We have seen some great rivalries in sport over the years. Boston Red Sox v. New York Yankees; Duke v. North Carolina; Celtics v. Lakers; Ali v. Frazier; Packers v. Bears; the list goes on and on. In bodybuilding it’s really hard to say that there’s been a rivalry. Arnold, Haney, and Yates certainly didn’t sweat any competitors. And perhaps only in Jay Cutler’s mind was he a real adversary to Ronnie Coleman during The Big Nasty’s reign as #1.
What we have going on today could potentially be bodybuilding’s first real rivalry between Jay Cutler and Phil Heath. By now everyone knows the story behind their friendship. Phil meets Jay, the two hit it off, Jay takes Phil under his wing, Phil gains 50lb and earns sponsors, Phil becomes “The Gift”, Jay wins- then loses-then wins the Mr. Olympia, Phil continues to rise, and finally the two meet in an epic showdown. But…Jay tears his biceps in the week leading up to the show and there will forever be a built-in asterisk for Jay losing his title. And here we are, coming up on two years since the pair did battle in Las Vegas with the return of Jay Cutler for an epic battle between Mentor and Protégé’.
These two fierce competitors frequently discuss how close of friends they are. But to me, when you dig a little deeper into these two athletes, you start to realize how quickly friendship could end when it comes to retaining or regaining the title of Mr. Olympia and #1 bodybuilder in the world. Jay recently released an ad with BPI that reads, “This is my shadow…And there is only room for one guy in it! I am done playing Santa—no more gifts.” Don’t get me wrong, that was more than likely conjured up by one of the creative directors at BPI, but certainly Jay had to give his approval before they released it. And then I think back to a December 2012 episode of Access Bodybuilding and the clip played of Chad Nicholls. In a nutshell, he explained that he was going to play head games with Phil the same way he had played head games with Jay when he was prepping Ronnie. Now that Chad is in Jay’s corner you can see where the pendulum is starting to swing in the swagger and cockiness department. And personally, I feel in order for Jay to execute a successful dethroning of the current Mr. Olympia you have got to come out swingin’, with guns blazing, ready to knock the champ out. As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
It would be impossible for me to say how close of friends Jay and Phil are, because quite frankly only they know the answer to that question. I’m sure it’s closer than anything Manti Te’o had with his internet girlfriend. What I can tell you is the nature of competitive athletes. Just this past week Lance Armstrong discussed in his interview with Oprah that he would bully any and everyone who got in his way of capturing another Tour de France championship. In other sports, Michael Jordan would befriend opponents so they wouldn’t go as hard come game day. Lawrence Taylor was notoriously known for sending prostitutes to opponent’s hotel rooms the night before games so that they would be tired come game time. The list goes on and on of elite competitors going to any lengths to win.
Even when I played college football at Florida State University I had friends on other teams that I played against. We would have a week off during summer and hangout or go to a party together, but I can assure you come game day all bets were off. I didn’t care if I injured them, talked shit about their moms or girlfriends, and I certainly didn’t shake hands after the game. I know every athlete is different, but I could never understand how you could go from beating the living daylights out of somebody for 60 minutes and then at the final whistle go back to being best friends. The pleasantries would come a few days after the battle, but not immediately after. Not all of my teammates had that mentality, but many of the most feared guys in the locker room shared my sentiments.
I firmly believe that the most important thing in both of these athletes mind is being the best bodybuilder in the world. You don’t go to the lengths that a reigning and former Mr. Olympia would go to in order to claim that distinction without running over a few people along the way. Bodybuilding doesn’t have to be main stream to share the same level of competitiveness that its older brothers in the NFL or NBA do. Make no mistake about it, to Phil and Jay, the title of Mr. Olympia is equivalent to winning the Super Bowl or NBA Championship.
As of now Phil Heath has yet to rebut the BPI ad. He may take the high road and just laugh it off or for all we know he could be talking to the executives at MuscleTech pleading for his opportunity to say something back at Jay in the most passive aggressive manner that only Phil Heath could bring the bodybuilding community. Because after all, all of this shit talking, or potential shit talking, is just passive aggressiveness. When the two start getting in front of a mic well before the Olympia press conference and say something note-worthy about the other guy, then, and only then, will we have to take this rivalry for anything more than it is - good old fashioned Olympia hype.
Until next time bodybuilding fans look for me on Twitter @MattMeinrod
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