2004 NPC PA

Teen Collegiate Masters

Editorial

I want to apologize to the fans and athletes. This was a very difficult show to get pictures. The auditorium floor was flat and not gradually sloped, and...I had to sit WAY in the back and shoot over a lot of heads....That's because the NPC doesn't give press passes to legitimate websites...or supposedly to any websites. They only give press passes to photographers who work for what they refer to as "bona fide" magazines, or websites that are extensions of "bona fide" magazines. The Official NPC Press Release relative to press passes suggests that websites don't have the athlete's or the NPC's best interests in mind. This may in fact be true for some websites, however, I think most will agree that the primary concern of this website IS the best interests of the athletes, and by extension, the NPC! It's just my opinion but it doesn't make good business sense. Organizations such as the NPC and the IFBB need to embrace the Internet as a tool to HELP THEM PROMOTE THEMSELVES AND THE SPORT! God Bless the magazines...we need them...but...Do they really think the magazines "bona fide" or not, will give more coverage and/or advertising (free advertising at that) to these events than websites like Femuscle.org, who are trying to do the right thing? Do they really think that more people will buy a magazine to see (if they're lucky) perhaps 5, 10, or 20 images from an event a month or 2 after it happened? Or, will the majority of fans and athletes go to the Internet where guys like me have BONA FIDE websites and are trying to actually promote the sport, foster new fans, and ADVERTISE NPC EVENTS?....and are trying to do something good for the athletes and the sport because The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS EQUATION ARE THE ATHLETES. Without the athletes, there would be no event...no event...no athletes....and ultimately...no NPC, IFBB, or MAGAZINES...It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out! Providing the athletes, and these events, exposure to thousands of people a month....and perhaps millions of people a year, IS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF ALL INVOLVED, THE SPORT, THE ATHLETES, the NPC and the IFBB! Where else can fans see literally THOUSANDS OF IMAGES from a single show except on the Internet? I don't know....you be the judge!.........oh by the way...for those of you who would like to know...this website gets 19,000,000 (that's 19 MILLION) hits a MONTH! What does that mean to the promoters, athletes, the NPC, and the IFBB?....it means that if they're on this website...A BUNCH OF PEOPLE ARE GONNA SEE THEM!....... just a thought:}