Make It or Break It Time For Phil Heath
We’re now just under 14 weeks until 2x Mr. 
Olympia and reigning king of bodybuilding, Phil Heath will make his illustrious return to the Orleans Arena stage to grace his fans with his once in a generation physique as he vies for a Michael Jordan-esque 3-peat of his beloved Sandow trophy. A lot has changed for "The Gift" since winning his first world championship in 2011 by defeating his ‘best friend’ Jay Cuter. That contest featured the lovable up and coming Phil Heath with limitless potential where he gave candid interviews expressing his adulation for his longtime idol. Jay, the older brother figure was stoic, but respectfulto the eventual heir apparent to his crown. But it’s been two years since Heath defeated Cutler and much like in nature, a caterpillar can sometimes change into a butterfly and other times into a moth. Phil was once the darling of the IFBB, but depending on who you talk to he’s either the sports larger than life action figure or even lately, the sport’s biggest villain.
Heath’s evolution as a bodybuilder goes a lot deeper than his 3D muscle bellies and next to perfect conditioning. We’ve seen him go from a happy go lucky competitor with the potential to be Mr. O to a 2x world champion, with more money than he knows what to do with, and a swagger to go with it. I’m all for a little bit of swag, but his head may no longer fit into his one size fits all, flat billed hats. I can’t help but notice that Phil is living his childhood dream of NBA superstardom through his current celeb as the world’s #1 bodybuilder. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Heath sees a little bit of LeBron James inside of himself. And now that LeBron is sporting two NBA titles, theyhave something in common together. Who knows, maybe Phil will write LeBron a fan letter.
Is Phil too busy being ‘industry’ famous instead of being a true ambassador to the sport? If he decides to make a grand announcement that he’ll be taking his talents to South Beach to pursue not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6 Olympia titles I’d say so. Literally every message board on the Internet has called him out on this at one time or another during his title reign. The trouble for Phil is that he replaced arguably the greatest spokesman for bodybuilding since Arnold Schwarzenegger. If Cutler had only competed during the 90’s before all of the steroid drama throughout the US, we might actually have bodybuilding 
out from the back allies and into the forefront, but that’s for another time and another column. Heath only seems to make appearances if it can line his own pockets. I’m all for making money, but as Mr. O there is a responsibility for growing the sport. That means going above and beyond and doing things, even if it’s for free. Go onto Heath’s Twitter page and he’s incredibly short answered and often smarmy with his fans. If we’re lucky a few times a week we’ll be gifted with a new Instagram of his latest pair of Jordan’s or yet another opportunity to buy some of his apparel. Thanks Mr. Heath. Then again, I’m not a sneaker head or the best dressed guy in the industry, so maybe I should take his advice.
Now like all champions, heavy is the head that wears the crown. But this isn’t 2012 where his only serious threat was a guy with an infatuation for grapefruits. This is 2013 and this is a no fucking around Mr. Olympia. It has, without a shadow of a doubt, the deepest lineup we have ever seen vie for a Sandow trophy. I could list off all of the competitors, but we know who they are. A guy like Shawn Rhoden or Dexter Jackson might place out of the top 8. Jay Cutler could fall to 4th or 5th. And Big Ramy could threaten to take out the entire lineup. Should Heath be worried? You bet your ass he should. I’m sure he was behind closed doors at the New York Pro thinking to himself, “What the fuck is that,” as Ramy walked out on stage to dominate pro’s Juan Morel, Victor Martinez, and Jon Delarosa.
And then there was the controversy backstage in New York as George Farrah made a wager to promoter Jack Titone that Phil would place no better than 3rd at this year’s Mr. Olympia. Naturally, Phil got wind of this bet rather quickly and instead of taking the high road he got extremely upset. Next thing we knew Dennis James was in the middle of things, and that’s never a good thing—especially now that he’s the corner man for Ramy.
Last year’s Olympia post show interview was one fo
r the ages. Heath clearly took offense to the fans in attendance explicitly showing favor for Kai Greene. Rarely do we see a crowd switch sides so quickly, but it happened. Watching last year’s final comparison between two heavyweights slugging it out reminded me of “Rocky IV” when the Soviets turned on Drago or when Russell Crowe won the crowd in “Gladiator.”This September, could Big Ramy be playing the role as Rocky and Heath as Drago?
There’s no question this coming Olympia is a tipping point for Phil Heath. He’ll either earn his 3-peat and go down as one of the greatest bodybuilders in history while uniting his fan base or it could all crumble beneath him. The Orleans Arena on September 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada is going to go down as one of the greatest Mr. Olympia’s of all-time and it could also reshape the bodybuilding landscape for the next decade.
Until next week, follow Matt on Twitter @MattMeinrod or read his archived columns on www.MattMeinrod.com
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