Detroit Piston Richard Hamilton a 4:30 miler?

Listen up Clones!

Read Rip Hamilton's quote and then KNOW that he can't run 4:30. He said he could run a sub 5 minute mile, and then he said, "probably 4:30". So, there's the proof. NO WAY can he run a 4:30 mile. If you have to guess at what you might be able to run, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE NOT A RUNNER, then there's NO WAY that guess is accurate, and 99% of the time, the guess will be too fast. People don't realize how fast 4:30 is. Sure tons fo high school kids do it each year, but those are ones who train for it and are runners. Lots of high school kids train for it and work hard and only run 4:40 too.

NO FREAKIN' WAY RIP HAMILTON CAN RUN A 4:30 MILE. He may be one of the best conditioned athletes in the NBA, and NO, I'm not saying that a 4:30 runner is a better athlete than an NBA player, but running 4:30 requires specific talent and some specific training. Rip Hamilton may be a freak of nature, and I could certainly believe that an NBA player could run a 4:30 mile, but if he says he's a sub 5 minute miler and then GUESSES he could run 4:30, then I say NO WAY. I'd guess 4:54.

Jim Rome - OUT!

E-Wrecked wrote:

What's that quote from Frank Shorter at the beginning of 'Once A Runner'?

"How did I know you ran a 4:30 mile in high school? Everyone ran a 4:30 mile in high school."

4:30 ain't that special, if you focus on the mile. Shit, I'm not a good runner and I ran a 4:30 as a HS sophomore.

You misunderstand the meaning of Frank Shorter's quote. It doesn't mean that everyone ran a 4:30 mile in high school, it means that everyone SAYS they ran a 4:30 mile in high school when in fact they didn't. Frank Shorter is being SKEPICAL of the claim! He is giving credence to a 4:30 mile.

And, if you ran 4:30 as a high school sophomore, then you were a decent runner. I ran only 4:32 as a high school senior, and I was beating everyone and their brother (better at the 3200 though).

Jim Rome - LATE!

dukerdog wrote:

E-Wrecked wrote:

What's that quote from Frank Shorter at the beginning of 'Once A Runner'?

"How did I know you ran a 4:30 mile in high school? Everyone ran a 4:30 mile in high school."

I think many of us read that quote from Shorter a little different than you. I think he meant a lot of people will TELL you they ran a 4:30 mile in high school.

Excellent take there dukerdog. I said the same thing you did, but you said it first. I hadn't seen that. Sorry. You get the cred.

CarFax shreds!

Jim Rome - OUT!

I will be the first to say that Jim Rome is old news. I quit listening after about the 3rd year he was still bashing Pete Rose including the two 6 month pauses between sentences. Rack me???

As for a 4:30 mile, in the late 70's our small school in central Ohio had an athlete that was primarily a basketball player run 10 flat (tied school record) and 4:3? as a sophomore. He didn't run track his last 2 years in high school. He played basketball everyday, and in the heat of the afternoon when it got too hot for everyone else to play, he would go run 5 miles in his high-tops.

I am sure he did the requisite interval training during the season.

I was the opposite. I had to give up basketball after my soph year so I could train through the winter and run 4:29 my junior year. That being said, with a couple months of training, Rip could easily put down a 4:30.

rip van runner wrote:

I will be the first to say that Jim Rome is old news. I quit listening after about the 3rd year he was still bashing Pete Rose including the two 6 month pauses between sentences. Rack me???

After the third year is when my show TOOK OFF. I'm the most widely distributed syndicated sports radio talk show in the history of the world. How is that OLD NEWS? Oh yeah, it isn't. The vernacular, the pauses, the repeating the same thing in a slightly different way, the crumpling of paper, the "takes"; it's all what makes my show magic. Far fewer of people like you who think of my show as old news. That's ok. Not everyone gets it. Just not everyone does. That's fine. I have enough followers and more than enough jack coming from all the sponsors of the show to last a lifetime, hell, a thousand lifetimes. You don't like the show, that's fine with me. Go watch Matha Stewart...well, when you can again.

Jim Rome - OUT!

Why are you all assuming Hamilton isn't a "real" runner? Hamilton is a passionate runner, and has been since high-school. He ran track in high-school (the mile) and the only race he ever lost is when he listened to the coach and tried to pace himself -- every other race he won going all-out. He is one of the fastest sprinters in the NBA, never gets tired on the court, and has been running daily since he's been a teen-ager. He is a fanatic about heathy-living, and loves running. You should all be praising the guy, not bashing him...

Please don't hate on Rip......

