Ms Olympia 1997
By Jabber



Let's get this out of the way.  Nicole Bass and her husband Bob graciously
put me up (and yeah, put up with me, too - ha!) to allow me to attend the
1997 Ms. Olympia.  I promised I'd still write an opinionated review, which
MIGHT not be 100% complimentary to our Nicole.  However, even before I met
her, I did feel, based upon all accounts I've read, that she was a nice
person.  Certainly, my firsthand impressions are in strong agreement with
that assertion (i.e. for those who hate verbosity, I liked her! ...and Bob,
too - neat couple).

I've divided this review into a couple of segments: fitness, bodybuilding,
audience celebrities, Nicole's place, and the BB experience with Nicole. 
If your ISP didn't get them all, I'll be glad to forward any and all to you
via email.

Soon, I'll also be posting a mini-interview Nicole had granted me.  Any and
all 'stuff's can be posted to the Diana the Valkyrie's board.  On with the
review:

-jabber



-fitness

Surprisingly enough, at this event, there was NO program that I recall, so
if I butcher the names of some of the fitness competitors, PLEASE take no
offense (I don't follow fitness competitors as closely as fbb's - as
everyone knows), and feel free to correct me, I NEVER take offense to
spelling corrections when it comes to spelling someone's name correctly.

As with the fitness contest at the Nationals held right here in the Big D,
I was/am impressed with very fit looking attractive women.  And, in
general, the emphasis seemed to be more on muscular, fit-looking women
(with darn attractive faces, too), and not necessarily big breasted
blondes.  As a spectator, fitness contests, along with fbb contests, to me
are very visual.  -jabber was very happy just watching these women just
walking around on stage, preferring to see them facing the audience
displaying their abs, etc.  

General note here, although the fitness routines were of decent caliber in
general, I didn't feel they were really any higher caliber than what I saw
at the Nationals and barely better than what I saw at the USA in Las Vegas
earlier this year.  Out of curiosity, if any of you are fitness contest
enthusiasts, what is the pecking order (no I didn't say 'pec'ing order -
calm down -ap!) of these contests?  What's the 'ultimate'?  The Galaxy? 
Fitness America?  I'm clueless here (yes Alicia Silverstone after joining a
gym would indeed be nice).  Enough of that tangent!

Non-placers of note:

Karen Hulse - I don't believe I've ever seen her on stage before - other
than on televised contests.  My first glimpse of her was a pic I stumbled
upon (will post upon request) showing tree-trunk like forearms - damn thick
for a fitness girl - I thought, way cool.  I've heard she usually does well
in the 2-piece rounds in her competitions.  Sweet looking abs -jabber was
happy, but her face looked drawn at her low bodyfat weight.  Who says
fitness competitors can't look hard and strong?

Monica Brant - Ever heard of her?  Ha!  Just looking at the girl, she was
strong-looking.  I've read that she uses push-ups integrally in her
training, and does 3 to 4 sets of two-arm push-ups 60 to 70 reps each! 
Wow!  And she does about 3 sets of one-arm push-ups to failure (damn I
wanted to know how many!).  Nice midsection, too.  Funny, Bev Francis was
the MC for the night show (good choice, enjoyed hearing her and seeing her
in her man-tailored suit).  But I thought Bev was vaguely insulting to
fitness competitors.  In some ways, although I can be abrasive in my
opinions, I can be overly sensitive in other things.  While they were
waiting for the 'right' music to cue up for Monica, Bev, for grins,
effortlessly dropped down and gave 7 quick, quick one-arm push-ups with her
left arm (anyone know if she's left or right-handed?).  Although the
push-ups weren't that deep, she's definitely strong, no question.  Of
course, I wanted to see Monica drop down and embarrass the hell out of Bev
for that one (can you say 12+ one-arm push-ups?), but she had yet to do her
routine.  Bev's stunt I liked, didn't find that insulting (something else,
yes :-) ), but also, while waiting, she commented that Monica had a nice
color suit on - it was blue, she should get some points for that.  Uh, Bev,
vaguely insulting, as everyone glanced at the fitting blue shorts Ms. Brant
had on, clinging to her delightful firm ass - and NO I'm not a glute man,
but that was a fine behind, indeed.  Guess it's only fair, since many
fitness girls have made fun of fbb's, turnabout's fair play, no?

