The Pro versus NPC Coverage disconnect

[Musclepapa John]

You keep baiting me to talk about them. I don't care to and you've asked the same sorts of crap and I've answered it time and time again. I read the first line of this and know you are baiting me into something the audience here is far and away over wanting to listen to. Try to get over it Curt. I'm not delivering pizzas. I closed out last year working for Weider working the Olympia pump up room and making a few grand at nationals doing photoshoots from my flat in South Beach and I'm doing fine this year developing a plan I laid out for this year with careful consideration of the market.
And I was sniping at you btw. You are a good guy all things considered. No shit right?

Not sniping. Asked a question. One which you don't seem to be willing to answer. You cut your nose off to spite your face with Adina, didn't you? lol

While others were fired by MD, you reportedly shot yourself in the foot. Nice work. Or do I have that wrong?

And I've never claimed any relevance whatsoever to bodybuilding. Whenever I've identified myself at all it's simply as a fan who lifts (pink dumbbells count).

[Musclepapa John]

I recall when Rx came into the Florida market as it sucked for those of us doing photo & video coverage as everyone wanted to see that RxMuscle watermark on their images and who knows maybe an interview as the image this site projected was a hardcore seriously motivated site interested in covering everyone from the first time competitor to the Olympia winners.
That changed over time. I got on the gravy train working for the big sites for a time as they suddenly got interested in Florida after Rx seemed to have something going on. Now five years later its back to the way it was before. A handful of sites with most of the talk about a handful of the top guys. I've got friends who have been and are being courted to provide content to the big sites in Florida and from all indications they will break it off in them price wise to my encouragement. That's all the big sites really have to offer as they don't have the heart for what really is the underlying rationale for people competing, what drives and inspires them. They act like paparazzi on just another assignment without heart or passion treating the average NPC show as something they are blessing by putting up images two weeks after the show. The competitors aren't impressed and don't feel blessed but rather peed on. If you don't have your heart in it and don't connect with the base you are going nowhere as they know from the get go you won't appreciate or promote their story well. Just saying.

[Musclepapa John]

Selfish Sport: Its called that sometimes and in reality it is a sport where you must pay so much attention to what you yourself look like and how you perform that its the sites and content providers that provide the fastest and most user friendly opportunity to see yourself that in my view will win the day. Its not an industry driven by everyone wanting to see old pics of Arnold and hear about yester year and follow a handful of top pros and contenders year after year.
I'm sure my stating this has already gotten old. Well in light of that how much does anyone expect that another feature on a top pro means to anyone "really?"
I recall shooting a quickie interview with a couple at checkins as North Americans two years ago. The guy got his pro card and died within six months. I felt horrible as the interview was never used. If I didn't feel horrible I'd think I should hang it up. The fact that I did lets me know my hearts still in this and I'm on track. There are stories to be told.

Kerry competing with Cerebral Palsy in Panama City last weekend.

[Curt James]

Blah blah blah. You can't post a thousand times about how horrible she is and not expect a question about your exit. But whatever.

Continue with your pamphlet. You provide a top quality service, but you have a negative spin to things on the whole.

When I see your username I think what will he be complaining about this time?

[Curt James]

Its not an industry driven by everyone wanting to see old pics of Arnold

That's not true at all given the number of magazine covers Arnold has appeared on.

I recall shooting a quickie interview with a couple at checkins as North Americans two years ago. The guy got his pro card and died within six months. I felt horrible as the interview was never used.

Post it as a thread here!

[Musclepapa John]

blah, blah, blah. You can't ask me the same question a thousand times and me answer it and expect me to continue to. But whatever.

Continue with your award winning administrative capabilities having to fix whatever's wrong with your site to where every time I invite someone here you have to fix something on the back end for them to be able to sign up and post. Could that have something to do with not getting a flood of new users? Who would I be to ponder such things. You know everything.

When I see your user name I think how long will it be before he brings up my business relationship with one out of many companies I contracted with in the distant past?

Blah blah blah. You can't post a thousand times about how horrible she is and not expect a question about your exit. But whatever.

Continue with your pamphlet. You provide a top quality service, but you have a negative spin to things on the whole.

When I see your username I think what will he be complaining about this time?

[Musclepapa John]

Not true at all? Magazine covers don't mean jack shit relative to what drives the average competitor to workout and step on stage at this stage of the game. If they did then print publications would be flourishing and they ain't regardless of what their publishers say.

That's not true at all given the number of magazine covers Arnold has appeared on.

[Mac]

Continue with your award winning administrative capabilities having to fix whatever's wrong with your site to where every time I invite someone here you have to fix something on the back end for them to be able to sign up and post. Could that have something to do with not getting a flood of new users? Who would I be to ponder such things. You know everything.

Not sure how the newbies, or spammers manage to signup if this is true.

Curt or myself cannot do much to fix Dave's site except to make the hosting company know about such issues.

[Musclepapa John]

Couple things: I keep in mind from my experience in other groups of confederacies that they aren't managed from the top. Is that good or bad? Depends on how you look at it. I don't care to advise the best of the best of bodybuilding sporting federations how to run their business as that's their expertise and well....they prove to be best at it.

That doesn't restrict private enterprise "media entities" from capitalizing on the opportunity, but few do successfully with the influence of people like the Weiders. It can't be done the same way as then obviously as we have lots of media tools as individuals to compete with the big brick and mortar media outlets. What they say no longer goes, which is a good thing to my estimation as someone who started doing web development work in '96 where we very much sought purposefully to level the playing field for the little guy trying to compete with the big corporations.

