Animal to me is an ethos too, it is bigger than any name or any of that celebrity shit.
Back in the day when I was just freelancing with Animal, I got to know Machine and Bulldog and then later Wrath, House, Ox and Al or Sam Byrd and Hoornstra or guys like Patrick or Higa... All of these very cool, very different guys who all brought their own personality to the brand. In their own humble, no bullshit, badass way. That made me admire them as men. Then the weights or any accomplishments beyond that, just made them that much more impressive. But where they were ranked on any lists or finished in any contests, it was almost irrelevant. They were Animal, just in the way they carried themselves and lived their lives. That's how I related to them.
As a grown man, I'm too busy trying to win my own contest every day, my life, to give a fuck about some other dude's trophies. You a good dude? You train hard? You inspire others? Then, in my book, you're Animal. It is almost intangible.
Peace, G