05.31.2004:Saturday May 22 Night of Champions Begins

I jump out of bed, hop in the shower, running late as always.  Throw on a pair of jeans   and a tee shirt, grab my bags, grab my cameras, head back over to the hotel.  I call Bob Bonham, and he tells me he left my press passes for me and my photographer at City Center.  Grab a cup of coffee on Seventh Avenue, down it, call my photographer Patrick Sweeney, who was running one hour late stuck in Philadelphia traffic.  I told him not to worry, it would be a long long day and night. 

City Center is very strict with union rules, unlike the Beacon Theater where NOC was previosuly held.  I headed backstage to shoot the prejudging.  About 30 minutes into shooting, Candy, a tiny security guard, told me I had to leave.  Wayne quickly jumped in, came to my defense, and said I belonged backstage.  THANKS WAYNE, you are the best.  Joel Parker, the event publicist, then took over and arranged for me to have my press passes validated for the entire backstage evening show.  THANKS JOEL.

Prejudging went smoothly, I took a seat in the audience and the women looked outstanding.  There were, as a group, more feminine, muscular, and beautiful than I had ever seen them.  I took some prejdging photos myself until Patrick arrived.  I relieved when he got there.  If I remember correctly, 53 gigantic male bodybuilders were on stage to be compared by the judges.  I had never seen a stage this full in my life.  How could one decide, everybody just looked perfect. 

Prejudging was set to go for a long time.  My cell phone rang, and it was George.  He told me to get my butt back to the hotel for a photo and video shoot with beautiful Monica Martin.  I quietly excused myself in between comparisons and ran to the Wellington.  There was Monica Martin, looking as radiant as ever.  Photo shoot lights were already in place.   I really did not have to tell Monica to do much, she just knows how to move as you will see in her video and photos.  Monica has this amazing Scorpion tatooed on her upper back.  Suprisingly, she is not a Scorpio like myself.  She was in perfect shape, not too lean and not too big, feminine, sexy, and pefectly symetrical.  She ended the video shoot by blowing her fans a kiss.  She is a very classy, kind, and intelligent woman.  Hopefully you will get to meet her one day.

I put the camera down, arms almost broken, my right bicep totally pumped from holding the video camera.  I may never have to lift a weight again.