The tough guy at work asked me if I wanted to go to the 2008 Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding expo that was being held here in Vegas this year. He told me there would be lots of bodybuilding women. I agreed because I like tough girls and I wanted to see all the bodybuilding ladies.

“Yeah, I want to go. I’m gonna take my camera and take pictures with the woman bodybuilders.”

I was stoked - all week long I looked forward to it. The day finally arrived and I realized that one of the hardest things about the Mr. Olympia expo besides the bodybuilders - that’s a bodybuilding joke - anyway, the hardest thing was finding a parking space. The cost was $20 for the parking closest to the pavilion and $10 for parking further away. Everyone was trying to make money this year. I wasn’t going to pay that much for any parking anywhere. For $20 I’d expect an Olympian to wash my car and maybe clean my room too. I drove around, watching as all the pretty, in shape people walked to the convention center. I finally parked at the Hilton Hotel and Casino and began my walk to the convention center, which was approximately one or one and half miles, but seemed more like twenty miles to me - man, I have to get in shape.

Finally, I made it to the center and met up with the tough guy and his wife Mrs. Tough Guy, who is an amazingly good cook, and we went into the expo. I’ve never been to one of these, so I was surprised at the amount of people that attended. These weren’t the average Wal-mart crowd, these were Olympians and the people who worshiped them. There were the sexy girls who weren’t bodybuilders but were the fitness trainers or models pushing products with their good looks and hot bodies. There were men who liked like they could easily lift cars. I’ve never been in a room with so many men that were so tall and muscular. I saw at least three men who each was old enough to be my grandfather except they were so tall and had arms bigger than most people’s legs.

One of the first things I noticed was a long line and I wondered what it was for. I saw that some of the people in the line had wrestling belts over their shoulders and some had 12 inch wrestling action figures. Hey, I have Star Wars 12 inch action figures so I know the difference between a 12 inch action figure and a doll. I’m not a big wrestling fan, so I didn’t really care who was signing autographs at that booth.

“It must be some wrestler.” I said as I walking by the line. I was talking to The Tough Guy, but I don’t know if he heard me or not, but someone else heard me.

I heard someone in the line respond with ”It’s not just ‘some wrestler’ it’s The Wrestler.”

And then I heard everyone start yelling. They weren’t yelling at me, nor were they yelling at the other guy. They were yelling because the wrestler was making his way to the autograph table. I turned and looked as a giant man made his way toward the crowd. He stood a full head taller than the people that surrounded him, probably wrestling and PR people. He was wearing a suit but you could still his shoulders were wide that he looked like he could reach down, grab three of the men who were with him in a bear hug and hold them with their feet dangling in the air. He looked over the crowd and as his heard turned toward me it hit me.

“That’s Batista.” Although I’m not a wrestling fan I still knew who he was and was just a little excited about it. “Oh my Gawd, That’s Batista!”

The Tough Guy, Mrs. Tough Guy and myself continued to walk. It was cool to see Batista but neither of us really wanted to wait in line for an autograph. I took his picture and we continued to walk by the first booth where a supermodel looking girl gave us each a bag with a magazine and various free samples of protein. Before the day would end I’d have four t-shirts, lots of packets of protein powder, lots of energy drink samples, vitamins, I’d even have some male sexual stimulants - at least that what it says on the package.

As we’re walking getting more and more free stuff I see this huge blown up picture of a guy standing by one of the booths. I imagine it’s a picture of a famous bodybuilder because he looks familiar but I don’t really know what most famous bodybuilders look like. As I get closer I see that it’s not really a blown up picture, it’s a real live person. A huge real live person. We walk by but my eyes stay focused on the giant. I can’t help but to stare I’ve never seen anyone that big before in my life. This guy seems even bigger than the wrestler Batista. I turn to The Tough Guy after we walk by the giant and say, “Dude, did you see the size of that guy. He’s a monster.” I don’t know if The Tough Guy heard me or not. I take a quick glance behind me for one last look at the giant.

We finally see the first woman bodybuilder. She’s taking pictures with other guys and The Tough Guy asks me if I want to take a picture with her. I look at her. She’s taller than me. I’d say about 6’ or 6’1 and she has arms that are bigger than most men have. I decide to pass on the picture.

“I thought you wanted to take pictures with female bodybuilders?” The Tough Guy asks.

“I thought so too, but in real life they’re kind of scary.” I say thinking about how I like tough girls. I like them tough like Michelle Rodriquez, not so that they’re bigger than me and can slam me around the room - well, now that I write this I may re-think this.