Level structure has somewhat gone away in Florida, but we still have qualifiers and non-qualifier distinctions. As one might imagine a longtime non-qualifier is suffering going up against a new qualifier (pros get automatic qualifiers when they want to promote a show). In that regard, they might should all be qualifiers or maybe there should be fewer shows, but who gets them? Not my call. I know though I can only cover one show a day and wish they wouldn't have three shows in one day. My suggestion would be to have them on Monday, Thursday & Saturday Joking, not joking.

My problems as a media producer is not and should not be the concern of the sanctioning body. I respect their expertise in growing the sport and try to keep up by encouraging, chiding, prodding others in the media business to do the same.

All of my best competition experiences have been the result of a really engaged & dedicated promoter or local community people. Unfortunately that gets limited to their time & energy, and the specific group of trainers / gyms / shows that are associated. It would be nice if that sort of structure was in place at the top level to reduce the very regionally 'owned' communities - I guess just the disparity from region to region in terms of consistency of judging, how many different promoters are involved, how organized each state's NPC chair or promoter's organization is, etc. All of that makes the steps up to the national / pro level so "isolated" from a "I'd like to be hooked into the whole sport" as a competitor and an engaged fan standpoint.

On those same lines, going forward with the hundreds of competitors at the regional shows these days, I really wonder if there is ever going to be a more structured, tiered framework put in place to take some of the stress off of some of these shows to "earn" your way up the ladder. I know Florida had some amount of tiering where some shows were national qualifiers, some weren't. Whereas other states like Georgia where even the smallest podunk show is a national qualifier.

[Musclepapa John]

In all seriousness its been a consistent issue with each person that I've started a thread about featuring them from one of my magazine features. I invite them as there have been positive commentaries by posters, but without fail there is an issue and no easy problem free sign up and post pathway for them to respond.

I would imagine this is a bigger problem than acknowledged publicly as with any business for every one that complains there are ten that simply don't come back.

Not sure how the newbies, or spammers manage to signup if this is true.

Curt or myself cannot do much to fix Dave's site except to make the hosting company know about such issues.

[Mac]

In all seriousness its been a consistent issue with each person that I've started a thread about featuring them from one of my magazine features. I invite them as there have been positive commentaries by posters, but without fail there is an issue and no easy problem free sign up and post pathway for them to respond.

I would imagine this is a bigger problem than acknowledged publicly as with any business for every one that complains there are ten that simply don't come back.

This is true.

I don't understand how it can be consistent with each person as you say, yet everyday there are many new members and spammers that signup without these issues.

Anecdotal reports don't do much to solve the issue and I will check with Curt about this. Meanwhile, I am going to go try registering.

Thanks for the feedback.

[MacTech]

Here I am. With my new account.

No issues creating my new registration. So at least it does not occur consistently and for everyone.

They may have issues if they don't know our President's last name
or they don't click the Agree to give their 1st born
or they cannot find the registration email that is sent to them

[Mac]

Here I am. With my new account.

No issues creating my new registration. So at least it does not occur consistently and for everyone.

They may have issues if they don't know our President's last name
or they don't click the Agree to give their 1st born
or they cannot find the registration email that is sent to them

Let me know if someone has a problem and I will follow-up to find out what is happening that could deter the registration.

If you are still having problems signing up please contact a member of our support staff at [email protected]

[Joe Pietaro]

Not true at all? Magazine covers don't mean jack shit relative to what drives the average competitor to workout and step on stage at this stage of the game. If they did then print publications would be flourishing and they ain't regardless of what their publishers say.

Print magazines are (and have been) on a steep decline; no two ways about it. A legitimate online magazine is the best way to go nowadays, as it is more cost effective to produce (no printing or shipping costs) and easier to get into people's "hands," if you will.

But you still have to factor in the expenses for writers, photographers and graphic artists. So the completed files will be the same as if it were a print magazine.

And I still see the value in having someone on a cover, and how that person will react to it and promote it on their end, as well as the fans doing so. Arnold doesn't give a shit anymore, obviously, but someone who has not been shoved down the readers' throats a thousand times will and that can translate in more sales and/or hits.

A perfect example is MD with DLB on their current cover. (See, I don't always shit on them!)

[Musclepapa John]

Regardless of what magazines or forums like this do though it seems to me evident that they have less influence on the industry as a whole if the vast majority of their attention is on the top professionals. Its like ignoring college football and only focusing on the NFL. Surely, everyone LUVS the NFL, but what college ball doesn't have value? Sure it does.

How has Crossfit become such a popularly celebrated television commodity as compared to bodybuilding IF we only consider the role of media enterprises themselves and STOP claiming the sanctioning body is responsible?

I think we agree that its the lack of vision, experience and know how of the media enterprises involved is the primary contributor. I strongly believe at this stage the sanctioning body website is the best source of coverage of the sport from top to bottom. That's a sad commentary on the wherewithal of the private sector.

Print magazines are (and have been) on a steep decline; no two ways about it. A legitimate online magazine is the best way to go nowadays, as it is more cost effective to produce (no printing or shipping costs) and easier to get into people's "hands," if you will.

But you still have to factor in the expenses for writers, photographers and graphic artists. So the completed files will be the same as if it were a print magazine.

And I still see the value in having someone on a cover, and how that person will react to it and promote it on their end, as well as the fans doing so. Arnold doesn't give a shit anymore, obviously, but someone who has not been shoved down the readers' throats a thousand times will and that can translate in more sales and/or hits.

A perfect example is MD with DLB on their current cover. (See, I don't always shit on them!)