Theresa Hessler - abs to die for, pure and simple - her sex appeal goes
down tremendously when her abs are covered.  I've seen her looking in
better overall shape than here, before - but oh them crazy abs...

Michelle Bellini - cute (duh - an understatement), but I've seen her
looking better.  I've heard hugely high praise heaped on her by WPW, but
even with the long brunette hair, Italian looks, firm abs, -jabber
certainly thought she was cute, but NOT the best thing since sliced bread.

Michelle Ralabate - Although I didn't listen too well, my mom and
grandmother always taught me if you can't say anything nice, don't say
anything at all...  Next...

Alexandra Beres - she's definitely improving in the physique department,
actually looking like a strong fitness competitor now, stupid implants,
though detract from her appearance.  Previously, she was graceful and
long-limbed yet thin and curiously devoid of visible musculature.  Luckily
now there is visible musculature, and she's gotten more graceful, AND a
cute as a button face - Thank God for that Iron Curtain coming down.  Ms.
Beres, you may have caught this routine at the last Fitness Olympia, she
starts out inside a cape (shitty for viewing a physique, but a cute gag,
nonetheless).  After she disrobed (ha!), she threw the cape to the audience
- a cute touch, IMO.

Jennifer Collins - still a cool tan - nuff said

Tima (sp) Mariroba (sp) - sorry for the misspelling, hope you know who I'm
talking about - guess me paying $75 (and $50 for prejudging) you couldn't
afford to type up a damn program?  Hear that, Mr. Demilia!!!  This girl,
who I've never seen before, was the biggest, most muscular fitness
competitor, IMO, she won the strength competition (I think) which was reps
on a rowing machine - curiously visually entertaining.  And her routine? 
Damn, she looked naked - in the barest jungle costume -jabber has EVER

seen.  God with her body, every inch of it looked gorgeous and worth
displaying.  But I digress..

Carmen Marino - What an oxymoron, a blonde Hispanic - let's see, -jabber
likes Hispanics but doesn't like blondes - which will win out?  Did I say
she used to be an fbb and had pretty cool muscles?  Think you know which
way I leaned.  Carmen's Men In Black routine was pretty funky/sexy, too. 
But visually otherwise, she wasn't at her best - I've seen her better.

Stephanie Wolsford - bunch of hooting and hollering in the audience when
she came on - I couldn't really figure out why - just another cute fit
blonde - zzz...
Top 5:

5th - Dale Tomita - In my notes, I said Dale looked impressive and God if I
couldn't read the rest of my notes.  I wrote something completely illegible
and incomprehensible next to her name.  Guess I was pretty impressed by
this fit Asian lady.  Must have been excited, I guess.  Dale did a neat
effortless handwalk around the stage.  Great balance, impressive, and nice
workout for her triceps...  Another drink, bartender!

4th - Susan Curry - Cute girl, always in nicely ripped shape AND with a
cute face, to boot.  Whatever the heck she was wearing, you could kind of
see her crotch, with the numerous crotch shots afforded during her posing
routine.  I don't know if you're into that kind of thing...  Ha!  

3rd - Lena Johansen (sp) - Very cute girl, I'd never seen her before -
nice.  Not 'sure' if she deserved 3rd, though.  But I rarely have that much
trouble with fitness judging - it's those fbb judges I disagree with
bigtime.

2nd - Saryn Muldrow - Strangely enough, I know who she is, I saw her on the
ESPN tape of the 1996 Fitness Olympia and wasn't that impressed with her. 
I usually think she's unfairly cute, but thought she wasn't that great
looking last year.  LUCKILY, she was back to her cute self this year. 
Before I figured out who she was, I saw her at the hotel earlier.  Damn if
there's not still a stain from me drooling in the hotel's carpet! 
Incredible looker from the neck up.  And lovely from the neck down, too. 
She did a Michael Jackson style dancing routine that was very nice to
watch, too.  She won the show last year, was better this year, but I still
have no problem with her getting only 2nd.

