Welcome to SportsRetort.com - Information on Free fantasy baseball

Baseball has it. Football has it. Basketball has it. Now bodybuilding has it. No, not funny little men running around in striped shirts, blowing more whistles than a disgruntled Enron employee. We're talking fantasy league. Major sports have had them for years. Now, just when you thought that, like Anna Nicole Smith's sweater, the Olympia Weekend program was bursting at the seams, along comes another bodybuilding first: the Muscle Fantasy League (MFL), courtesy of Weider Publications and supplement company Vyotech.

The launch of the MFL will take place in conjunction with October's Olympia Weekend; you, the fans, will be able to pitch your wits against the findings of the IFBB judges. If you ever thought you were an expert and knew better than the judges and respected bodybuilding journalists (and/or moi), now's your chance to prove it. Entry to the MFL is absolutely free and, once you've joined, you'll have the opportunity to win loads of great prizes.

The MFL involves making correct predictions in different facets of the four contests (Fitness Olympia. Figure Olympia, Ms. Olympia and Mr. Olympia) that make up the Olympia Weekend schedule.

Here's how your skill and judgment come in. Who's your pick to win the Mr. Olympia? "Ronnie Coleman!" you scream, which to many is as slam-dunk a choice (only don't tell Jay Cutler and gang) as guessing that the next Pope will be Catholic. You will earn points for selecting who wins the Mr. Olympia, but you'll earn even more points for correctly choosing who comes in seventh. And how about assessing who will come in 13th? Not so easy now, is it, grasshopper?

The accompanying chart shows further samples of the type of predictions you'll be required to make.

In all, there will be approximately 100 choices to enable you to pile up points. And with American Media, Inc., controlling the pay-per-view broadcast for the first time (for updates, go to 2005 olympia.com), you'll be able to check your choices live as the action unfolds.

So polish your crystal balls (isn't modern transplant surgery wonderful?) and get ready to prove that when it comes to bodybuilding acumen, you are indeed as sharp as Darrem Charles' intercostals.

BY PETER McGOUGH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF