Donovan Bailey is about 4.1 over 40 yards. Tad ran the 4.4's while he was at Fordham as well. The time is legit. -- FORDHAM RAMS FOOTBALL FORUM

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

Subject: Donovan Bailey is about 4.1 over 40 yards. Tad ran the 4.4's while he was at Fordham as well. The time is legit.

Author:
...
[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
Date Posted: 16:15:24 05/14/05 Sat
In reply to: 4.Ram 's message, "Good for TK, but when are football scouts going to get these 40 times under control? A defensive back from a mediocre college football team is not competetive with the world's elite sprinters. Does TK really accelerate faster than Donovan Bailey? I don't think so. Sorry for posting twice." on 19:30:20 05/13/05 Fri

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Subject Author Date

Nice try, Flash. It's widely accepted that the fastest time EVER for 40 yards is 4.38 seconds by Ben Johnson on his way to setting world record in the 100M in '88. Oh, by the way, Johnson was on steroids at the time, and was stripped of his gold and the record. I know the NFL likes to think most of their players are faster than the world's premier sprinters, but ... (NT) 4.Ram 00:20:01 05/15/05 Sun

World-class sprinters are timed by extremely accurate electronic timing systems. NFL tryouts are performed with hand-held timing devices. Hand-held time devices are less accurate, due to the human reaction time necessary at the start gun. Thus, a hand-held time tends to reflect a faster sprint. You really can't compare hand-held and electronic times. As a result, reported hand-held times are not recognized in the world records. You can compare hand-held times to other hand-held times, and by that measure, Tad's times are what you might expect from a NFL defensive back. (NT) -- JoltinJoe, 07:22:29 05/15/05 Sun

You're right about timing devices, and that's just one of the glaring differences between the NFL and Track and Field. NFL times are inaccurate and inconsistent at best, but when the general public sees these times, they think half the NFL is faster than Maurice Green, Donovan Bailey, etc. Which brings me back to my original post: great time for TK, but when are the NFL scouts going to get it together? (NT) -- 4.Ram, 16:51:23 05/15/05 Sun

4Ram, there have been many references here to 40 times in the mid-to-high 4's, not to mention the thousands of reports from throughout NFL & college camps of similar, if not better numbers, yet we've never heard from you about it. Then, on 4/18 an article gets published (url inside) making identical points about Ben Johnson and we get this post from you. Please comment on Tad after you've made similar posts throughout every other NFL and college message board and please also at least reference the articles you're "lifting" from instead of passing the ideas/comments off as your own. Thanks -- PA Ram, 21:56:50 05/15/05 Sun

Actually an SI article from the early 90s brought my attention to this, and I usually reference it everytime this subject has come up since (with updates to reflect the current world record holders). I don't recall ever seeing a post on 40 times here, which isn't to say the subject hasn't been discussed, but rather I have a job and life which precludes me from logging on as often as others might. Sorry I can't give you the exact date of the SI piece, I threw it out at least 10 years ago as I wasn't expecting to have to write a bibliography after college. (NT) -- 4.Ram, 12:38:15 05/16/05 Mon

At the NFL combine they use a system that uses lasers to time the forty. You put your hands on a strip and once you take the pressure off the strip the timer begins and once you break a laser at the end the time stops. That sound pretty accurate to me and a lot of people have ran forty times that were faster than 4.38 (NT) -- Get a Clue, 18:38:56 05/16/05 Mon

You have a source for this? Last I heard, they were still using hand-timing at the NFL combine. (NT) -- Get a clue and give a link., 19:08:27 05/16/05 Mon

Re: You have a source for this? Last I heard, they were still using hand-timing at the NFL combine. -- maacfb, 11:08:03 05/18/05 Wed

Re: At the NFL combine they use a system that uses lasers to time the forty. You put your hands on a strip and once you take the pressure off the strip the timer begins and once you break a laser at the end the time stops. That sound pretty accurate to me and a lot of people have ran forty times that were faster than 4.38 -- 2 Different Sports 2 Different forms of timing, 13:40:47 07/19/05 Tue