The Dave Hoff Incident

hmmm wasn't the head judge from the IPF? How in the world did he not see that?

Knee wraps? It looks more like a 3 board under the shirt! Maybe its the same kind of growth that Ruggieria had....

http://i31.tinypic.com/35hpk6e.jpg

another pic

too bad the video uploader took the video down, not wanting to embarass hoff

nope still here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVZUVeMtYXc

This looks realy odd, why did they not check that out at the plat form? And did he get to do 3 lifts like that no one asking any questions at the meet?

Since the judges did not catch this at the meet than the lift should stay good and no action toward Hoff should be taken. The judges are put there to do a job and in this case it was not done. How the head judge missed this is beyond me. I would say the first thing that should be done is post the names of those who Judged this so we all know to never use them again. Then ban them from judging the Pro Am again.

What Hoff did is wrong but the blame here needs to be on the judges. I can see bad squat and bench calls but there is no excuse for this.

Blame needs to be on the judges, sure, but completely absolve Hoff of any wrong doing? No way!

It looks like a foreign object, and it's blatantly cheating. He went out on the platform like that willingly.

He doesn't deserve to have those lifts count, and no meet directors should let him compete again!

We already strap ourselves into multiple layers of poly or canvas to inflate our lifts; the least we can do is hit depth and not stick crap under our singlets to shorten our bench stroke.

i was sitting very close to where the judge was and you couldnt tell there was anything there from that angle, it was only noticed at the same angle of the video by others.

Plus on the platform there were so many spotters that hinder the judges view that it is ridiculous.

no, it's an absolute disgrace and Hoff and whoever assisted him in the warmup room is to blame.
A new low for powerlifting.

You can't pick and choose where you use photographic evidence. If there was something wrong, it should have been spotted by the officials on the platform, and if there was a foreign object under his shirt, he should have been disqualified. Since he got through the lift with nothing being noticed, you can't treat it much differently than a mile-high squat being passed.

It should, at the very least, serve as a warning to lifters of what not to do, and particularly to judges as to what lifters might do, and what to look out for.

Hoff was handled by Phil Harrington.

A warning has no meaning if there are no consequences.

Why are we so quick to condemn? People love to watch other people fall and then ridicule them, his shirt will always be checked in every meet he is in from now on, but for now let it go. I wish i could see the video. The pics definitely look like there is something under his shirt, but pics can be deceiving. I train with Ruggeria and he has a raised linea alba, looks freaky, but it comes to a ridge, n' is rounded where it connects. Hoff does not have a raised linea alba, trained with him too, so again, maybe it's just the pics. Don't know. What I do know is that the judges and nobody else at the meet seemed to notice yesterday, which means his lift counts. Unless Hoff says there was something there, his lift will always stay. Louie definitely would not condone this. He loves this sport and although he likes competitive advantages, he would never want someone to cheat to get a lift. Louie may be a lot of things, but this is something he is not, a cheater. Although i don't think hoff should be banned from westside or spf if he did, it's a bad judgement call, n' we've all made them, look at your own life before projecting other peoples faults. He is young and strong and we need young people in our sport. I like hoff, he's a good person, but good people can make bad mistakes,hopefully he didn't, but it's what we do after the mistake that makes us who we are as men. There is no proof of anything and only hoff and his handler know the truth. Hopefully for the sport they did not cheat, if they did, I hope they apologize and the lift gets erased. Hoff is 21, we all make mistakes,esp. at that age, hopefully he did not, and unless other info comes forward, as I always say, "there is a big difference between thinking and knowing". So let's just keep our thoughts to ourselves on this one, until we know something.

Total BS. Cheating is not a "mistake" it is a calculated and deliberate action. It is our decisions to act honorably and with integrity that makes us who we are as men. Calling this a mistake is an understatement and shows a lack of personal accountability.

"So let's just keep our thoughts to ourselves on this one, until we know something."

No!

It's our sport, our little fringe sport that will remain underground (probably) forever.

Nobody should sit by and watch quietly as the entire sport has its foundation yanked out from underneath it.

Hoff is a cheater, clear as day, whatever is under his shirt was there in an attempt to shorten his bench stroke. They pulled the video because they know it's too obvious to hide.

You can sit on your hands and keep quiet while Hoff pisses on the integrity of MY sport, but I won't, and I don't expect anybody else too, either.

