Bolt vs. Johnson- Absurd! By James Walker

Sunday, March 28th, 2010 | AE Articles, Whats New

NBC Sports.com Source: Bolt’s representatives have been pushing for Chris Johnson race

Posted by Mike Florio on March 26, 2010 9:05 In response to Thursday’s comments from Titans running back Chris Johnsonregarding an ongoing desire to race record-setting sprinter Usain Bolt, a source with knowledge of the situation tells us that Bolt’s representatives actively have been pushing the event.

Word of the race first emerged in early January, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Bolt’s people and Johnson’s people were working toward setting up a race for charity.  (We suggest calling it the “Usain Bolt Chris Johnson Dunder Mifflin Sabre Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For the Cure.”)  Within hours, however, Bolt’s agent said “[t]here is no truth to the story,” and that Bolt “doesn’t follow the NFL too closely.”

So it was odd that Johnson said Thursday that he plans to race Bolt next year.  But, apparently, talks indeed have occurred and continue to occur, notwithstanding the denials of Bolt’s agent, whose word on the matter was accepted as Gospel truth, possibly because agents have an impeccable reputation for honesty.

Per our source, the two sides have not been able to agree on a distance.  Johnson presumably wants a shorter race, and Bolt wants a longer distance.  The folks at NBC Olympics previously have determined that Bolt’s 40-yard split from his world-record time in the 100-meter dash during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing was “a hair slower” than Johnson’s 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine. (end of article).

James’ Response-

Okay, Wlit Chamberlain (basketball great) vs. Muhammad Ali (boxing great) in boxing or  Larry Allen (NFL lineman great) vs. Hossein Rezazadeh (olympic weightlifting great)  in the clean and jerk or Javier Gomez (triathlon great) vs Lance Armstrong (cycling great) in the Tour De France, come on! And I do do not mean any disrespect to any of these great athletes but each talent is specific, especially on a world class level. By the way neither would I reverse the likely hood of the underdog beating the favorite in their respective sports. It’s absurd!

Back in the 1971 their was talk and negotiations for Chamberlain to box Ali. Many athletes considered Chamberlain to be one of the strongest most versatile athletes in the world at that time (basketball, arm wrestling, volleyball, track, weightlifting, et) but getting in the ring with Ali would have been a foolish thing for Chamberlain, and he was fortunate to have someone like his dad and Jim Brown (NFL legend and great all around athlete) to talk him out of it, preventing him from going down in athletic history as the man who got beat up, knocked out, or made a fool of in the ring instead of being a basketball legend. Jim Brown knew since he dad challenged Ali himself. One morning Ali met Brown during his morning roadwork and Brown attempted to hit Ali with a flurry of punches and couldn’t , while Ali hit him at will, which convinced Brown how absurd it was!

I think Larry Allen is a great and future Hall of Fame football player and exceptional power lifter but I don’t think that he could come close beating Hossein Rezazadeh in the clean and jerk at 263.5 kg. Like wise, Javier Gomez is a great world class triathlete but I am willing to bet that he wouldn’t beat Lance Armstrong in the Tour De France!  It’s facinating to read and hear about sports writers and enthusiast who embellish such non-sense.

According to The IFFA’s biomechanical analysis of Bolt’s world record 100m sprint, the split times (st) are as follows: reaction time (rt)=.146, 20m st=2.89, 40m st=4.64, 60m st =6.31, 80m st=7.92, 100m=9.58 seconds. If Chris Johnson said he could beat Bolt then he needs to start running to beat these times. I think that Johnson’s best High school 100m time is 10.38s. I thnk that he’s faster now so he needs to enter a race to get accustomed to the blocks, spikes, track, pre race pressure, reaction time (rt), start phase, drive phase, maximal acceleration phase, etc. Chris needs to race against  other top sprinters from that race such as, Tyson Gay (rt=.144, 20m st=2.92, 40m st=4.70, 60m st=6.39, 80m st=8.02, 100m=9.71s, now his best is 9.69s) or Asafa Powell (rt=.134, 20m st=2.91, 40m st=4.71, 60m st=6.42, 80m st=8.10 , 100m=9.84s ) and Richard  Thompson who had the best reaction time in that race at .119 and ended up with a  100m=9.93s. Chris could start with the USA Indoor Track and Field Championship series with the 60m, since that would give him a credible time.

Consider this, only 40 or so various sprinters have run sub 10 second 100m at meets  in recorded history, with some of them running sub 10’s several times during their careers, Chris Johnson has not yet broken the sub 10’s barrier, until then it’s an absurd discussion. It’s like Bolt saying that he could break Johnson’s NFL records, with out putting in the time to have football skills…it’s absurd!

Tags: Football, Professionals, Track & Field