MuscleWatch 2009!!!

by Lang Whitaker Training camps officially begin today, which here on The Links means one thing and one thing only: MuscleWatch 2009™. What is MuscleWatch™? Well, I started doing this here on SLAMonline about six years ago, but in actuality, MuscleWatch™ started in the fall of 1995. Matt Harpring was playing basketball at Georgia Tech and was heading into his sophomore season. Suddenly, there were a bevy of stories in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about how Harpring had spent the summer working out and had gained 15 pounds of muscle. My friend Matt and I thought it was strange that this was mentioned about two dozen times heading into the season, and even stranger that it was always mentioned as 15 pounds of muscle. Never 16, never 14, never 13, but always 15 pounds of muscle. We took note of that, and suddenly we started seeing it everywhere: athletes from various sports all over the world were gaining 15 pounds of muscle. Once I started writing The Links, I noticed that magic “...