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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 3:38:06 GMT -5
is to just let out the excitement when you get here...I can't keep it in or I will explode...Leach and I take on the day. We just arrived. I am very excited as always to be at a World Championships. Here is the first clip...behind the scenes. Let me apologize in advance...Hotel Lobbies are probably not used to this kind of hyper kinetic energy from a dude but I just have to get pumped up. We have some amazing back stories to what is happening here this weekend and I invite all of you to take the time to follow along. Gary Roberts www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2681 |
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 4:57:13 GMT -5
Lets go ahead and make it official...been talking about it for a month now but why not make it official along with truly how to do a proper NUT SWINGING...watch it here...the entire clip. Leach Leach Leach. www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2682 |
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 5:23:02 GMT -5
oKAY...pheww...we got the energy thing out of the way. (done embarrassing myself) now lets get on with the show and meet the peeps...One thing I love about the Worlds is I SPY all of the random peeps you see walking around the lobby. Very exciting to get to see old friends again... Although I have one major downfall about that. I think I have the world record for being told 'my your belly looks larger than last years worlds' in mulitple languages no less. Check it! www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2683 |
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 6:49:31 GMT -5
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 7:12:16 GMT -5
Big Props go out to my man Bill Collins, truly World Class dude!! The interview touches on the pressures of trying to pull something like this off. Something else I heard off camera and in regards to last minute registrations. Could it really be true that Russia waited until Friday to submit their paperwork for 90 people and over 450 room nights?? Can you say? WTF. No man on the WAF team is getting paid enough to have that kind of stress dropped on them with two days notice. Yikes. Congrats for pulling it off. www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2685 |
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 14:10:32 GMT -5
Ummmmm....clearly an interview you will not want to miss. We run into Neil Pickup fresh off the plane from UK. Nice enough to stop and give ARM TV the goings on with the now UNDERGROUND ARM WARS. Some good news and some small small bad news that, I, as leader of ARM TV NATION can live with most definitely. Neil says it is coming and guess want. He wants ARM TV to be a part of it. The interview closes with some very special exciting news for a very very select few. Watch this. End of. www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2686 |
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 14:15:33 GMT -5
And apparently this hotel is sold out and pullers are being sent to sister site. wow. I crashed last night and missed the venue (ended up waking up about midnight and doing the clips) Will try and get a shot today. Had breakbast buffet this morning, comes with the room. I repeat you can not walk from the elevator through Casino without running into 45 people you know and love.
more coming... I will try and update experiences through the week. Stay involved with the thread. You can post too you know.
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 7, 2010 14:21:32 GMT -5
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 8, 2010 2:07:00 GMT -5
Not a ton of work done today. Spent the day seeing a very special something that I believe I will be able to unveil to you guys tomorrow evening. It is cool!! also had a banner made along with some flyers I am going to be posting around the hotel tonight. also went to pickup a 3rd camera so I will be all set to cover the event. Also locked in the location for cameras...turns out that Leach is ViP and had a table set aside for him because of the website work and so we are all set. ARM TV was not going to be able to get stage access however this is going to work out in the long run I think. Very exciting. Also I had heard some grumblings about this event not being in Vegas directly but to be honest I think it is perfect. Because you can not go anywhere without driving there is always AND I mean always people in the lobby and casino/ bar. Because it isn't the largest Casino the people are more concentrated and you can't not walk through without socializing. It is awesome. Gotta Harley pull feeling....nothing to do but hangout and get to know more people. Can't wait for it to start off tomorrow. STay tuned.
Gary
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 9, 2010 8:03:09 GMT -5
Wow. what a difference a few days makes. Getting your ass kicked by sheer amount of massive armwrestling over a very long long day. lets see...didn't start off very well as I had to make a run to the printers this morning and on my way back got a speeding ticket right out side the venue. I tried to play up the armwrestling card with the police and it seemed to have worked. He dropped it 10 miles per hour which apparently lowered my fee a 100 bucks or so.