We walked the entire expo and The Tough Guy would point out famous bodybuilders to me. There were a few that I knew like The Incredible Hulk himself Lou Ferrigno. I have to admit that when I saw him my first impulse was to snap a picture with him because he is the original Hulk and I’m kind of geeky. He was big, but he didn’t seem as big as I thought he would be. He looked older, but still looked like the Hulk. I was a little disappointed that the only way you could take your picture with him was if you bought a picture or poster which were selling for $25 or $40 each.

When I was a kid I used to be a big baseball fan and one of my heroes was one of the Bash Brothers, Jose Canseco, so I was thrilled when I saw him there. I told The Tough Guy that I had to take a picture with him because he was Jose Canseco. I went up to him and asked for a pic. He was really cool about it. As we posed for the picture I got all geeky and said, “Dude, I never thought I’d ever meet you.” as soon as I said that I knew I sounded like I had a little girl crush on him or something, but hey, he’s Jose Canseco. I asked him how tall he was because he seemed much taller than I imagined he would be. He told me he was 6’4 but there is no way he’s that short. I’m 5’11 and in the pic he bends down a little to be more on my level and he’s still towering over me.

Finally we decide to leave and The Tough Guy and Mrs. Tough Guy go their way and I go mine. As I’m walking away I still can’t help but think, “I can’t believe I meet Jose Canseco” and then I realize that my sister was a big fan of his at one time too so I thought I better go back inside and get her an autograph or something. I go back into the convention room and start walking down the aisles looking for the booth where he was at. I’m not good with directions so I can’t just go back to where he was without looking from booth to booth.

I walked around and stopped close to the MET-Rx booth trying to figure out which way to go when I took a sample and started talking to a young, up and coming bodybuilder by the name of Brian. He was really cool and very approachable. He talked to me for a bit and signed a picture. I told him that he was crazy big and he laughed and said that one day he will be - keep your eyes out for this one. I think he’ll be a big bodybuilding star one day.

I ended up walking around some more before I found the booth Jose Canseco was and came face to chest with the giant. I didn’t really know what to say to him so I said the first thing that came to mind. “Is it true that when you’re taller than average it’s harder to build muscle.” He laughed and told me that was an excuse that tall people use. He said that most tall people go on to play basketball because that’s where the money is. He said he wasn't good at basketball so he didn't do that. As I talked to him I couldn’t believe just how massive this guy was. He looks big in the pictures but in real life he seems even bigger. 

I don’t think I ever felt so short in my life. I asked him how tall he was and he said 6’6 but standing there in front of him I have to say that he’s taller than 6’6. He dwarfed everyone that came up to him for a picture. The whole time I stood there talking to him there was never anyone that came up to him that was as tall or taller than him. Some people would come up and stand next to him and as he flexed his bicep, the bicep would be bigger than the other person‘s head. It was a crazy thing to see. I can't say this enough - that guy was HUGE!!!!

I have to admit that for most of the time that we talked I didn’t know who he was, but I figured he was famous because lots of people were taking pictures of him, many were asking me to take their picture with this giant. I found out later that his name was Noah Steere. He asked me if I was going to the show. I told him no, just to the expo and asked him if he was going. He told me that he wasn’t competing anymore. He said he was just relaxing and having a good time. He was going to go home and take his boat out. He was really nice and made everyone feel at ease. I thanked him for the pictures and told him to have a safe trip and went on my journey to find Jose Canseco again.

As I was walking I saw some female bodybuilders that I just had to get pictures of. I liked the fact that this lady was huge and had the shirt on that she’s wearing. I found something very beautiful about her.

This lady was just too cool not to get a picture of.

I found Jose Canseco and asked him to autograph a magazine for my sister. He did. I looked at the autograph and thought to myself my sister is going to like this, then I noticed he had signed it "To Daniel" I went back and said, "Dude, this is for my sister. You need to add another 'l' and an 'e' to it." 

He said, "Oh, for Danielle? Ok" and then he corrected it. I guess he thought it was for me and my name was Daniel. I still think he's cool. 

I walked back toward the entrance ready to go home when I ended up meeting up with Noah Steere one more time. I had all my bags of free stuff with me and I said to him. “I know why all the guys around here are so big…it’s from carrying these bags.” I then lifted the bags and we both laughed. I told him to take care and good luck with things.

He said, “thanks Tony. You have a good weekend” I thought it was cool that he remembered my name from earlier. I told him to check out this page - we’ll see if he does. (Hey Noah, if you check out the page leave me a comment so I know you did)

My friend The Tough Guy told me that when you go to this sort of thing it makes you feel motivated to work out. He’s right as I watched all those healthy bodybuilders, I wanted to go to the gym right then and there and push myself like I‘ve never pushed myself. I held my bags thinking maybe I’ll go home, change into my gym clothes and go workout. I started my twenty mile walk back to the car. By the time I got to my car I was exhausted from carrying my bags of free stuff and from the walk that I thought maybe I‘ll go home and have a cheeseburger instead.