This is sure to be the only Olympic post in Chuckie Hacks history. I could give a crap less about every event except one...the 100 meter dash. How sweet would it to have "World's Fastest Man" on your resume? Usain Bolt is currently that guy. After watching him obliterate the field in the 200m dash, I wanted to see the all time 100m results. The findings offered up some observations.
First, while it seems like guys are breaking the world record every 4 years, the number hasn't dropped as much as you would think. Sure, we're only talking about a 10 second race, but it really hasn't. Some guy named Harold Abrahams ran a 10.60 in the 1924 Summer Games. Bolt just set the record with a 9.69. All we've shaved off in the last 84 years is 0.91 seconds??? That's it? Less than a second, in 84 years!! And Abrahams was some white guy from Great Britain. I figured it would be more than that. Way more.
Second, Darvis Patton finished 8th in the 100m final with a time of 10.03. Of course, that's Vince Coleman-fast. BUT, can you believe he would not have taken gold in the 1964 Olympics? That's 44 years ago! I just assumed that the 8th fastest guy today would easily win the Olympic gold 44 years ago. Not so. I would have put good money on that bet.
Third, although the 100m W.R. does keep getting lower and lower...when does it plateau? 9.00? 8.75? I mean, 300 years from now are guys gonna run it in like 6.55? Don't all records (sprints/swimming) have to plateau at some point? What's that point?
Ah, just a bunch of useless questions that cross my mind while watching Mr. Bolt run like a puma.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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19 comments:
He ran like Berkman? That's not very fast at all!
J/K.
Excellent 3rd point boss...I've constantly wondered that myself. Makes you wonder where it will end.
I'd say in the 2426 Olympics, some guy could probably run the 100 in 4.65.
What happens in the future when people are half robots with mechanical legs? Then what!?
Right.
Bolt has never beat me. I spit on his so-called records.
And how about the women's softball team finally losing? Anyone else think they threw the game to help the chance of softball being re-instated as a sport as now they can claim the international teams are just as good as the US.
I read that Chad Johnson said he could beat Michael Phelps in a swimming race. Umm...yeah.
Mark Spitz also said he could beat Phelps in his prime. I'm gonna go with NO on that.
Has Spitz not seen that all the records he held have been destroyed?
Duh.
Give Spitz the speedo suit, the deep, wide pool, and a modern training program, and I think he COULD beat Phelps
Obviously, the training and technology today is better; however, I also think that genetics today are better. People are taller, stronger and faster than generations of the past.
My Comodore 64 rocked. I had Spy Hunter and shit. That doesn't mean I would take it over my current computer.
Clown-
Technically, genentics degrade over time. And I think if you had commodore make a "64" for you these days, it would BE a modern computer. Same family tree, better tech, equivelent computer.
I, too, loved spy hunter. But my favorite was always the game that was a mix of outrun and mad max... I forget the name.
Dr J vs Bird was sweet. The janitor would come out and yell at you after breaking a backboard. Oh, take me back!
actually, this is what mark spitz said:
Mark Spitz thinks there's only one man who Michael Phelps can't beat. His name is Mark Spitz. Spitz, the American swimmer whose record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics Games was shattered by Phelps, said Wednesday that if the two legends squared off in their primes, it'd be a draw.
"I think that the relationship between people that are great is they have a common thread of knowing how to beat their competitors and they know how to constantly be in shape and in top form," Spitz told the Daily News. "If that's the case, I'd know everything about how to beat Michael," he said. "He'd also know everything to beat me. We'd have to tie."
also:
Spitz spoke graciously of the 23-year-old phenom from Baltimore who broke the record he set in the 1972 Munich Games. Spitz even predicted that Phelps could bring in more golds in the next Olympics. "I believe that he can go for nine," Spitz said outside Grand Central terminal, noting that Phelps could add the 200 meter backstroke to his extraordinary repertoire.
For my birthday this year I'm having a round-robin RBI basebal tourney. And pony-kegs. It's going to be sweet.
I don't want to get into a whole genetics debate, but: The US gene pool is different from that of the rest of the world. If you're talking about inbred people from England with bad teeth, than yes, genetics degrade. If you're talking about a melting pot of different races than genetics improve until which time there is saturation.
Sounds like Rad Racer, but I think that was only on Nintendo.
I also loved Marble Madness.
WV-
Affirmed.
As to the question of if the world records have a penultimate limit... yes. Will we see it in our lifetime? Probably no.
Clown-
It was an arcade game... Hmm.
A sleeper favorite game for me is Tiny Toon Sports for Genesis. Fun, silly game that I still play
Since this is the only Olympic post, there is something that has been on my mind the last few days: Does anyone know if the athlete's village is just hookup central? Does Usain Bolt go back to the Village after the 100M and there are 3 Russian gymnasts waiting for the old Jamiaca high hard one? Does Kobe have the whole Dutch syncronized swim team ready for a little backdoor action? There has to be sexual escapades right and left, but you never, ever hear about it. That or are the athletes under strict lock and key? Anyone have any info on this? I smell a new post.
I know that the bassetball team doesn't stay in the village...
That said, I assume that the village looks like a giant bundle of mating snakes...
It's made with bits of real panther, so you know it's good.
"That... That doesn't make any sense.."
"Smells like Bigfoot's dick!!"
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