Steve Harris wrote:

Why are you all assuming Hamilton isn't a "real" runner? Hamilton is a passionate runner, and has been since high-school. He ran track in high-school (the mile) and the only race he ever lost is when he listened to the coach and tried to pace himself -- every other race he won going all-out. He is one of the fastest sprinters in the NBA, never gets tired on the court, and has been running daily since he's been a teen-ager. He is a fanatic about heathy-living, and loves running. You should all be praising the guy, not bashing him...

"Steve," he said heavily, "why don't you explain in 200 words or less why anyone should praise a 'passionate runner' who apparently doesn't know how many laps there are in a mile race on a standard 400-meter track." He licked a stray booger off his upper lip, swallowed it, and continued. "Maybe Rip could run a 4:30 mile with some training and maybe not. But as soon as someone posted the text of his RWOL interview in this thread and showed how clueless he is, the whole shooting match went down the drain - pardon the mixed metaphors."

Steve Harris wrote:

Why are you all assuming Hamilton isn't a "real" runner? Hamilton is a passionate runner, and has been since high-school. He ran track in high-school (the mile) and the only race he ever lost is when he listened to the coach and tried to pace himself -- every other race he won going all-out. He is one of the fastest sprinters in the NBA, never gets tired on the court, and has been running daily since he's been a teen-ager. He is a fanatic about heathy-living, and loves running. You should all be praising the guy, not bashing him...

Saying he can't run 4:30 isn't bashing him. Most of us agree that he's a talented athlete. If though someone says (as he did) that he can run a sub 5 minute mile, "probably 4:30" then he can't run 4:30 - at least not currently. Perhaps if he trained and raced even just a little bit he could, but based on what he SAID, we say NO he can't.

GO PISTONS!!!

He could absolutely run a 4:30 min mile. He trains hard everyday. He plays 82 games a season at an unbelievable pace.

I bet a lot of NBA'ers can run a 4:30 mile without much outside training.

Especially Rip. He's got a perfect runners body. He's built with a long light frame and terrific quickness. Rip isn't a great leaper, but he has to be one of the fastest players in the NBA. The mile isn't a sprint, but it's not a marathon either. Rip could run closer to a 4 min mile if he actually trained for it.

Yes, the NBA does have the best athletes in the world. Because it's where all the money is. The best athletes in highschool don't concentrate on the Pentathalon for god sakes. They stick to the sports that make the money. No question NBA players are today's elite athletes. Basketball challenges your skill, coordination and other athletic attributes much more so than other sports as well(i.e. football, baseball, 100 m hurdles)

Boz wrote:

That soccer article sounds realistic. I bet a lot of pro athletes could run about 5:30 for a mile, but not much better without some training. Most of them are too lazy.

You are incredibly naive. Talk about denial.

Name an NBA guard who is lazy. Name 1. Look at their bodies. Oh, that's right, must be magic.

Every guard in the NBA could run a 4:30 mile w/some modest training. There's no way they could make the league otherwise. You have to be able to be a great runner and incredibly light on your feet to play at that level. Every single one of these guys would have been highschool track phenoms at their highschool if they had decided to pursue the sport.

James Naismith, the Canadian who invented the modern-day basketball, did so because he wanted an activity to occupy young men so that they didn't spend their time chasing women and so they had more time to devote to becoming model citizens.

Yeah, that worked out great.

Jim Rome - OUT!

The statement I questioned was that there are 1 or 2 athletes on every high school baseball, basketball, football, etc. team that can run close to 4:36 without training specifically for it. Providing a few examples of athletes that fit that bill doesn't prove the point. I have no doubt there are quite a number of kids in those other sports across the country that could run 4:36 tomorrow. 1 or 2 at every school in each of those sports would translate to thousands of kids running 4:36 with no training. I don't buy it.

Everyone keeps saying "if he trains for it" like the guy only does basketball drills. What I'm saying is that he *DOES* train for it -- he runs the mile at a full sprint all the time. And of course he knows how many laps there are on a standard track, because he has run the mile competitively on a standard track many times (just not recently). Where do all these assumptions come from about what Rip does or doesn't do?

Steve Harris wrote:

-- he runs the mile at a full sprint all the time.

Friend, care to describe for the viewing audience your interpretation of what a 'mile at a full sprint' pace is? Thanks.

You all that think RIP couldn't do it are just speaking out of ignorance. I went to school with a kid that was pathetically lazy. Never practiced hard, drank alot, and always won. Not just won but by a long shot. He always was about 4:45. So stop oall the bitching and come to reality.

"Running the mile at a full sprint" means running the mile as fast as you can. Running it so fast that you don't have anything left in the tank at the end of the mile. What else would it mean?

I'm sorry, I missed the word "pace" in your question. Are you looking for an exact time? That is dependent on the runner, obviously...