There was a pay pay per view race for $1 million last night. Guess who won it?

rojo wrote:

The first 40 Yards of Gold tournament consisting of 16 NFL players competing against in other in a single elimination bracket was held last night. The winner took home a cool $1 million.

And that winner was an Olympic track athlete and two time NCAA long jump champion - Marquise Goodwin who also is a WR in the NFL.

40 yard times were not released - the only times released was the difference between the two runners.

Here is the $1 million race:

https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/1145144210947039238?s=12

And an article on the event:

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/fl-sp-40-yards-of-gold-20190630-ci7wn445oze3dn72lmhxbrzmcm-story.html

PS. I can't believe no one on our staff - and most of us consider ourselves to be big sports fans - even knew this event was happening. We didn't see it advertised anywhere.

here's the winner:

Haha cant beat track speed. John Ross (nfl rookie combine record) would have been smoked and his record is probably a sham anyways. Did trindon Holliday compete?

Funny part of the article says ted Ginn jr, the guy who challenged matt Boling and claims he is the fastest nfl player, was on the start list but withdrew before the competition began. How does Boling give Ginn any credibility after that! A lot of nfl guys who say theyre fast dont show up to race. And it also makes sense a lot are scared since the show decided to NOT even show times because of the huge player egos. Think about that, wow.

so their times weren't released? Probably because these NFL players are much slower than they were at the combine (where they were trained specifically for the 40)

look at these 40 times from the NFL veteran combine...

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/3/23/8275375/nfl-veteran-combine-40-times-michael-sam-michael-bush

It was about the head to head competition. Something track athletes should think about.

Times weren’t released because it was a bracket and likely tired in the end.

Only way to get pros to race fast in distance is with rabbits. Sad.

I had that final at 4.35, accounting for hand time. Anyone else?

Keep in mind that the times would also not be comparable to combine 40 times because they are using a gun to start these races. At the combine the athletes can start whenever they want, so there is no reaction time.

rojo wrote:

The first 40 Yards of Gold tournament consisting of 16 NFL players competing against in other in a single elimination bracket was held last night. The winner took home a cool $1 million.

This is the kind of garish excess that, in my opinion, shows how degenerate our society is. A million dollars for a 40 yard sprint when so many hard-working people are struggling to get by.

It’s sickening.

Angus of Homewood wrote:

rojo wrote:

The first 40 Yards of Gold tournament consisting of 16 NFL players competing against in other in a single elimination bracket was held last night. The winner took home a cool $1 million.

This is the kind of garish excess that, in my opinion, shows how degenerate our society is. A million dollars for a 40 yard sprint when so many hard-working people are struggling to get by.

It’s sickening.

But how many of those same hard-working people who are struggling to get by are NFL fans who really enjoyed this event.

Did this provide more utility than that $1M divvied up among all the poor struggling fans who enjoyed it?

Angus of Homewood wrote:

rojo wrote:

The first 40 Yards of Gold tournament consisting of 16 NFL players competing against in other in a single elimination bracket was held last night. The winner took home a cool $1 million.

This is the kind of garish excess that, in my opinion, shows how degenerate our society is. A million dollars for a 40 yard sprint when so many hard-working people are struggling to get by.

It’s sickening.

This is why I no longer watch MLB, NFL, or NBA. There is just too much money and no interest in holding players accountable for beating their wife, taking steroids, etc. If someday theyre either paid much less or people refuse to let bad people continue in their sport, I'm back in.

You can't believe you or staff didn't know about a running event that wasn't distance running?? Shocker.

Maybe you should think about fixing that and hire a former sprinter or jumper.

Drainthefecesswamp wrote:

Angus of Homewood wrote:

This is the kind of garish excess that, in my opinion, shows how degenerate our society is. A million dollars for a 40 yard sprint when so many hard-working people are struggling to get by.

It’s sickening.

