Shaq Vs Tyson Gay Recap and Video

By Weldon Johnson, LetsRun.com
August 18, 2010

The World's Fastest Man in 2010 Tyson Gay was on ABC's Shaq Vs last night. Shaquille O'Neal took on Tyson Gay over 30 yards (Gay ran 60) and then Shaq, Mo Greene and Desean Jackson (NFL) took on Tyson Gay, Chris Johnson (NFL) and Dwight Howard (NBA) in a relay.

Thanks to TVSquad we have  video of Tyson and Shaq's race below.

Here is the recap of the show I posted on our message boards. There is little doubt this will be the most watched track and field (or "Shaq N Field") "event" of the year in the United States.

Shaq meets Tyson Gay in a restaurant and Shaq challenges him to a race. Gay smiles multiple times proving he actually does smile. The cameras attempt to block out Gay's adidas logos. Gay agrees to race and tells Shaq he'll need some help if he really wants to beat him from a good friend of his who can coach him- Maurice Greene.

Mo Greene sporting a few extra pounds meets Shaq at Occidental College. They do some drills and Mo attempts to teach him how to sprint. "Your arms (and) your hands control your legs". Shaq says, "when the legend gives you advice you take it."

After a bunch of Rachel Ray interludes they say there are going to be 2 races a Shaq vs Gay one on one race where Shaq runs 30 (yards not meters I believe) and Tyson 60. Plus there will be a relay. Chris Johnson (Tennessee Titans NFL running back who broke the yards from scrimmage record last year and claimed falsely he was in talks to race Usain Bolt last winter. see https://www.letsrun.com/2010/simms0108.php), Dwight Howard (Orland Magic basketball stud), and Tyson Gay with coach Leroy Dixon vs Shaq, Mo Greene (running and coaching) and Desean Jackson (Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver). It will be 200 meters/yards with it eventually coming out that the legs will be Mo Greene vs Dwight Howard for 50, then Desean Jackson vs Chris Johnson (100) and then Shaq vs Gay for 50.

First up is Shaq vs Gay over 60 and 30. Once you think about this you realize Shaq should win unless he is really really slow and he did beat Gay 4.86 seconds for Shaq vs 6.08 for Gay.

Then onto the relay. On the first leg, Dwight Howard handed off before Mo Greene somehow (Mo was sporting a few pounds but hard to believe an NBA player would beat him). Since Greene was on Shaq's team that should pretty much be it if you think about it (Jackson and Howard should be evenly matched on their second legs which would mean Gay would get the baton before Shaq and Gay should kill Shaq so Shaq would need a big big lead.)

But this was made for TV drama. Shaq somehow got the baton a little before Gay. Instead of showing them really race and Gay just crush Shaq, the camera's cut to a far away angle and Gay tried to make it look like he was really trying to come from behind and barely beat Shaq but it was clear the producers told him to make it close and he obliged by faking that he was running hard. It was only 50 yards/meters so Gay only had to act for a couple of seconds but every letsrun.com viewer would have seen through it.

Somewhere along the line we learned that ESPN forgot to obscure the adidas logos at all times (at the beginning they were even showing photos from past races like the World Champs and blurring them out. So much for journalism), that Tyson Gay can act and smile and is a lot faster than Shaq.

Of course this was filmed a long time ago so they didn't mention Gay just beat Usain Bolt.