1st - Carol Semple - Semple is simply great.  I don't find her to be the
most attractive, even though she's a reasonably tall brunette, but that
ain't what it's all about.  Her skin's curiously always a little too pale
for these events, but her muscularity was nice.  Great arms, my mind
drifted, I wanted to see her armwrestle the other competitors, just strap
their right wrists together and go to town...  Sorry for that Jazz
Fan-induced digression.  Although others have imitated her patented legs on
the elbows push-up, Carol still is the best at putting together - stringing
together incredible strength moves and graceful maneuvers nonstop.

Did I hear anyone say female muscle?  Read on...

-jabber


-bodybuilding

There were 18 competitors this year.  To date, other than the top 10, I do
NOT know the 11th through 18th placings, sorry.  If anyone knows, feel free
to add it, thank you.  

Melissa Coates - Before the contest, Bob told me that my girl was looking
pretty haggard in the face.  See, it's funny because most know I'm really a
Melissa Coates fan, but what I'm about to say won't sound really too kind
about her.  That's just me, it doesn't mean I dislike someone or anything,
it IS my opinion, though.  She looked small here, compared to the many
other 'big' women, kind of out of her league here.  Her routine was WAY too
long, and I feel her implants looked bad on her dieted down body.  I don't
like the fact that in the past she's come down hard vocally on some of the
'big' fbb's saying she doesn't want to look like them.  Here she comes in,
looking haggard and more drawn than just about anyone.  If she didn't have
so much darn sex appeal to start with, she wouldn't be attractive.  But
since she started out with so much, I still enjoyed seeing her on stage. 
She WAS pretty hard looking, abs and everything - peaked biceps.

Nicole Bass - Bob of *course* wanted to know what I thought of Nicole,
being what she is to him, and my previous Nationals review.  I said I felt
she'd probably get 10th or 11th based upon the prejudging.  Obviously she
didn't get 10th, not sure where she placed.  But she did have damn nice abs
for having so much mass, 206 lbs of female beef.  Her posing was much
smoother than I've ever seen before, she posed to Enya's Sail Away. 
However, I was prepped about how great and how much better she looks now
than at the Nationals.  Well, I never had the opportunity to see her up
close in Dallas the way I did in NYC, but on stage, her
changes/improvements were more evolutionary than revolutionary.  Not to
digress, the 'more evolutionary than revolutionary' phrase word is a key
one I see in car magazines all the time when talking about a new car model
that's changed/improved from the year before, but not drastically.  Hence,
I think it fits here.  She belongs in the Pro ranks and I'm sure will make
a good pro (she already has), but I thought I heard someone (not saying
names here) say *she* was the reason for the decent attendance at this
years Ms. Olympia.  I, however, think that's overstating things (i.e.
that's hogwash).  A -jabber comment about her posing, while much improved,
since her 'draw' is the fact that she can be that defined/ripped/massive at
such an advanced height AND weight, perhaps she should have an aggressive
loud heavy metal posing routine.  I remember a couple years back at the Jan
Tana Laura Carolan (who was the heaviest competitor at that show at 162
lbs) posing to a Metallica song to VERY good effect.  Her physique rocked
heavily.  So does Nicole's - possibly that might be a good angle in the
future?

Tazzie Colomb - damn was she strong-looking.  If I was ever in a fight, I'd
want her on my side.  Kind of want to see her take on Chyna (Joanie Lee)
from the WWF and wipe the floor with her!  But I digress.  Tazzie's
weakpoint is poor bicep peaks, even though she has nice arm mass.  Very
good mass overall, fantastic sex appeal, better abs than usual (she gets my
top 3 as to who I'd most want to sleep with at the show - which does and
SHOULD mean nothing to the judging).  Two interesting observations:  At the
evening show, she didn't come out during the opening call-outs.  I was
wondering if she was pulling a Paula Suzuki (looking hot and buffed but not
appearing at the finals - that happened in a previous Jan Tana with Ms.
Suzuki - never found out why).  Second observation: during a lull in the
action, when they were announcing male IFBB competitors in audience, Tazzie
didn't clap, she just tossed her hair sexily.  To me, adding to her sex
appeal is her air of confidence - I don't give a damn about my placings,
I'm here to make guy's mouths water.  That she's damn good at, AND I
sincerely hope she wasn't upset with her placing.  In addition to fearing
for the judges lives if she WAS upset, she was perhaps the most talked
about as to why wasn't she included in the top ten.  That was an injustice.

