<p>There are typically two types of American male sprinters: those who concentrate on sprinting and those who play football first and foremost and sprint on the side. Those in the former category sometimes try their hand at football after achieving Olympic fame but usually with little success.</p>
<p>110m hurdles world record holder Renaldo Nehemiah is perhaps the most famous example of the former. After his hurdling career was over he tried out for and made the team for the 49ers. He was plenty fast, but he was cut after a year or two because he couldn’t catch the ball very well. That football skill and innate sense of where to go and what to do over the course of a play that successful players must have just hadn’t been developed during all those years he was hurdling.</p>
<p>Canadian Ben Johnson, after his drug scandal, tried out for the NFL (Dallas as I recall), but was not signed by the team. He couldn’t catch the ball at all.</p>
<p>Watch for our Toledo boy, Erik Kynard, coming up at 2pm in the high jump. He looks like Kobe Bryant, but wears crazy socks. When Erik went to his first track practice, in junior high, he said he wasn’t feeling very motivated, so he looked around to see which event looked like it would be the least amount of work. He decided on the high jump, becuase of the short run.</p>
<p>Raisman’s floor was great, I’m glad she didn’t downgrade that first pass like she did in TF/AA because it looked great. Was it good enough to merit a 15.6? I don’t know, but regardless she definitely deserved the gold. No one except for Ponor even came close to Aly’s tumbling.</p>
<p>Super happy for Mustafina as well! She’s one of my faves, especially coming back after her knee. Four medals ain’t too shabby of a haul. :)</p>
<p>On the other side of tne spectrum, Bob Hayes had a nice football career.</p>
<p>I don’t know if Deion Sanders ever played soccer. I would have liked to see Deion play on the soccer field. Deion was a defensive back so somebody like him would have been interesting on the pitch. A three sport professional athlete. But that is all in my mind. i have no idea if Deion ever kicked a soccer ball or if he had the endurance to play soocer.</p>
<p>So Raisman gold… I’ll definitely have to see this one for myself tomorrow (I’m not watching NBC’s crappy broadcast). I guess I shouldn’t be very surprised after Afanasyeva and Wieber not hitting. I really can’t be too excited about someone with so little connection to her music winning. The current code of points was supposed to eliminate this problem.</p>
<p>Overall the women’s EFs were pretty disappointing.</p>
<p>Jordyn came 7th. Am watching it now as one of our channels is rerunning it and I missed it live. I have to say that as good as Raisman is, I prefer the gracefulness of some of the other girls. Catalina Ponor was excellent, very happy for her. The crowd clearly thought that she deserved a higher score. And sad for Afanaseva.</p>
<p>Yes, Bullet Bob was great. But he was an example of the other type of sprinter - one who played football all along. Prior to his NFL career he was a college football star at Florida A&M.</p>
<p>The Cowboys did have Bob Hayes, and probably tried a few more speedsters with little football ability. </p>
<p>For Johnson, however, there was no silver and blue star on the helmet. His try-out was in the CFL, the Canadian Football League. The Toronto Argonauts offered him the opportunity in 1993 but he could not catch the football on punt returns.</p>
<p>Not really. I guess Afanasyeva and Komova not winning gold is a little disappointing. In general the women’s EFs have been disappointing. Uneven bars was the only compelling final. In men’s gymnastics parallel bars was the only EF that left me unimpressed.</p>