I remember when this event was first being promoted it was said by a few people higher up that this was really Vegas and that was going to be bad for the Worlds but after seeing all of this I have to disagree. For some of the same reasons that I love the Harley Pull so much is that the venue kind of forces you to stick together...not much else to do. You see Mesquite is a small town and this worlds is probably the largest thing they have ever see in scope...definitely reasons to want us back. You would be hard pressed to find similar appreciation in Vegas it self. That being said Vegas is still close enough that either before or after you can take some time and see it but otherwise you are here to have a good time and see all of the armwrestlers from around the world. That is awesome.
The event itself started out packed and exciting as always. As a camera person it is always a headache trying to get your marbles together on how to approach filming a world championships. Usually takes about half of the first day to get comfortable with the set up. As usual no stage access but to WAF's credit it was no stage access to most everyone a camera. Between refs and competitors it is a pretty packed place to begin with so all of this I understand. But that being said...with six tables it makes it difficult to get everyone satisfied. I think overall I didn't miss too much...atleast for what the Nation is going to be interested in watching.
And as always some great armwrestling. Team USA turned out in full force both as number of competitors but also as spectators, very cool to see people coming out even though they are not competing and bring friends and family.
Only downside as always with this shear volume of matches is the length of the day but as always they they usually get it going as well. I look forward to tomorrow. I have just posted the Worlds Team USA video that Harold Ryden put together and it turned out awesome. Good job HR.
Also in a few minutes I will have some of the finals with Lee Culpepper, Jarod Levulett, Jim Wagner, Tom Taylor and Ron Klemba, all making it to the finals and going for gold. Good night guys and will post more again tomorrow night.
if anyone is reading this in charge, the only suggestion I would make is to wait until the end to do the awards. Keep the armwrestling flowing because we lost a lot of energy tonight and much of the crowd took off for dinner. One of the reasons we have heard before as to why the medals after each class is so their are people there but tonight proved that if they get bored they will bolt anyways. Really the picture is for the wall of memories anyways and you can't tell a crowd size from the pic in 10 years anyways. All that really matters is that medal around your neck.
And the medals look awesome by the way. Not just saying that because Leach designed those too. Is there anything you don't do Leach. Wow.
Good night friends. And hey, if you can still make it out here for the weekend. Get in your car now. Thanks and see you soon!
And again...kudos to all involved pulling this massive event together..Truly is remarkable.
Gary
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 9, 2010 8:35:40 GMT -5
ohhh and if you had waited around till the end. It was worth it. The third act of the finals was indeed awesome!
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 10, 2010 11:12:20 GMT -5
www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2690A clip from the first day. Random moment before shots, includes team entrance from all other countries, cool stuff! update, internet connection took a dive this morning. There is a ton of people online and it is affecting the ability to load videos crashed last night and didn't get to much editing done. But I have a cool clip to post of Cobra and his ten year in the making...COMEBACK. World Champ...check it out. www.myarmtv.com/player.php?id=2689
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 11, 2010 4:51:45 GMT -5
I can't stop looking at that picture of cobra. Okay soooo we have wrapped day 3. The Open Event. This event is colossal. It truly is an impressive feat. Very exciting through out all of the classes. Simply put, I am in love with the World Championships. And it saddens me that the feelings are not mutual.
Goodnight.
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Post by Bob Paradis on Dec 11, 2010 9:47:19 GMT -5
Cobra must have trained HARD to beat Klemba like that! Congratulations to Cobra!!! I know Klemba was ready. That's a good 1/2 for the USA.
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Post by Gary Roberts on Dec 12, 2010 11:37:41 GMT -5
Worlds final comments. Amazing, one special thing about last night as the after party ended ...all of the hundreds of people flowed out of the room and stopped just in the entrance to socialize and pull and you can see some security and a few police officers standing at the ready waiting for something to happen. You can see the looks on their faces as if they were ready to pounce at any moment and then slowly start to have a confused puzzled look. It was as if they have never seen such a large group of men hanging around without a brawl breaking out or something. Eventually they started watching the pulling and loosening up. Eventually they smiled and finally walked off saying have a good night. They came to a full understanding that this large group of guys from all walks of life and country were just...pulling.
off to armwars
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