You'll want to read this!

[Ronnie Rowland]

What weight class was that Ronnie? I thought the guy that won deserved it and I think the dude who took 2nd (red trunks) was a good call as well despite the gyno in the left nipple. Very evident in his ab/thigh shot. I do think you do have a case for moving up into 3rd. Your upper body is looking wicked but hard to make the improvements downstairs with nerve damage. Great showing nonetheless!

You wife dominated. You need to buy her a ticket to Pittsburgh in July and get her on stage at the Masters Nationals.

FireGuy, I want to discuss with you further abot taking my wife to pittsburgenext year and seeing if she can get a pro-card. I will eventually have a shot at doing the nationals if my nerve damage improves. i got the two e-mails below from two bodybuilding judges-

I contacted 2 judges in two different states and both said I should have had second place. That made me feel better because my wife, friends and others thought the same!

Here's a quote from one of the judges from TN- "I would have first place in first place because he is the most balanced and his condition is good but not as good as yours. 2nd place is too damn small. Third place is in good shape for an off season bodybuilder. No way he beat you Ron! Your upper body is superb and condition was superior to all the others competitors. If i was judging that show you would have been put in 2nd place only because your upper body is larger than your lower body. I can see some improvements in your legs since last year and I cannot imagine how hard it is to improve with the nerve damage from having 10 surgeries. Your an inspiration, what more can I can say! You impressed me Ronnie. Some times you don't know what some of these judges are looking at.

Second quote from a judge in california-The only way I see that he could have beat you was on symmetry but I think politics or poor judgement played out here . He does not look ready to show. You had more cuts 12 weeks out! If you want to do better showing, you will have to lose some upper body size until your legs come up and knowing you that's not going to happen...lol... I am not sure I would have put #12 even in the top 3. He is just not ready to show. # 11 has a rather complete package, everything flows, his tan is even, and his oil is even. Aside from your legs lagging from nerve damage, you look like you prepared well. Here are the problems I see. Your tan is not perfectly even, your upper body is dark and your legs are a little too light. You have too much oil on and it is not even. Your over all appearance needs to be balanced as far as your tan and oil, if not it takes away from the flow. I really think you would have done better had these two things been in order. It takes practice. You don't want your oil to cause any glaring from the lights. Olive oil is good, mink oil is better. Never use baby oil.
Your close. you just need to ballence things out now and that's going to be hard with your back condition as you have already found out.
Your diet looked spot on. The Slingshot prep you have been keeping secret is working! I probably would have placed you @ second. Next time darker legs, Work on perfecting the things you can controle. it will make a huge difference. I hope that helps.