Trindon Holliday Finishes 3rd In 100m

Just a quick follow-up to this post. Trindon Holliday placed 3rd in the men's finals of the 100m at the NCAA Track & Field Championships on Friday. He ran a 10.18, and finished behind LSU's Richard Thompson(1st place, 10.12) and Clemson's Travis Padgett(2nd place, 10.16). FSU's Walter Dix finished 4th with a 10.22.

Trindon Holliday, Yep, He's Still Scary Fast

I've pointed out just how crazy fast LSU's Trindon Holliday is before. Last night, we got another quick reminder that Holliday is still quick.

Walter Dix cruised into the finals Wednesday night in his bid for a third and final NCAA 100-meter title.

The 5-foot-9 Florida State cannonball won his first heat, even though he swiveled his head to watch the opposition in the final 50 meters.

He ran a 10.45 semi to finish second in the heat to LSU's Trindon Holliday's 10.34 and advance to Friday's finals.

Yeah, the guy who was the focus of the article, and is damn fast in his own right, finished second in the heat to Trindon Holliday. Holliday and Dix have battled before in the 100m, and last June Dix ran a 9.92 to Holliday's 10.06 in the NCAA Track and Field Championships. It's going to be interesting to see how these two perform in the finals on Friday.

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere - Speed Kills Edition

Since it's Friday, and the end of the workweek for most people, we think that you should be provided with a post that takes the edge off so to speak. Because it's going to be random and hopefully humorous, that means that it won't always be sports related. It will also pop up at any time on Friday.

At some point you've probably heard a coach or announcer say something about how you "can't coach speed"(though, some crack and a pair of Nikes won't make you any slower). Or, if you're a Madden fan, then you might have heard Big John exclaim "speed kills!" while getting torched by an opponent. In any case, speed can be a wonderful asset to your team. And if guys like Percy Harvin, Trindon Holliday and Noel Devine are prized because of their quickness, then the Z06 is cherished because it's like them with a shot of adrenaline that's been mixed with Red Bull.

When you're doing 100mph, and get passed like this you realize exactly what fast means.



Happy Friday!

We Must Protect This Planet!

The safety of our planet.

That's right, the kickoff of the WKU vs UF game on Saturday was moved from 6PM to 12:30PM in order to protect Mother Earth.

"How can that be?", you say.

Too much speed.

You see, also playing on Saturday is the West Virginia team that fields guys like Steve Slaton, Pat White and Noel Devine. Three guys that appear to have booster rockets attached to their feet. Seriously, they're faaast.



Combine those three with some of the personnel Florida is going to put on the field such as Percy Harvin, Deonte Thompson, Chris Rainey, Brandon James and Jarred Fayson, and you can see why we would be in trouble.



In case you still haven't put it all together, here's some technical jargon from NASA(no, not the drunk ones):

"If the Earth stopped spinning suddenly, the atmosphere would still be in motion with the Earth's original 1100 mile per hour rotation speed at the equator. All of the land masses would be scoured clean of anything not attached to bedrock. This means rocks, topsoil, trees, buildings, your pet dog, and so on, would be swept away into the atmosphere."

Damn, that doesn't sound good. Eventhough the probability is "practically zero", all of those speedsters on their respective fields at the same time could alter the Earth's rotation to screw some things up. Hence, the earlier kickoff for the Florida game.

So, when you're sweating your ass off in The Swamp on Saturday don't be hard too on Lincoln Financial. They're just trying to save the planet from something like this...



And pray for the Florida game not to overlap with the 3:30PM kickoff of the WVU game. Though, by that point most of Florida's burners should be relaxing on the bench.

Wal-Mart, Your New Source For Impromptu Footraces Between Blue Chippers

If you're a college football fan, then you're probably heard of Noel Devine. You might have even seen some of his highlight reels on YouTube. Things like this, where his speed and agility threaten to rip a hole in the space-time continuum.



Clips like that have, according to Wikipedia(it's a "pedia" so it has to be true!), made him an "Internet phenomenon". Wikipedia also states that "Noel has been called enigmatic, mysterious, even legendary, since clips of his on-field accomplishments began appearing on various web sites such as Sunshine Preps.net".

When he announced that he would be attending West Virginia, many people couldn't help but get excited over the prospect of having Pat White, Steve Slaton and Noel Devine on the field at the same time. It does seem rather dangerous for the Earth's rotation, but should be electrifying nonetheless.