This is why I no longer watch MLB, NFL, or NBA. There is just too much money and no interest in holding players accountable for beating their wife, taking steroids, etc. If someday theyre either paid much less or people refuse to let bad people continue in their sport, I'm back in.

But you're okay with grown ups getting paid to run around a little track or throw balls and jump over bars for lots of money. At least MLB< NFL and NBA folk are bringing joy to millions of peoples every time they ply their trade. Track & field athletes on the other hand....

And if you want to talk about screwed up priorities, why is it okay for hedge fund managers and investment bankers to get paid indecent amount of $$ for making rich people richer? Where is the value added in what they do? Again, NFL, NBA and MLB athletes at least make millions happy. People in finance horde their $$ and buy fancy toys for themselves and their families.

Alternate Perspective wrote:

Angus of Homewood wrote:

This is the kind of garish excess that, in my opinion, shows how degenerate our society is. A million dollars for a 40 yard sprint when so many hard-working people are struggling to get by.

It’s sickening.

But how many of those same hard-working people who are struggling to get by are NFL fans who really enjoyed this event.

Did this provide more utility than that $1M divvied up among all the poor struggling fans who enjoyed it?

Thank you for bringing logic to this. Most people don't understand that those are the exact people that tuned in to watch this. And guess what: they voted with their dollars that it was worth it. People don't understand the scale of TV or what is called "TV money".

Happy it worked out for them.

Next time do it so more people can see.

Ha, the NFL just put on the highest paying, most watched track meet of the year and we all knew nothing!

I really like this idea, what a cool format. Head to head, single elimination, no whining about wind and times! Track should do something like this! This would be perfect for a street event. Maybe have some open competition rounds and take the top 4 average Joes into the first round against the pros.

We need some fresh ideas like this. Expecting people to pay to watch meets when events are over in 10 seconds is crazy. Even the mile is done in 5 minutes tops. This format keeps it exciting and engaging for spectators for a longer time.

Track needs to learn to de-emphasize times and emphasize competition more. We can’t count on new records regularly to keep people interested. The NFL has the right idea there as well.

This is the kind o thing Nick Symmonds wants for athletics, yes?

Reminds me of that Donovan Bailey/Michael Johnson 150m match race back in ‘97:

https://youtu.be/sFcjJezL7lo

That was $1.5 million to the winner if I remember.

Lil Jon ohhh kayyy wrote:

Haha cant beat track speed. John Ross (nfl rookie combine record) would have been smoked and his record is probably a sham anyways. Did trindon Holliday compete?

Goodwin posted a 4.27 at the NFL combine. The biggest joke about the NFL combine is the clock gets manually started! So the difference between a 4.24 and a 4.27 is the reaction of the timer to the athlete moving. That’s why all scouts rely on their own hand times because they’re at least comparable to their own reaction time. It’s mindboggling how much money is poured into football but little into the science of performance. There’s still a reliance on hand timing, gassers, (caused Jordan McNair’s death), and Cross Fit style workouts (Rhabdo).

Iowa800 wrote:

Lil Jon ohhh kayyy wrote:

Haha cant beat track speed. John Ross (nfl rookie combine record) would have been smoked and his record is probably a sham anyways. Did trindon Holliday compete?

Goodwin posted a 4.27 at the NFL combine. The biggest joke about the NFL combine is the clock gets manually started! So the difference between a 4.24 and a 4.27 is the reaction of the timer to the athlete moving. That’s why all scouts rely on their own hand times because they’re at least comparable to their own reaction time. It’s mindboggling how much money is poured into football but little into the science of performance. There’s still a reliance on hand timing, gassers, (caused Jordan McNair’s death), and Cross Fit style workouts (Rhabdo).

iirc, they auto time the starts also and the 'final time' is some average of the manual starts and the auto starts, but you're right that it doesn't include reaction time. i think they do it this way so that it can be compared with ancient combine times, but i don't understand why they can't just add a fixed amount like 0.24 to the old times for comparison.