Boycott Of Mendelson Classic Keeps Benchers Away

i was a huge mendy fan up till about a year and a half ago when the guy started pulling stunts like this on the regular. theres no doubt the dude is one of the greatest benchers to ever live, but he needs to take a step back and figure out what hes doing before he turns into another ted arcidi.

Never forget where you came from!

arcidi is an idiot and badmouths powerlifting to no end. according to him no one is stronger than him, and bench shirts are the devil (even though he used one)

read some of his articles if you ever get a chance. its an all out hate fest on powerlifting in every form. hates on gear and hates on anyone whos stronger than he was raw. pretty pathetic actually.

zane .... he used one? yeah one that was basically a tight cotton t shirt... what he get like 5 pounds out of it... dont compare his use of nothing to 300 plus outta todays shirts..... u sound like the idiot making unfair comparisons... oh he used one so it doesnt matter is what you are saying .... get outta here!

No excuses! Just lift it!

Oh! So Anonymous poster is really Ted Arcidi! Now it all makes sence!!!! LOL! Thanks Zane!

No excuses! Just lift it!

No offense Ted; that was just to good to pass up! I had to hurry and beat Putt to it!

Arcidi didn't lift in 1812. He wore an Inzer EHPHD shirt because that is what was available at the time that he and Ken Lain were pushing the envelope. To believe that he wouldn't have used what Kennely is using if he lifted now seems rather ludicrous. No one brings rocks to gunfights and expects to win.

There are so many politics in the sport; we may never see all the top lifters (Benchers) on a single stage again. For the past 4 years The Mendelson has mostly been west coast lifters (Except for a few guys: Jesse, Frank, and Vick this year and Rob L last year) and the same can be said for the WPO bench meet at the Arnold with the east coast guys. With the exception of Kennelly and Mendy no west coast bencher has made more then one appearance at the Arnold. I’m sure they were invited, but for some reason didn’t go. Would paying out 1st-3rd be the answer? Because, no one in there right mind would lift against Kennelly or Rob with a winner takes all on the line (the only way to win is for them to bomb).
Last item of note: If Mendelson takes his money and goes home, who’s going to pay the big names to lift in the future? It won’t be KK, the WPO is dead! Does any single Federation have the funds for a big payout???
I dont think so, but i could be wrong!

I boycotted this meet too just to support Rob....Oh, that's right, I wasn't invited..Hhhhaaahhaaaaahhhha This just goes to show that this is a recreational sport to even the best lifters. Nobody's in it for the $$$. Honor is much more important that a little cash.

so let me get this right, frankl and heck didnt go because scot wouldnt give $5,000 for a weight class where 1 guy was going to compete?

does that make sense?

only 8 people competed last year. actually more people competed this year. and made lifts.

arcidi used a double denim

the funniest part is luyando would've won the heavyweight division easily enough, and one of his buddies from BIG would've won the lightweights. nothing like losing 10 grand between you to prove a point.

I hate to speak the obvious but why didn't Rob just go in as a heavy weight. Was he scared he couldn't win against Ryan or Scott? I could understand not wanting to compete against a heavyy weight but after all up until this meet every 198 had to compete against him. It seems to me the boy cott cost them 10 thousand bucks as Frankl could have easly won the light weights and Rob the heavy.

I don't want to come off as blasting at Rob (as he is a great bencer) but when you post negative shit on the net it is never in good taste. If you didn't come because you disagree with something then ok....... that's cool but posting shit like this isn't cool. None the less, I am sure Jessie and Mike are happy you did this boycott.

Originally Mendy announced that there were going to be 3 weight classes with equal pay. Less then a week after the invite list was put out he changed the pay out based on lack of competitiors in the middle weights. Now how many Powerlifters send in there entry forms in as soon as meet is announced. Most meet directors will tell you they get the majority of there entries in the last week or after the deadline has passed. Bottom line is if a meet director announces the meet is going to be run one way and then starts changing things to meet his needs it take away from his credability.

So the middle weights invited didn't even get a chance to send there entries in before getting fucked. Rob, Richie Harrison and others would have showed with equal treatment.

I don't think its a case of Rob or Richie being scared to compete against Ryan or Scott. They have both competed against Ryan in the past. Scott wouldn't have been a threat to either of them.

Ask Ryan why he didn't go. He smelled the dirty antics as well. Where was Meeker, Siders, Jackson, Crawford and many other that were invited? Maybe everyone is sick of Mendy's shit.