Laura Binetti - What can I say, she's a walking, talking mound of muscle
mass - I LOVED it!  Biceps (better than Kim's, Vickie's AND Yolanda's),
traps, mass personified.  Unfortunately her abs were off.  And a couple of
others were saying she has poor symmetry, hence her usual low placing.  I
couldn't take my eyes off those biceps, so I really couldn't comment about
her symmetry!  Ha!  Both biceps WERE hot, though - that should count toward
symmetry, no?  One fellow I was talking to, big guy, IFBBPRO (no, I won't
reveal just which one he is!) was commenting that in many of the routines,
there wasn't really too much (or not enough) hard-core muscle posing.  I
agreed with that, and commented the following: "Yes, to me the best, most
flamboyant hard-core muscle posing was during Laura Binetti's
compulsories!!!"  Ha!  When they called for a front double bicep of her,
she first showed the audience her right rear bicep, then her left rear
bicep, and finally the pose called for.  What a piece of phenomenal muscle
mass!

Eva Sukapova - She has very impressive abs and doesn't nearly pose them
enough during her routines.  I believe she's very underrated in this
country, seems Christa Bauch's gotten much better known, but her abs are
every bit as good.  Good luck in the future, as she's not the 'prettiest'
competitor, but DOES have the body for being up there on stage.

Valerie Gangi - Very attractive (huge understatement), well-balanced body,
with abs of concrete.  God, why won't they pose them more during their
posing routines.  Very cool, thought she should've taken the Jan Tana
instead of coming in second to Chris Bongiovanni.  Similarly here, she
should've placed higher.

Gayle Moher - In NYC, she had great front lat width, abs, and she looked
enhanced, in other words, it looked like XBGMUSF, Mr. C, or someone else
pumped up her lats.  However, she didn't place higher due to her not having
great cuts overall anywhere though.  She tore up the amateurs with
impeccable conditioning.  Regain some of that and she'll do better on the
pro scene.  Love that English accent!

Zidika (sp) Turner (sp) - Sorry, Mr. Demilia couldn't afford programs I
guess.  I would've gladly paid $75.50 for a ticket to get a program, Mr.
Demilia (instead of $75 which I DID pay).  Anyway, notwithstanding, I guess
she and some other European fbb's are pretty well know there but fairly
unknown here.  Zidika's a great example of that, as -jabber's never heard
of her before.  She looked a bit like a brunette Sandra Blackie (remember
her), had nicely defined calves, and 'some' aesthetic back poses.

10th - Nancy Lewis - Can you say "phenomenal mass?"  Wow!  Personally I
wanted to see her place higher, but 'almost' understand her not doing so. 
Mass personified, vascular, but didn't have good cuts really.  It almost
looked like her upper and lower bodies didn't match.  I checked out this
comment with a few black people before posting this (as it's NOT at all
meant to be racist or derogatory - wish that preamble wasn't necessary). 
Most black fbb's seem to not have good calves compared to their white fbb
counterparts at the same level.  It may primarily be a genetic thing, I
don't know.  But, with that said, Ms. Lewis had good calves compared to
many black fbb's, very massive legs.  Her symmetry actually could be
stopping her, though.  She has no implants (Alleluia!) just bountiful
massive pecs (stop panting, -ap!), but she also has a large muscular waist.
 I personally like large blocky protruding muscular waists on females, the
more muscular the better.  However, her slight pot belly muscular waist
might be detrimental to her placing.  Now if being able to take a punch to
the stomach was an event, she might do quite well in that. :-)  Also, I am
reminded of that Talking Heads song with the following line: "I've changed
my hair style so many times, I don't know what I look like"!  Nancy, you
look best with long brown curly/wavy hair - take it from me.  Not blonde,
not short, not pulled back - although you did get your pro card with that
look.  Try that again, okay?  For me?

