Who's Strongest? It's still undetermined
With much fanfare and high expectations, all of the contenders descended upon Welty Park looking to settle the debate once and for all. Many questions weighed heavily on their minds as they prepared for the six-event contest, in which the top two finishers after five events would square off in an arm-wrestling match for the title.
Would Kelvin Cabrera, easily the nastiest and most physically dominant JAMmer, crush the competition? Would Pher Hale emerge from the fields of God's Country and walk away with the title, bringing the folks in Rochester some much-needed joy? Would home-town heroes R.T. McShane or Rob Andrusco represent for the Y.O.? Would Ed McDowell, winner of the 2002 DecathaJAM, continue his dominance in non-softball-related JAM events?
Although some of these questions were anwered to various degrees, the ultimate question remained undecided.
The contest got off to a rousing start with the bell-ringer, where all of the contestants swung the mallet with such force that they not only rang the bell, but they almost broke the apparatus itself. Of course, given the fact the both Rob Andrusco's mother and his pregnant wife Arianne rang the bell prior to the offical start of the contest, and the fact that the 20-month-old Sean Bowler came close to doing so, this was not a surprise.
The contestants moved on to the caber toss, where things began to take shape. McShane threw down the gauntlet with an early toss of 13 feet. The remaining participants attempted to match this distance using a variety of methods. In the end, McDowell, who utilized a traditional tossing method, and Rob Andrusco, who employed a running method that caused him to foot-fault twice, came closest with 12-foot tosses. Hale's behind-the-back attempt earned him style points, but those never count at The JAM.
The weight toss, in which the contestants had to carry a tower containing 100 pounds of stacked weights over a 50 foot course, proved to be the most dangerous event, and for that reason it may have had the greatest impact on the final results. First up was Tony Gerrits, who raced across the course with the weight on his shoulder and crossed the finish line in 3.81 seconds. At that point, he tossed the weight to the ground and, in the process, cracked one of the weights and pulled his hamstring.
Cabrera, the prohibitive favorite, grabbed the weights next and, although he did not throw them to the ground, his hamstring fared as well as that of Gerrits, causing him to limp to the finish line in 6.88 seconds. These injuries forced both Gerrits and Cabrera to forgo the all-important car pull, effectively eliminating them from the top prize.
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| Ed McDowell pulls the car as JAM's Strongest Man rival R.T. McShane (r) looks on. In the background, Lil' Sean Bowler (with dad Geoff) watches and learns. |
However, confident as both McDowell and McShane were, they still had to survive the Brad Lift and the Car Pull, two grueling events that would require tremendous brute strength and mental toughness, in order to reach the finals.
All contestants got off to a shaky start in the Brad Lift, struggling to get comfortable with the cumbersome apparatus designed by Andrusco. One after another, the contestants grabbed the board, onto which a visibly frightened Brad Sherman was tethered, and failed to complete one repetition.
Gerrits, McDowell and McShane showed the most promise, and they were permitted to take a scond try in an attempt to settle the top three finishers in the event. Gerrits made the most of this opportunity, as he gripped the board and, with veins popping out of his head and a capacity crowd cheering on in amazement, he completed nine repetitions, and probably could have completed more. McDowell impressively completed five repetitions and McShane completed one, as they maintained their hold on the top two spots.
Things then moved to the parking lot for the car pull, where local little leaguers marveled at the physical prowess and valor of the contestants while their parents cursed at them for holding up traffic. In a bold move, McShane grabbed the rope first. After a few failed attempts, he all but sealed a trip to the finals, pulling the car across the course in 17.22 seconds. McDowell later secured his trip to the finals by finishing in 16.35 seconds, though not before hitting the ground in his first attempt. Neither McDowell nor McShane came close to matching Andrusco's 14.42 seconds.
With the five preliminary events completed, the stage was set for the championship arm-wrestling contest between McDowell and McShane, who finished with 21.5 points and 19 points, respectively. However, due to the lateness of the day and scheduling conflicts with local TV affiliates, The JAM Committee postponed the final showdown until the 2008 JAM.
McDowell immediately cried foul, claiming that the only purpose of the delay was to provide McShane with an additional year to bulk up and work on his arm-wrestling technique.
JAM officials adamantly denied McDowell's accusations, pointing out that McDowell has repeatedly claimed that the JAM Committee is biased against him, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Despite these denials, there may be more to this story than The JAM Committee is willing to admit, as eyewitnesses have claimed that they saw McShane leave The JAM with a box containing anabolic steroids, a copy of the Stallone classic "Over The Top" and the phone number of Barry Bonds' personal trainer.