I agree, but as you stated there were so many spotters once the lift began I watched the screen for a better view. I cannot say that I saw anything foreign, from where I was it looked like he was pushing out his stomach as hard as possible.

first of all, has Hoff said anything publicly about this yet? I would want to hear his explanation first before condemning him. either way it does appear from the pic that he had something going on under his shirt. I don't know how the head judge or side judges could have missed that. even if it did look more subtle in person than in the pic, there should have been enough cause for the judges to have at least inspected him immediately after that lift to see what was going on. Lifters cheat, that's nothing new, but the fact the judges didn't seem to think anything was amiss with that shirt is most troubling to me, because unless Hoff confesses to cheating there is no way of proving it days after the fact, so his lift goes in the books.

I was not there but was there an equipment check at the meet? A lifter is going to use whatever he can get away with at a meet. Also why is there talk now and not the day of meet? I would like to hear from people who were there and the talk surrounding the shirt.

If ya gonna stuff something under your shirt to cheet atleast make it nice and round like a big belly. Atleast try not to get caught.

i would have stopped him if i was the judge. there is no way that can be his shirt. but be that as it may whats done is done. nice lifting David.

Come on JL. The kid cheated and it is so obvious. You seriously can not stick up for Hoff after you see the pictures and video.

Jake,
If I stuff a towel under my singlet in a Raw competition is my lift still Raw or is it now assisted with gear? LMAO

Funny. If, in fact, an alien is trying to bust through his sternum then his lifts should count. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. It was an alien until proven otherwise. Imagine how much he could have lifted without this hideous creature busting through his chest. . .

One other thing. . . I avoid local SLP meets because they don't count in the lifter rankings, although they are the only fed that has contests in my city. Singling out SLP as the only fed that has passed a questionable lift is total BS. Look at the videos all over the internet. SLP lifts are just as legitimate as SPF, APF, and IPA. I compete in the SPF, and enjoy their contests a great deal. Perhaps I will be banned for this statement. Oh well. With hope that this won't be deleted, I shall post my real name.

Jared Timothy Wilsey

MAYBE HE HAS MAN BOOBS?

I was there and from the crowed you couldnt see it at all. but my friend taped the lifts and as we were watching it we both noticed and laughed are butts off at how big of a cheater he is! It was not there his first 2 attempts is was not there! This was a great meet best meet I have ever attended by far and I have been in this sport and competed for many years. The guy who runs this meet is a class act someone told me he doesn't even powerlift he is a body builder but he is a great friend to Louie. I have no idea if thats true but there is no one on this planet that runs a better meet! All the lifters were treated like kings free water and powerade in warm up room, free energy drinks free powerbars! It was unreal the equipment was all great there was more plates then everyone could use even with all 3 monolifts going with 900 or more on all 3!! just unreal. The staff were all nice, the spotters did a great job all three days. There was no miss loads over the hole weekend. The guy MCing the meet was funny and was almost as good as karin kidder back in the days of the WPO. It was just awsome the warm up room was bigger then any meet I have ever seen you could put most of are gyms in the warm up room. It's a shame that Mr. Hoff did this a real bad move on his part but JL is right to some degree he is young and when I was young I would do alot to win! lol but this was uncalled for I truly hope that this doesn't hurt this meet or it's promotor!! It's a real shame that Hoff has embarassed westside Louie and this promotor. He doesn't owe any of us anything but I hope that he issues a apology to the promotor and louie and the lifters that he screwed by taking there money. Matt Wenning should have got second and someone else would have came in 3rd. The judges did a great job and I thought a fare job I got some reds but i should have.lol All in all best meet ever with best lifters best equipment and best staff!!!! BY A LAND SLIDE! I will always do this meet as long as I lift and I hope that the actions of one young and dumb kid don't screw this up for the rest of the powerlifting world! Me and my friends were talking on the way to the airport I dought if they even made any money off this meet. They didn't have that many sponcers at all and there wasn't that many people there to watch. Just F-ing amazing. best meet ever just a real bad move on hoffs part!

It's only cheating if you get caught. The judges didn't catch him, so he wasn't officially cheating. Sure, Hoff is a scumbag now and the judges are retards, but I don't think anything ought to be done about it other than having judges that know a few things about lifting.

You look at this and read all the comments, then laugh at that age old question "how come powerlifting isn't in the Olympics?".

Clearly its a teriyaki chicken sub from Subway.

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After watching them squats on video people were probably hurling TV Bricks in abundance. (http://thetvbrick.com/)

I bet one accidentally got lodged underneath his bench shirt during warm-ups. It could've happened to anybody....

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Ironically right after he got up a VHS tape titled "Training Secrets of Westside Barbell... Bench Press Workout" fell out of his shirt.

