hessler (I wonder if her abs are flexed 24 hours a day - I've never seen them anything but ultra-tight looking - amazing), I'd already mentioned I spoke with Steve Wennerstrom at the show, I also met the great Polyglot (Mike Bailey) of Vancouver, and interestingly enough, one of the guest posers was Mary Yockey. Although I think the term should be guest performers as I would've LOVED to see the fitness competitor extraordinaire Ms. Yockey actually simply come out and pose her formidable muscles. Humorously, before the show (and before I knew Ms. Yockey was going to be guest posing), Mary got on the elevator at the hotel with Sheila, Ernie, and myself. Mary's buff tan left arm was inches away from me. If you've not seen a good fitness competitor's muscles up close, they're quite impressive, indeed. Sheila kept making motions and strange glances at me. After Ms. Yockey went on her way, Sheila asked me if I noticed her arms. I said, "of course!" Sheila was surprised how cool the -jabber was able to remain with fine muscle in that close of proximity. :-) For what it's worth, the very impressive Sheila Burgess had been quite covered up looking on purpose (later she confided it was partially to tease me :-) ). In general, since the Emerald Cup is so gosh-darn far away from Texas that there really wasn't as many folks that I recognized in the audience as in most other shows, but there were some folks I'd never seen before - because of being so far from home. My biggest disappointment was the fact that during my first trip to Seattle, it didn't rain! Never can one mention audience notables without mentioning one of the most muscular fitness competitors ever, Ms. Calves, Linda McLaughlin. Indeed, she seems to get around "almost" as much as yours truly, our paths crossing at the '98 WSE, '98 Nationals, '99 Ms. I and now here in the Pacific Northwest. Also, this I found QUITE interesting. Sheila Burgess had told me Lora Ottenad was at the evening show, but I hadn't seen her yet. I made Sheila promise she'd introduce me to this Pacific Northwest resident. A bit later in the evening, this happened. I met Lora Ottenad, who'd had a layoff from training but recently had started up again. Physically, I thought she looked good, but found her cute face and captivating eyes so, well... captivating... I barely looked at her body (if you 100% believe that? ha!). Anyway, I asked her, in person, about "that" incident (the one about being roughed up in a session - I was a pleasantly surprised I "remembered" to ask her - I didn't grill her and she seemed perfectly willing to talk and wasn't uncomfortable about this). And what she told me I was VERY surprised to learn. She said it didn't happen. It was a hoax, she NEVER got injured in a session, no hospital stay, nobody poking her in the eye (that's what I'd heard), no busted ribs. Very interesting, no? Believe me, I was really surprised to hear what I heard, but glad that she didn't get injured. And I "did" look into her eyes, they did not look damaged... I don't know how many have heard of him, but a gentleman by the name of Flattop (spotted at the Arnold Classic) was a frequent guest entertainer. He's a black gentleman, not a bodybuilder, but very flexible, and double-jointed, with a "flat top" afro, that's quite distinctive. The best part about his performances, in my opinion, was simply the cool music that wafted across the Meydenbauer Center when he was on stage. But he was on stage SO much... About 11 times? :-) Sheesh... I caught a fleeting glance of Seattle resident Vicki Cole (transplanted from Oklahoma); she looked like she'd lost some mass, but was still quite eye-catching, indeed. It would've been nice if I got a chance to hear if she had an Oklahoma twang (but shucks never heard it). Two other women of Oriental heritage deserve mention here. Although we weren't introduced, I noticed Sheila talking with a striking young lady, very off-season looking, but very pleasing physique. I played a little guessing game in my mind as to who this mixed-heritage young lady (not unlike Juliette Bergmann) was. Finally it dawned on me: it was Stella Hill, who a couple years back, had a very nice pictorial in Women's Physique World. Even with all the buff bodies around, Stella was quite an eye-catching presence, still with decent mass all over. If it wasn't for the last woman I'm about to mention, she may have been the most attractive female there. But the "real" reason to come to Seattle? Hmm, none other than the '98 NPC Nationals Middleweight and Overall winner Brenda Raganot. I cannot wait to see her tear up the professional ranks. She was astounding looking in her off-season hard massive look. I made an exception again: I took a couple non-contest pics of her and Sheila Burgess posing together. As you may know I rarely take pics other than contest pics on-stage but she was WELL worth the exception. Not really part of the Emerald Cup, but over this weekend, the famed -jabber/Sheila Burgess armwrestling match DID happen. I'm not telling what happened. :-) Until next review... -jabber