Swedish Meatball

When I came across these wire photos of Swedish '80s action star Dolph Lundgren I couldn't help but smile remembering a personal anecdote about Dolph from the '80s. My best pal from high school, Greg, and I had had a falling out a couple of years out of high school. It all stemmed from both of us being closeted fags and not feeling comfortable discussing it with one another (we were like brothers, so somehow we felt too close to discuss something so private -- if that makes any sense). After being estranged for nearly a year Greg finally wrote me a letter in which he confided what he had been going through coming out of the closet and all, and told me that he'd heard through mutual friends that I had, too.

Nearly 50 now, Dolph Lundgren still doesn't look bad, even if he has exceeded his maximum potential.

Relieved and dying to make up for lost time (we had 10 years worth of hot guys to discuss, you know!) we jumped in my Volkswagen and drove down to our favorite spot, Tower Records on Mill Avenue in Tempe. As we talked and laughed and recounted all of the times that we couldn't reveal what we were really thinking (that guy in reading class was soooo hot!), Greg came upon this workout video by dreamy Dolph Lundgren, "Maximum Potential." I can still remember racing home and popping it into the VCR and both of our eyes nearly popping out of our heads as Dolph explained each exercise -- in his very deep voice -- he was performing, in such perfect form. I actually watched a bit of that tape not too long ago to see if it was as hot as I remembered and not surprisingly it wasn't. But it was kind of like "the first time" in a way, so it will always be special.