I guess the f*cking secret's out now....

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Possibly it genetics. Say if his ribcage was formed like Supermans Crystal Frozen Ice Palace then that would explain everything.

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Technically the head ref is part to blame. He got caught up in the moment and yelled "GO, GO GADGET BELLY!" instead of PRESS!

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CNN just reported that family members are still debating on a final resting place for Michael Jackson's tomb so for the time being his coffin is being stored under Dave Hoff's bench shirt.

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when i think of aliens ripley, knute, burke, and apone come to mind. i dont remember seeing hoff in the movie. was he already in a cocoon?

a five dollar foot long?

Jeeze Putt... I had to laugh at your mental fortitude.

If you watch the video the path of the bar travles downward at an 80 degree angle, strikes the unidentified resting object, reverses direction in mid-air and proceeds

back and to the left...
back and to the left...
back and to the left...

From the Zapruder film its obvious there were other players involved proving its a conspiracy theory.

Its triangulation crossfire is what it is, I tell you.

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Somebody call George Bush!!! He's been vindicated.

I got a sneaky suspicion were them WMD's went.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

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Finally we can end all the conspiracy e-mails floating around since 1996 since the black box flight data recorder has finally been found from TWA Flight 800.

Faulty wiring in the center wing fuel tank my ass! Westside brought that motherf*cker down!

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I think I know where Jimmy Hoffa is now.

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What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs?

I dunno either, but he's underneath Dave Hoff's bench shirt.

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Hoff should have put the work in at Pizza Hut and McDonalds and buit himself a power gut if he wanted to reduce his range of motion without artificial assistance. That's what a real athlete would have done. The legit move would have been to get his bodyfat up to 25% or more and then leared to guide the bar to the peak of his lard and back to the rack instead of pressing off the chest. Every other aspect of the lift can be enhanced with the use of fabric but not keeping the 100% RAW ROM is unacceptable if that's indeed what he's done.

If Hoff had something stuffed under his bench shirt, and the judges let him get away with it, then he's done damage to the credibility of 5 ply monolift high squatting and double ply sleeves over the elbows reinforced scoop neck partial lockout benching versions of the sport.

Stay Strong,
Sean
HardcorePowerlifting.com

I did not intend to trash the SPF, I like the SPF and always have a good time at their contests. They are fun, Jesse is great guy, and most the lifters are great people. My post probably belonged in another thread. . .my point is that there are questionable lifts everywhere. Is SLP a joke with respect to judging? Well, if that is the consensus then perhaps it is good lifts their don't count. I have seen fair judging at SLP, but I have only been to one contest. I will not argue that the SLP is strict and consistent because I do not know first hand. However, I believe one could cherry pick evidence and make that argument about many federations. That is a general comment, not directed at any one fed. I just wish it could be about whether or not you lift the weight and not who is santioning the meet and who is judging and what rules will be enforced on that day. It is a utopian fantasy of consistency within this sport/hobby. Hell, I love it the way it is and will do it until my body breaks down but I know it could be better. What can I do to help? Am I part of the problem by choosing meets based on geography? I honestly don't know.

Knock, knock!
Who's there?
Dwayne.
Dwayne who?
Dwayne the bathtub, I'm dwowning in a rectangle tub underneath this bench shirt.

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This one made me laugh out loud !

LOL, well said

Ya know, it's cheating still even if you don't get caught.

This is pretty bad though and man the refs were blind, not to mention OTHER LIFTERS and their COACHES? Lordy how did he get by with this one live?

it looks like 2-3 boards stuffed in there. NO way that's a bench shirt lol. not unless he's the tin woodsman or something?

The 2010 Pro-Am head referee has been secured in interest of the integrity of the sport.

Gil Grissom from CSI: Ohio is now the head referee for all attempts.

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Pull all his records and banned him and Phil. For cheating like that, erase everything he has ever done. He needs to be kicked out of WSBB also, both of them. At do something suspend or something.

The obstruction underneath the bench shirt is 500 $1 bills that he needs to return and don't belong to him.

Seriously.... I mean alledgedly.

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Putts on a roll. Keep 'em coming.

Why ban Phil? What happened?

I want to thank Putt for the funny stuff...man i didn't laugh like that in a long time!! lmao big time!!

He was hiding under Hoff's bench shirt.

Only in Powerlifting would cheating not be punished.

Actually, only in the majority of 2 ply feds would cheating not be punished because "well we didn't catch him that day!"

