29 July 2014

What eBay Hath Wrought 98: One Serving of Beefcake


This is one of the cards from the 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter set that I really wanted, and I finally grabbed one. It's the framed mini relic card of Phil Heath, the reigning Mr. Olympia. He has won the sport's headlining bodybuilding competition the last three years in a row and will probably attempt to defend his title again this year. I still need to get Heath's autograph from the set, but one hasn't come around at the right price for me yet. Heath tends to wear a shiny metallic banana hammock during competitions, so I think this relic swatch is from a t-shirt or maybe a pair of Zubaz workout pants and not from some tainted (ha!) clothing item.


Why does bodybuilding fascinate me? I don't know. But it does. I am not as familiar with it as I am with mainstream sports, but I know most of the regular competitors and flip through the magazines from time to time to see who's big (hyuk-hyuk!) at the moment. I lack the discipline to eat right and work out enough to attain more than a basic level of fitness, but I think it would be cool to be more muscular than I am. All of the top-level guys are obviously on steroids because you don't get that big without giving your glands some prodding, but there are also natural bodybuilding leagues in which the guys get pretty big on their own. Anyway, I thought it was cool to see bodybuilding get some love in last year's Allen & Ginter set, and Heath's cards went on my list of cards to chase from 2013.



Heath did actually participate in a mainstream sport at the college level, playing basketball for the University of Denver. He didn't get a lot of playing time or put up a bunch of stats, but he was on the team and got some minutes all four years.

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