9th - Sue Myers - It's fantastic to see someone return to the sport and
start kicking ass again, no?  Sue showed nice balance, to me was better
than at the Jan Tana, kind of back to her old self, which was nothing short
of phenomenal.  Bob was telling me he saw her better than here.  But I saw
marked improvement compared to the '96 Jan Tana.  You go girl!

8th - Chris Bongiovanni - Good back, abs, and calves, but I felt she was
outclassed here and didn't deserve to be in the top 10, period.  As good as
her abs may have been, I've seen her on the amateur level with more defined
abs - hell, I can see them now...

7th - Andrulla Blanchette - Accolades galore isn't enough for this sexy
Brit!  Sexiest package, lats, abs, biceps (#1 in my top 3 as to who I'd
most want to sleep with at the show - sorry Tazzie - OUCH Tazzie, that
hurts - oh, who's the other lucky girl?  read on...).  What I find
interesting is that many 'women' talk about training differently than the
men, they don't want to get too hard, too massive, don't use weights in abs
exercises for fear of getting blocky, etc.  Well, Andrulla, compared to
many others, trains like a man (not an insult, BTW), I've seen her doing
weighted chin-ups, and something I've never seen a woman EVER do - she did
decline sit-ups with 90 lbs (holding two 45 lbs plates!)!  Did her waist
look blocky?  Well, it looked like molten muscle, VERY impressive.  In
fact, during her prejudging, she showed off her left obliques repeatedly -
molten muscle I say.  But the way she did it got gasps from the audience,
she used her right hand and cupped her left implant and pulled up her
breast to display her abs.  Interesting.  During the finals, she came out
with her top crooked.  I've talked to others and *think* she did this on
purpose.  Of course, as she's posing those massive muscles (so massive for
such a little girl!), her left nipple becomes clearly visible.  Now not
once did she straighten her top (although it looked noticeably crooked from
the beginning of her posing routine).  But 2 seconds after her nipple
becomes clearly visible (well clearly to my binoculars - Ha!), she
'notices' and straightens her top?  Right, Andrulla...  That I didn't find
a classy addition to her posing routine, but didn't detract from her highly
revered status with me.  BTW, during call-outs, she more than any other, I
barely noticed who she was being compared to - my binoculars were set on
her exclusively.

6th - Jitka Harazimova - Great lats, almost delicate/dainty looking but not
really because how can someone with that much muscle be dainty?  (okay,
I'll admit, she was #3 in my top 3 as to who I'd most want to sleep with at
the show - Tazzie was #2 - I'd personally fear for Jitka's life if she
finished in front of Tazzie - as if this all matters? Ha!)  Anyway, she was
very sexy indeed, but had a strange twisting abs pose - obviously works on
her midsection, but could pose it a bit better.  Bob was adament that she
didn't belong in the top 6 much less the top 10.  Actually I have to agree,
she has great structure and possibly a great future, but not yet.  Seems
she's been christened by WPW (those great folks) as the next big thing AND
the next Ms. Olympia (which I WILL NOT GO TO) will be held in Prague.  So
why not politically be good to a Czech?  Sorry for getting so damn
opinionated here - she didn't have the muscle maturity to be in the top 6,
plain and simple.  Everyone I talked to agreed on that.  But damn was she
sexy as she walked by me a couple of times in the lobby.  Would you like
U.S. citizenship, Jitka real quick?  Dallas is great in the winter, you
know!

5th - Vickie Gates - Phenomenal biceps overpower her legs - and many other
competitor's biceps (but not Laura Binetti's).  Her symmetry wasn't good
enough to warrant her high placing, sorry.  And yes I DO like her, and wish
she shared my plane home to Dallas.  BTW, how do you spell her first name? 
I've seen it spelled many different ways.