However, one thing many of you may not know is that Devine was actually beaten in a footrace by another top running back prospect from the state of Florida, and it occured in a Wal-Mart parking of all places. Apparently, Devine put the word out that he wanted to race Chris Rainey(add him to Harvin and Thompson and Florida has its own rotation alterers), and when that got back to Rainey he strapped on his shoes and went looking for his challenger.

Legend had it that Fort Myers running back Noel Devine, a protege of Deion Sanders and a West Virginia freshman, once challenged Rainey to a race at a Wal-Mart.

The legend is true.

"I was at my home chilling and got a phone call saying Noel Devine is up there at the movies, looking for you," Rainey said. "I put on my shoes, strapped them up, went up there, found him."

Rainey beat Devine three times, he said.

Obviously, it's not the most official of races, but it does provide a good example of just how fast Chris Rainey is. So, this season when you're watching college football, and you see Noel Devine break a long run, remember that he was defeated in a Wal-Mart parking lot not once, but three times by Chris Rainey.



Now that's what I call Wal-Mart parking lot fast!

Walter Dix, Faster Than Everyone You Know Even if You Know Trindon Holliday

Since I posted on Thursday about Trindon Holliday running the third fastest 100m in the world this year I felt compelled to give an update with Walter Dix's accomplishments.

Dix, a sprinter for Florida State, faced off against Holliday in the 100m finals at the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Friday. He not only beat Holliday, but he ran the fastest 100m, a 9.93, in the world so far this year(Asafa Powell had previously run a 9.97). He was also just one-one hundreth away from running the fastest NCAA 100m ever. Ato Bolden set that record, 9.92, while running for UCLA in 1998. Holliday finished second in Friday's race with a 10.06.

In the absence of having footage of Dix's 9.92 run, I have posted up the video of him breaking the NCAA 200m record last month. Yeah, he's the guy who's all alone out front.

Trindon Holliday, Faster Than Everyone You Know

If you're a fan of college football, especially of the SEC variety(toughest conference suckas!), then you've probably heard of Trindon Holliday. He's the diminutive(5'5", 159lbs) athlete that plays football for the LSU Tigers, and is so fast that he could give JaMarcus Russell enough speed for him to run a 4.2 forty and still be faster than 3/4 of your favorite college team. Seriously, the guy has "wheels" in every sense of the word, and he showcased them in excellent form Wednesday night at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Holliday bolted from start to finish in the 100m dash to the tune of 10.02 seconds. He ran the fastest 100m time for an American this year, and only two guys in the world have put up faster times in '07(9.97 by world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica and 9.98 by Derrick Atkins of Bahamas).

For reference, here's Holliday running a 10.08 in the SEC Championships last month.



And for those of you who like your sports with a bit more violence(you can't hit what you can't catch), here are some highlights from the LSU vs Arkansas game last year. You'll have to fast-forward to the 2 minute mark to see how Holliday's speed translates onto the field. And that black stuff coming off of his cleats in the end zone? Obviously it's smoke because he just smoked the Razorbacks kick coverage team.


IM ON UR FEELD BURNING UR TEEM!

Will He Lobby For A 100 Catch Rating Too?

Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith told reporters yesterday that Devin Hester would be moving to the offensive side of the ball for the '07-'08 season.

There's no doubt that Hester is a phenomenal return specialist with a lot of speed. He has some experience playing receiver, though 10 receptions for 196 yards and no TD's over three seasons at Miami aren't exactly the strongest receiving statistics. However, I imagine that offensive coordinator Ron Turner will get the ball into Hester's hands anyway possible.

One question I do have is what will his catch rating be on Madden '08? There have been some reports that Hester actually lobbied the EA Sports developers to give him a perfect 100 speed rating. Whether or not that actually occured I'm not sure, but Hester is going to be the first player to ever have a speed rating of 100 on Madden. That's right, Deion Sanders, DeAngelo Hall, even Dante "The Human Joystick" Hall never had speed ratings of 100. With his switch to offense, though will Hester lobby for a high catch rating? I can't imagine him being over an 85, but I guess we'll have to wait until August 14 to find out.


Devin Hester, causing teams to lobby for a 12th man on kick coverages