I've never felt so puny and weak

[jonathan creason]

Last week the World's Strongest Man contest (the one you see on ESPN at Christmas) was held in Monroe, NC.  Typically they travel all over the world to exotic locations, so how Wingate University landed the contest I'm not sure.  But since it was only a little over an hour from home I took a couple of days off work and drove down to watch.  Here's a pic of me with the 2006 winner, Phil Phister.  Phil was the first American to win since Bill Kazmier in the early 80's.



I'm 6'00", and around 225 lbs., but in that pic I feel like a 14 year old kid.  Brian Shaw won this year, becoming only the second American in 30 years to take home the title. 

Oh yeah, if you happen to watch the show when it airs I should probably make it into a couple of shots during the truck pull event.  I also made it into the footage of the 2008 contest held in Columbia, WV.  I'm afraid this is pretty much the only time I'm ever going to get any coverage on ESPN.

[osage outlaw]

That's awesome.  I loved it when Phil won.  I watch the WSM contest every year.  Brian Shaw looked good last year.  Hopefully he can stay on top for a while.  Do you remember Johnny Perry from a few years ago?  He looked like he could be pretty good too, but I heard he died.  I never did hear what from though.

I will be watching for you when it airs.

[jonathan creason]

Oh yeah, I remember Johnny.  I've trained and competed with several guys that knew him fairly well and evidently he loved to party.  He died of an OD of several different drugs.  It's a shame, he had a ton of genetic potential.

Shaw did great this year, and at 6'8" and 450 lbs. he makes Phister look tiny.  Don't know how closely you follow, and I don't want to spoil anything for you if you're waiting for it to air, but Shaw stepped up when he had to in order to win.

[osage outlaw]

I have watched it every year for a long time.  One of my all time favorites was Andrew "Stumpy" Raynes.  I am about the same height as is.  He didn't do very well, but he blew everone away in the event where they had to hold up one side of a cart and walk circles with it.  I don't remember what it was called.  He only had to lift it a couple of inches.  The other guys had to lift it more than a foot off the ground.


Hopefully Shaw had the "stones" to win it this year.