Well, we are down to the top 4 now.  A couple people, including Al who
Diana the Valkyrie sent across the Atlantic to attend and cover this event
(I'm STILL looking forward to meeting the old 'gal!), were quite impressed
that I pegged the top 4 perfectly.  Not only did I peg the top 4, I
actually agreed with the judges!  Halleluia!  I have a theory.  Juliette
Bergmann was one of the judges (incredibly sexy calves while wearing a
man-tailored suit!).  I think she was the one voice of sanity at least -
after all she knows about symmetry and mass, just look in a mirror, you go
girl!  I think she said, let me pick the top 4, you guys can argue about
everyone else!  That's why the other picks were f^&*ed up.

4th - Laura Creavalle - Well, nice width, better than I've seen her in a
long time, and I always love a competitor known for her abs.  Bob (I
verified I could attribute this comment to him first) was commenting on how
she had a very unusual unnatural pose while in the line-up.  Her arms were
really far out from her sides (she did have big lats, but not THAT big),
and looked like she was standing like a scarecrow, it looked ridiculous
(remember not my comments here - but I agree - Ha!).  I commented, that was
funny we shared and elevator with her at the hotel briefly.  If she was
standing that way earlier, we wouldn't have been able to fit on the
elevator - Ha!  BTW, Chris Aceto looked small and wimpyish - ooh am I
scared?  Ha!

3rd - Yolanda Hughes - The MOST improved competitor IMO.  I did NOT see her
when she won the Ms. International, so this nicely improved mass was a bit
of a shock to me.  Unfortunately, as usual with black fbb's, her calves
were sadly lacking (do I need to repeat my non-racist disclaimer again
here?  I thought not! :-) ).  I truly think she believed she'd get 2nd, she
was that good.  But she DID have Lenda AND Kim to contend with.  Also
notable, she had a large belly-ring surrounded by these incredible abs,
visually, er stimulating to say the least.

2nd - Lenda Murray - IMO she was closer to her best, possibly with more
mass than ever before.  I've heard she's gotten heavier during this
off-season than ever before.  Guess she feels she has to fight Kim with
mass.  She's right, she put on a good show (not good enough, but good,
nonetheless).  Damn, but her calves are sadly lacking compared to the rest
of her body.  Don't mean to harp on this, as I'd call Lenda the best female
bodybuilder of all-time if only her calves were better (mind you she still
wouldn't have won this show though).  At this high level of competition,
EVERYTHING counts.  Will Lenda ever regain the Ms. Olympia if Kim continues
to come in at let's say the exact shape she did this past Saturday? 
Possibly.  I truly hope she hasn't retired though, as she makes things
interesting and does have most other fbb's beat on sheer classiness,
period.

1st - Kim Chizevsky - Well, both Bob and I came into this contest thinking
that Lenda would regain the title, knowing now what an in shape Kim has to
offer.  But after seeing mounds of calves and biceps of the Springfield,
Missouri variety, Kim had successfully upped the ante and blew Lenda's
chances of winning into the ground.  I really wasn't that impressed with
Kim's aesthetics last year.  She's worked on that quite successfully IMO
this year.  You know how (it's hard to describe) one of Lenda's best traits
is her fluid back/shoulder/tricep muscles, and when they move in concert
with each other, it's visually breathtaking?  And how no one else has that
kind of muscle posing down pat?  Well, Kim has developed some of that
muscle in motion magic I previously thought was solely Lenda's domain. 
Mind you, in no way has Kim tried to copy Lenda (a la Iris Kyle), it's more
that Kim's back/shoulder/tricep combo has gotten so thick and fluid to give
Lenda a run for her money on her strong points.  Kim's abs, thighs, calves?
 Especially calves, blew Lenda away.  I've 'finally' found out from Bob
that Kim had a pec tear years ago to her left pec.  Unfortunately it's
still visible to me, but...  Kim HAS improved greatly in side width.  As
massive as she was last year, her width from the side wasn't that
aesthetic, she's rectified that problem in a convincing way.  She's smart,
works successfully on problem areas.  She was a real blondie this year with
lighter hair than last year, for what that's worth.  I only wish there was
a call-out between Kim and Laura Binetti to compare biceps - that WOULD'VE
made my day.