So sad. And people wonder why Powerlifting is less recognized as a "sport" than competitive lawn mowing.

Kicked out of Westside or kicked out of the SPF? or both?

Wow, now that is funny.

My last comment is that it really sucks if Dave Hoff is innocent. I think we all can agree that the sharp angle at the top of the bulge is at least suspicious looking. However, he is a proven strong lifter. If, by chance, that bulge a sharp protrusion of his belly just beneath the tightest section of his bench shirt, I feel really bad that is reputation is will be tainted by this. Maybe a post-lift pat down should be added to gear checks. The unfair thing is that, since this was apparently brought up only after the fact, there is no way for him to prove his innocence and he has been assumed guilty. We'll never know for sure.

I agree... U hit the nail on the head!

That goes back to the Ironscene video. Why can't you see it when he gets up off the bench and as he walks past the camera--he turns his chest at an angle to the camera.

Or at least I sure can't see it and that video is pretty darned clear.

That goes back to the Ironscene video. Why can't you see it when he gets up off the bench and as he walks past the camera--he turns his chest at an angle to the camera.

Or at least I sure can't see it and that video is pretty darned clear.

Best comments:

"Ironically right after he got up a VHS tape titled "Training Secrets of Westside Barbell... Bench Press Workout" fell out of his shirt.

I guess the f*cking secret's out now....

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"

"Jon Deutsch wrote:
Why ban Phil? What happened?

He was hiding under Hoff's bench shirt."

-Abe Harrod

Kicked out of Westside. Dave is still at Westside.

What does that tell you

And I think we should make them lift in the USAPL for 2 years as punishment. They'd be 148s by the end of it lol

-Abe Harrod

http://i29.tinypic.com/5umopf.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/5umopf.jpg

Alot. You are sure of this?

Sean do you compete raw if so what are your numbers? Have you ever competed in gear if so what are your numbers? Why bash the meet and why bash gear so much? I mean arent you a big fan of Ryan's so do you think he is only strong in gear? Did you give away $17,000 dollars at your meet? And if you don't lift and you don't compete why do you care? What Dave did or didn't do had nothing to do with the fact that it was a great meet with alot of great lifters who lifted very well!

He is not innocent, therefore, it doesn't suck.

Not only should both of them be banned so should those judges. You cant say, well maybe they were blocked by the other people on the platform, if that is the case, how the hell did they call the lift at all? And that head judge should never be used again.

Without a doubt. I have first hand information on this issue. The guy writing in caps that gets his comments deleted is probably Phil pissed at Dave

The people that was at the meet and got beat by him needs to file a formal protest and get something done with this. I bet everyone is just setting there hoping something will get done without there help, I can promise it will not.Louie will have to start the ball rolling.

just when you thought this "SPORT" couldnt be made into more of a mockery here comes dan with these ass-e-nine antics.....makes shooting up right before you go on the platform seem ok!!!!! thats probably one of michael vicks dead dogs under his shirt......wait till peta gets a hold of the video.

Does anyone know who was his handlers?

Michael Vicks dead dog.... God dammit that was hilarious!!! Why didn't I think of that.

I need to step my game up now.

Putt

What is George Costanza's wallet doing underneath Dave Hoff's bench shirt?

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First off anyone that comments under anonymous should be deleted. If you are not a real person, you cannot be heard. I think there is little anyone can do now, the meet is over. It should of been addressed at the point of question. A total shame if cheating occurred. This incident should not be the only thing that the meet will be remebered by. I also do not think a lifter's decision should be a reflection of the gym he lifts at. Every gym has their asses, just because they do not cheat does not make them any less of an ass. Judge the lifter only...if cheating was done, lifter's responsibility.

he doesnt have handlers.....he's out of control!

I hope this stuff keeps happening, without it Putt wouldn't be here making us laugh. On a side note, I bench today and I'm going to try the Westside Bench Tape Secret.

If you've ever watched "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" you'll recall Mark Bell saying that Louie once told him that "the greatest respect you can ever earn is self respect". If Dave Hoff needed to cheat to this degree just to post a new PR, win some money, or just feed his ego he absolutely needs to man up and come clean about what happened if he is to ever gain back his "self respect". If he didn't do it he should realize that his character as well as the character of our sport is being called into question and refute the allegations now! I am nobody special in powerlifting but dammit I'm sick and tired of bullshit like this marginalizing are sport and turning what should be the top events into freaking circuses! Either way, right now the silence out of Columbus is deafening.

Maybe it is a new bench shirt. Taking gear to a whole other realm, pushing the envelope.