Rajon Rondo vs Chris Johnson

[OG Hack Wilson]

My first reaction when I heard that Rajon Rondo had challenged Titans running back Chris Johnson to a foot race: Huh? Rondo is among the speediest players in the league; Johnson plays football.

Details, from the Nashville City Paper:
[Chris] Johnson also says he is ready to undertake the challenge brought forth to him by Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo, who said believes he can beat the Titans star in a footrace. Word of that was relayed to him by a friend, Marquis Daniels, who is Rondo’s Celtic teammate.

“He called me and told me what Rondo was saying. So I went on Twitter and said, that’s easy money,” Johnson said. “That’s cool if he wants to lose $200,000. I had to go public with it. He must be stupid. It won’t be no close race.”
Got that? Now, don't bother clicking over to the part where Johnson says he'll beat Rondo in one-on-one, and let's get on with the serious. I know that football players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever. But come on, this is Rondo here. That he brought the challenge, though, suggests that he respects Johnson's speed. As well he should: Besides his elusive in-game running, Johnson was a former track star at East Carolina, and he put up a combine-best 4.24 in the 40-yard dash in 2008.

Let's do a little estimating here: A standard court is 94 feet end-to-end; three-quarters of that is 70.5 feet. There are 3 feet in a yard, meaning that the 3/4 court sprint is, in effect, a 23.5 yard dash. Let's presume that the distances are short enough, and the process of adjustment for added time complicated enough, that we can convert a NBA combine time into an NFL time by multiplying it by 1.702.

Rondo didn't do the customary 3/4-court sprint back when he entered the draft in 2006. But in this past summer's combine, the best time posted was Toney Douglas's 3.03, which would roughly equal to a 5.15 in the 40. And he might have done his fair share of racing his brother Harry, a WR with the Atlanta Falcons.

Moral of the story: There's a reason why so many former track stars end up in football, and why it's usually the jumpers who find their way to hoops. There's just not as much of a need for pure speed in basketball, where there are plenty of slow-footed guys valuable for other reasons, changes in directions, obstacles, and the all-important first step to get a jump on defenders. Rarely do we see a pure foot race, as opposed to football, where a lot of the game boils down to people trying to out-run each other.

However, it's worth noting that someone like Leandro Barbosa, who really does appear to have that sprinting speed and doesn't rely too much on other quick/agile factors in his game, might give a lesser back a run for his money. The main issue is that this kind of player is few and far between, skewing our perception of who is fast. That, and pretty much no one is faster than Chris Johnson.

[Lunatic]

pretty much no one is faster than Chris Johnson.

sums it up lol. Rondo would get smoked.

[Chamillitary Click]

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

[Sparegeez]

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

he probably can, in a 50 meter race

[OG Hack Wilson]

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

he probably can, in a 50 meter race

bolt is faster than any player in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA level, NHL or any soccer player in the world

[Sparegeez]

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

he probably can, in a 50 meter race

bolt is faster than any player in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA level, NHL or any soccer player in the world

well the fact that 99% of FAST athletes in the US go and play football, basketball, baseball and even soccer makes your claim weak

[Lunatic]

CJ said he can beat Bolt?

[Lunatic]

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

Channing Crowder said CJ could beat Bolt. I didn't see anything about CJ mentioning Bolt.

[Chamillitary Click]

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

he probably can, in a 50 meter race

bolt is faster than any player in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA level, NHL or any soccer player in the world

well the fact that 99% of FAST athletes in the US go and play football, basketball, baseball and even soccer makes your claim weak

well that 1% is your fastest man in the history of the world, Mr. Bolt.

no, the new report is that CJ says he can beat Usain Bolt.

he's going to get smoked.

Channing Crowder said CJ could beat Bolt. I didn't see anything about CJ mentioning Bolt.

i was watching ESPN & they said that CJ said he could be Bolt, after challenging Ted Ginn Jr. in Miami.

[Lunatic]

^I think they made a mistake. Channing Crowder was asked what he thought.

Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder said Johnson would beat Ginn, and maybe even Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man.

"He might roll Bolt in the 100," Crowder said, according to AP. "Y'all don't know how fast that boy is. He is fast, fast, fast. Flat-out FAST — capital letters."