I am sure Rob, Richie, and Ryan will be on the same platform in the near future. When you have that caliber its not about winning its about breaking records and the honor to compete against each other.

its the point behind it. Carpenter had more guys show up in iowa... to compete for a grand for first place. It was originally said equal money for all classes. rob and richie were going. I would have gone with hopes of getting second to frankl and uping my 181 record. Im sure it was a fun time, i know priest is always a blast to hang out with.

I totaly agree

Brad,
You had to see the Priest to believe it. That bastard must have put on 20 pounds over night. I could have rolled him in. LOL.

We had a great time as usual. He is one funny guy and that is for sure. All in all I had a good time.

The best thing for me, I won the bench for reps competition at the venue. They had 34 guys do it including Jessie K. I took it with 47 reps at 205. It wasn't the 5k but 500 bucks did help the pain some.

47 reps! thats crazy. i dont think i could rep and weight more then 2. i get out of breath walking up stairs...lol

what were the results...who benched what? have not heard.

Um, Arcidi used the same tissue paper Inzer shirt we all knew of way back when. I doubt he got fifteen lbs. out of it. He DID wear double denim when he made his comeback, dont confuse the two. Maybe Ted has acted like an ass lately, I dont know, but you cant refute his pure benching power.

One thing that hasn't been brought up in all of this meet reporting is illness. My husband said that Priest was sick, Mendy had the flu, the 71-year-old guy who opened the show had a cold or the flu, and one other lifter had the sniffles. The flu is almost epidemic here in California right now. Everyone has it or has had it. I've had it twice, my husband is getting over it, our kids had it, and some of my fellow office workers have had it. It's a nasty strain(s) that's making the rounds. Hopfully, some of these guys will put up some good numbers the next time they lift.

Here are the unofficial results.

I was the guy that did 41 reps first! haha. I'm glad a powerlifter actually won it. I knew I needed 50+ to win it but those bastards wouldn't even let me use my regular technique :( good job!

OH. MY. GOD. THE DRAMA!!!

The Mendelson Classic was great I'm glad I made the trip, wish I would've had my team mates there. lol The venue was great and I just want to say thank you to Mendy and Priest for inviting me and a special thank you to Roy, and Mark bell and the other guys at Super Training gym for helping with my hand offs you guys were great.
Robert Vick

just to clear something up. i never doubted the power of ted arcidi, just said hes turned into a real douche. i also will never question the strength of mendy, hes got the biggest raw bench of all time which still makes him the strongest bencher ever. but his antics are really starting to make me question him as a person.

that is all.

That was real shitty of Mendy to give away $10,000. Absolutely rediculous.

Maybe the problem is people want to stay close to home and compete. Meeker, Miller, Crawford, Rob, Gene have to travel across the nation to compete in the event with no gaurantee of winning. Why do that when they can stay close to home and compete.
makes sense. And competing under KKs fed didnt help at all.

That is laughable! Crawford,Meeker and Luyando have competed all over the country! Mendy's meet was APF sanctioned that is KK's Federation!

Does anyone take into account that some of the lifters just may not have wanted to or couldnt afford to go? Frank invited me but going cross country isnt exactly free. Most lifters do tend to stay closer to home lift because they have more support there and can afford the trip. This sport gets so over anilized its sickening.If some of the guys didnt go, then so be it.It was their choice not to attend.

barry there's a major flaw in pretty much all your posts, they make too much sense.

This was a APF meet and that should have been good enough for BIG and anyone else. If BIG doesn't like it than go somewhere else....oh most of you have, to the HIIIIIGHER ground. Do you really think anyone cares about a couple of hundred dollars in memberships.

Im sure BIG will go anywhere and win.

I wanted to Thank everyone for coming! We had a great time! It was an awesome meet!
Frank and Liisa you guys are the best!

Shawna

Its a shame Rob, Freakshow and Heck didnt come. It was a good time(except for me, I spent most of the time in the bathroom, lol).

Ego had nothing to do with the money issue. If ego had anything to do with it Scot would be competing for the money. He lifts as a guest lifter.

The thing that is wierd about the whole issue is that Rob coulda won the $5,000. The guy benches over 900 and the last time I checked that was higher than 854.

Freakshow coulda won with his opener.

Its a shame these cats didnt show up. They are great lifters and cool people. There is too much fighting within the sport. Hopefully in the future we can all have good shows to compete at and have some beers afterwards.

It was cool seeing Jesse and Caminita. They are cool folks.

hope you're feeling better than you looked back stage.