So I'm at the store today, doing my thrice weekly shopping, and who do I run into in the produce section but John Romano.
If you've seen many of my posts, you probably know that I'm a HUGE food enthusiast, and that I cook about 95% of what I eat at home.
He used to have this segment on American Muscle & an article in eith Flex or Muscle & Fitness, I think, where he comments on cooking, converts recipes to health versions etc. (I know that he is (or was) editor in chief of Muscular Development now.)
Anyhow, naturally, I'm a huge fan. I didn't go all postal or anything, I didn't even ask for an autograph or anything. I was really cool about it and polite, I'm like "Pardon me, but aren't you John Romano?"
He's all like "No man, that's not me" and we head in our opposite directions. So I start to think - my bad. What a tool I am to have made the mistake, but this was the spitting image (much better shape now, than he was in the Gumbel piece BTW). Same eye color, same art work on the arm. I was certain that it had been him.
So I get home & start surfing for pictures to see where I went wrong. Would you believe I find a picture on davepalumbo.com where he's wearing the exact same jeans as he was wearing at the store. (With the exact same bleach stain on the exact same leg.)
So I keep searching, and find this other forum where he posted in 2005 (his first post on any forumn according to him) where he's talking about avatars, and handles and he's all like "I use my picture and my name. Here and everywhere, on the net and in person. I'm just an upfront honest type of guy, why can't everyone be that way".
Needless to say, I was disappointed. First at having doubted my observation. Second at having discovered - too late - that I was right to begin with. And third, at what must be going on with this guy to take a 180 like that in less than 2 years time. (In his defense, the guy may have gotten a lot of flack for joicing on TV, or may get stalked all of the time, or may, for any number of reasons, need now to deny being himself.) Mostly, though, I was disappointed that I didn't get the opportunity to give him respect, and appreciation for the contributions that he's made to the sport for like the past 20 years.
In the end, I guess I just got my feelings hurt.
Live and let live. Thanks for reading.
TEAM BIG PAY CHECK 
