by Christian Duque
Feuds are very common in the sport of bodybuilding. I would like to say that they are not, but we all know that they are. And the reason they are is because we live in an industry where media has taken a commanding role in the world of social media. If we were back in the days of the magazines and VHS tapes it would be entirely different.
But we’re now at a time where people can become instantly famous in a matter of hours and videos can go viral in a matter of seconds. It leaves very little to the imagination with regards to what can be said and what can be done in a very short amount of time. News stories can make the rounds within an hour. In a matter of just an hour, fans in the United States all the way to Eastern Europe all the way around to Southeast Asia can know about something. And when it comes to feuds, for example, all bets are off.
Feuds create divisions that in turn create camps of fans, media, and even athletes who get involved. Everybody wants to take a side because everybody wants to belong to something. Nobody wants to miss a thing because then they’re going to be out of the loop. It would be so much easier for two guys that are having issues to pick up a phone and call and talk to each other and sort things out, but that’s just too rational.
When the heat of passion takes over and feelings are hurt, all bets are off. At that point it doesn’t really matter who struck first blood, it just becomes a question of who’s going to strike back and who’s going to strike back harder. And that is exactly what happened between Dave and Marc. Now if you want to get technical you could say that maybe Marc started it because he called out somebody on one of Dave’s programs for using doctored-up photos. On the flip side, Dave could have picked up the phone and called Marc and said something like “what’s going on my man? How can we resolve this,” without it escalating into a bigger problem. But of course that’s not what happened.
Marc attacked somebody that is a regular on Dave’s shows and Dave wanted to stick up for his friend. So Dave lashed out at Marc thinking that maybe that would be the end of it. Marc on the other hand would not stay quiet and lashed back stating at Dave, stating that that would be his one and only rebuttal if and only if Dave would not return fire. But of course Dave was not going to stay quiet after Marc hit back so of course he was going to hit back harder. And that is what happens with feuds.
Now, with the passing of Eugene Mishin, I think that has put the feud on ice at least a few days, but I don’t know that the feud is over. Especially because Dave and Marc really don’t like each other and have history between them. The other reason why it’s unlikely for the feud to end is because the Olympia is not going to happen for at least another nine weeks and there isn’t going to be another pro show for at least two more weeks. Again, I’m not saying that the feud would fill in a gap where there is no news to cover, but stranger things have happened. And unless these guys can mend fences, then the wounds are going to remain open.
Well how bad can the wounds be? Well, let’s get into it a little bit. I would say that Marc’s rebuttal was pretty relentless. He called Dave a degenerate, he made fun of him for not finishing medical school, he took hits at him for not getting a pro card. I mean it was a pretty blistering response. On the flip side Dave went even harder and has the benefit of having an actual news website that puts out a variety of programs. In terms of manoower, I would say that Dave has the upper hand because there are a lot more people that are going to go to bat for him. Many of the people on Dave’s website have their own social media followings and have their own shows and they have all lined up to each take a hit against Marc. We have seen this with everyone except for Gregg Valentino. I believe that Gregg may have a very important role in figuring out how to resolve the issues between Dave and Marc. The question is does he want to put himself in the middle? The other question is, is he already in the middle? Because it just so happens that during one of Dave’s programs, Gregg broke the silence and said that he didn’t have an issue with Marc and that Marc was a good all-around guy. That created a little bit of awkwardness on the set because it broke from the very united front that I think Dave was going for. That being said, Greg is not going to have any issues with either guy because of the fact that he is very transparent and is friends with both Dave and Marc.
Now why are feuds so electric in the sport of bodybuilding? Well it’s because of the fact that we are in an industry where people have very inflated egos. Now this is not to say that Dave or Marc have inflated egos, it’s just to say that a lot of the people in the audience that follow them would probably relate quite accurately. I mean again that’s not a knock on bodybuilders or bodybuilding fans. It’s just to say that people that go to the gym for hours on end, pose in the mirror, and eat according to a very strict diet to look their best probably have either inflated egos or very strong senses of self. And the reality of the matter is if you’re a fan of Dave or you’re a fan of Marc’s, and you feel that somebody has taken a royal crap on them you’re going to want to stand up and fight for your guy. That almost sounds kind of gay in a way, and nothing against being gay, but you know what I’m saying.
At the same time, bodybuilding is a sport that is very much based on cults of personality. There are people that follow their favorite bodybuilder or media personality to the ends of the earth. They would even walk off a cliff just to have their back. So again this feud could get ugly and fast. Then again, it arguably, already has.
Usually feuds of this nature do not end well. It’s very unusual for the guys to get tired of knocking each other out and basically settle for some sort of indirect understanding whereby bygones are bygones. And that is where I think Gregg can come in. He is somebody that both guys respect and he is somebody who could facilitate some sort of dialogue. I don’t know that things would end by having Marc come on Dave’s platform (maybe for a show of some sort) or much less having Dave go on Marc’s platform. I don’t know that either guy would want to bow down and go on the other’s platform or program. I also don’t know what the likelihood of these guys ever running into each other is in the future. So I really think that without putting Greg on the spot, I have to put Greg on the spot. He’s the only person who could bring these guys to some sort of an understanding and squash the beef.
But just because the feud has been put on hold because of the passing of Eugene Mishin, I have no doubt that in a day or two or maybe three or four, the feud will get restarted because there is a lot of drama between these two. And that has not been resolved. If it does get resolved I cannot imagine that they would stop fighting. I think feelings have been hurt, accusations have been made, and unless something can be done to clear the air, the battles will continue.
So whose side are you on with regards to this feud? Or are you to the point where you just don’t care? As always I hope you enjoyed reading my article here at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments.