pros vs joes
 

so theres this show on spike. the premise is the get a bunch of pro athletes and pit them against some normal guys in various sporting events usually ones the pros are good at. in the middle they have an event that no one specializes in. the show is filmed at the ADT center in LA so it was just a matter of time before they had an event in the velodrome there. they had to do 2 laps on some sweet felt tk2s. mostly they had horribly slow times and most of them never left the apron. the fastest time was from the decathlete and was like 48 seconds for 500 meters.
did anyone see this episode?

ps. if you wanna tivo it the episode is the one with bo jackson.

television is thought control. as is most of the interweb. i blame it all on thomas edison.

I just happened to switch the channel to that show just as the velodrome part started. It was pretty damn funny. The girl on the geared bike on the apron was pretty rough to watch. All in all, a pretty weak show, but nice to see some footage of that sweet-sweet track.

actually, in 1885, paul nipkow refined the first television system. tv as we know it has its roots in 1925, with scotsman john logie baird.

thanks, wikipedia!

Okay then, I hold Ben Franklin responsible.

I saw an episode and laughed my ass off that there were 3 pro athletes that couldn't run a mile faster than 7 minutes.

thats pretty pathetic. what did these people play?

also, 48 seconds for a 500, i don't know that sounds pretty slow, i used to run a 400 in like 51, feel free to prove me wrong though.

The world record, running is 43.18 (Michael Johnson).

You do realize that most pro athletes are paid to do something other than running long distances quickly.

I dont know about pathetic, but I was out at the Northbrook track here near chicago this weekend for a track clinic with the team I am on. I am starting to race this season and the team was doing some practicing, and the 500 was one of the things we did. I am in no way proclaiming to be fast, but I got 42.1 sec. which I was told to be on the flat part of the bell curve.

Exactly. If I remember correctly that was the episode with the baseball pitcher, the female softball pitcher, and the soccer player (if not, they ran a mile on that one too). The first guy was out of shape when he was a pro because all he had to do was throw a ball hard and accurately and now he has been retired for years. The woman just never ran that often and the soccer player ran under the 7min and he was just playing around. Also, arent all the athletes on that show retired and have been for years? The contestants, well they are never in the shape they think they are in.

You're right, I forgot about the soccer player. But still: Professional athlete, you'd think that being generally fit would help them, right? And it's not like they have no notice that they are going on the show, they could train up a bit. My dad is over 50, has a spare tire, doesn't exercise at all, and twice a year manages to run 2 miles in 15 minutes.

Pro athlete means they're pro at their sport. Think of putting an NBA pro into a swimming pool and see what happens. Or on a bike.

Or put a football player on a bike.

Maybe so, but the example I gave was RUNNING. Running is an integral part of most team sports. And every professional athlete on that show has run at some point in their life. Sucking at biking or swimming can be attributable to not having done it in a long time, but being in ANY sort of shape will let you be a faster runner. And these folks, who are professionals at doing physical activity that involves running, suck at it.

Yeah just like how running is an integral part of cycling.

My not-all-that-athletic self can easily run 2 or 3 sub-7 minute miles back to back. If a pro athlete of any kind (Not snooker or chess, though they have to be in decent shape as well) cannot run one, he better go train awhile.
operator: throw an NBA player in a swimming pool... even if he hardly knows how to stay afloat, he will be pretty damn fast. Put him on a bike and he will whip my ass despite having a million times worse technique than me. Those guys are monsters physically. (I am sure steroids help with this;)

running would be good. i keep saying that someday i'm going to buy a sweatsuit and running shoes and go jogging in the mornings....but running isn't half as fun as riding a bike.

Let me point out the fact that most of these pros are aging...and a lot of them have not aged well. I think they are all retired.

also, it was a standing start. if you're not much of a bike rider and have never been on a track bike. it's gonna feel weird at first, i doubt they were comfortable enough to just take off like a monster as is usually called for w/ standing start track races.