Long live Kim Chizevsky - and blow me down if I DIDN'T have a problem with
the top 4 placings.  Freaked me out, huh?  But didn't prevent me from being
opinionated and long-winded, no?

-jabber

-audience celebrities

Well, I probably shouldn't have broken this section out, as it'll be much
shorter.  I found the Beacon Theatre a microcosm of NYC, i.e. VERY crowded.
 So much so, you could barely see the female beef in the lobby well.  Plus
being NYC in November, many women had their glorious arms covered.  A
notable exception to the rule was someone I cannot CANNOT stop drooling
over - Stacey Nunn.  I saw her on stage at the Jr. USA back in Denver in
April.  She lost to Kathryn Conners, probably rightfully so, but I don't
know her ethnic background, but she looks part Hispanic, and she's from
North Carolina (where I lived for about 6 years).  North Carolinians are
supposed to be friendly, right?  If you're reading this Stacey, email me,
PLEASE!  Ha!  I AM a nice guy, if bluxcobalt said so, it MUST be true!  She
was wearing a short-sleeved tight black halter top revealing great tan
triceps that constantly rippled, and displaying glorious abs that looked
like they were CONSTANTLY flexed.  Incredible.  Weren't you cold, Stacey? 
I guess not, you were so incredibly hot, it must've affected your body
temperature.

Whoa, back to reality.  Ho hum, Denise Masino was there, too.  Ho hum? 
Wow, Stacey must've made me temporarily lose my senses.  Denise was hot as
usual, wearing first a sleeveless blouse, then a sleeveless dress.  If it
wasn't so damn crowded there, I planned on making my way over to her table
and buying her video that others have asked how it is.  If I do, I'll post
a mini-review (mini?  Ha!).  I did learn something real interesting.  Ms.
Lefty, Ms. Incredible Left Tricep is 'right-handed'!  Will wonders ever
cease!

Well, can't really think of anyone else now - I'm speechless with the
previous two I mentioned - Diana Dennis was there, but reasonably covered
up, told you about Bev Francis being the MC, I'm sure there were other
great sites there, but well, -jabber's having a problem recalling them at
the moment.

-jabber

-Nicole's place

Bob and Nicole graciously invited me to spend the Ms. Olympia weekend at a
place they got for Nicole specifically for her wrestling.  I agreed to go,
as long as I didn't feel I was putting anyone out.  Since the place had
been empty while Nicole was on hiatus from her wrestling, I didn't feel so
bad.  If I knew how nice these people would be, I would've met them back in
Las Vegas (God was THAT a crazy action-packed weekend) at the USA.  

Anyway, it's a small apartment, some may call it an efficiency, but it did
have a separate kitchen, living area and bath.  It's on the first floor, in
a humble but decent part of NYC.  There's a decent stereo system, leather
couch, and full mirrored wall (in case you like looking at your fbb's like
I do).  She also has a fairly thick wrestling mat that can easily be
unfolded when it's needed.  The private bath has a shower complete with
liquid bodywash, if you'd like to clean up.  To light up the place, there
were classy halogen lights that can be set for bright light (good for
seeing muscles), dim almost nonexistent light and anywhere in between.  

As some of you know, I'm not really into the 'wrestling' scene, I'm more
into the posing/muscle worship side of things.  The two most important
things about sessions, to me, is the privacy/anonymity and the woman.  The
apartment was on the first floor with an entrance that was out of the way,
i.e. you won't be seen by all your friends, and seemed relatively quiet
(didn't keep me up at night. :-) ).

Of course, the rapport with the female is of utmost importance.  Although I
did NOT have a wrestling session with Nicole and 'can't' even comment on if
she would've beat me in armwrestling (I personally think she was chicken
:-) ), she seemed a very down to Earth person who obviously cares about
you, what you think, how you feel, etc.  I guess, the whole reason for the
attention gathered from my previous review. :-) 

Anyway, the apartment seems like a viable alternative to the standard hotel
room that most traveling female wrestlers use as their meeting place.  If
you're in NYC and are into female wrestling and would like to meet a tall
very muscular woman (but she still was shorter than me - Ha!), I wouldn't
hesitate.  If I get to experience firsthand her strength, I'll be glad to
post more info.

-jabber





-the BB experience with Nicole

Miscellaneous thoughts here, as a wrap-up...

I found it interesting how, even in the bodybuilding world, how much
attention that Nicole gets wherever she goes.  Specific attention/stories
will be relayed separately in my 'interview' that'll appear in possibly a
week.  After the evening show, a group of us went to a nice Italian
restaurant (you can plug it if you like Bob, I'm not mentioning it's name
though).  I found it interesting the attention Nicole got from the waiters
at the restaurant.  One young Italian guy started to say 'Sir' to Nicole,
I'm not sure if he made a mistake, or it was possibly like I believe 'Niki'
from AAWA-land I think once said, Sir may mean Sign of Respect (I'm
paraphrasing here).

Anyway, we had a great dinner (well, I know I had as -jabber and Italian
food are on a first name basis with one another :-) ).  Unfortunately, one
of the young waiters spilled a water glass on Nicole.  The reason I mention
this is because Nicole was wearing a sleeveless gold top (I'm kind of
illiterate on fashion - not sure what it's called but it looked nice) and a
pair of formfitting jeans.  Since I'm not much of a 'leg man', I can
appreciate nice jeans on the female form.  Everyone is talking about traits
to prove that someone's a man or a woman, etc., etc.  I won't dignify the
pea-brained people who still haven't a clue and ask those asinine
questions, but rather lend my own 3 cents worth here.  A female has a
different look to her hips/thigh tie-in, along with her (not to be
disrespectful here) crotch.  Nicole looked very attractive in those jeans
from the waist down.  Nuff said there.

The next day, I kind of wish I had my camera in the car, as I was seated
behind Nicole.  For whatever reason, she was fiddling with the neck of her
blouse.  What I saw from the backseat (don't know if they knew I was
nervously fidgeting here) was these HUGE arms up close.  You know, heavy
forearm muscles look delightful on a bent arm, and just mountainous biceps.
 You have to realize how long her arms are, since she's 6'2" and just how
much muscle she has to pack on them to get them to not look thin or skinny.
 They, for shape, can hold their own muscle-wise with many much shorter
female bodybuilders.  So you get the idea that close-up muscle shots I dig,
right?

When we went to a gym (again I won't plug which one - Bob, you can if you
like) for a photoshoot, this was the first time I was playing WPW (you know
- Bill Jentz, John Nafpliotis, and company).  It was fun.  You feel like a
VIP (well I already always knew I was one - Ha!), photographing certainly
one of the most attention-getting women in the world.  I had a little
creative differences with the lead cameraman (won't mention who that was at
this juncture), no disrespect here, as this was the first time I was doing
this.  But being a little shy (what?  me shy?  ha), if it was up to me, I
would've wanted some major close-ups of Nicole while she was in the
glorious condition.  I tell you, the close you get to her, the more
impressive she was.

I would've wanted close-ups of her calves, biceps, AND abs. I would think
fellow AAWA-readers would appreciate that, you know, being able to see the
veins in her abs, etc.  At least I DID convince them to also photograph her
in her street clothes as her arms looked exceptional in the black velour
short sleeve top with sleeveless jeans vest.

Well, I was having so much fun, I didn't want to leave (but had to, alas). 
In fact, I did miss my flight because of my hesitant departure there.  One
notable exchange I thought was toward the end, Nicole was telling me how
because of 'our' size, people probably think we're tough, that I probably
wouldn't be picked on in a crowd due to my size, that she's the same way,
even though she's gentle.  During this example, she chose to poke some
playful punches aimed at my left shoulder.  In addition to finding this
cute, I found it, well, enjoyable...  Then, she said she'd never pick on
someone small, like the girl behind the counter, who was a cute as a button
little Italian girl, maybe 5'2".  She playfully poked at her, too.  I just
found that real cute to watch, too.  I just imagined that what if this
little Italian girl was a Karate master...

But that's another story,

Good day,

-jabber