Noah Lyles Twice Breaks, then Unbreaks Usain Bolt's World Records
Noah Lyles
Even during a heavy news cycle, I’m surprised this bizarre story didn’t get more attention last week:
Noah Lyles, 22, set the 300-meter world record (31.87 seconds) at the 2017 USA Indoor Championships and won gold in the 200-meter and 4x100-meter at the 2019 World Championships. He also owns several medals from the World Relays, World U20 Championships and Youth Olympic Games, and he was set to run in Tokyo. Last week, Lyles ran a wind-assisted 9.93-second 100m at the Showdown in Otown meet in Florida, his first outing of 2020. Because the wind was measured at 4 m/s (twice the limit), the time, just 0.35 off Usain Bolt’s record set in 2009, was not legal.
And in a Diamond League event on Thursday, Lyles ran a 18.90 in the 200, which obliterated Bolt’s world record of 19.19 seconds
“That cannot be right. That cannot be right,” announcer Steve Cram said as Lyles crossed at 18.90. Cram was right:
76 Games
A conference-only 2020 college football season has been floated as a possibility for months but two announcements, barely 24 hours apart, on Thursday and Friday still felt like a swift kick to the groin.
In announcing conference-only schedules, the Big Ten and Pac-12 eliminated a collective 76 games that impacts teams from every FBS conference and several FCS conferences. Among the notable losses: Ohio State at Oregon, USC vs. Alabama, Michigan at Washington, Penn State at Virginia Tech, North Dakota State at Oregon, and Notre Dame at USC. Here’s the full list of Pac-12 cancellations, and the full list of Big Ten cancellations.
But perhaps more ominous and concerning than the cancellations were comments from Big Ten commish Kevin Warren:
"One thing we have to realize that this is not a fait accompli that we’re gonna have sports in the fall. We may not have sports in the fall. We may not have a college football season in the Big Ten.”
Dolores Hill Bomb
COVID-19 eliminated March Madness, suspended NBA operations for four months, canceled two-thirds of the MLB season, and wiped out hundreds of other events. It did not, however, stop the Dolores Hill Bomb (aka Fastest Hill Bomb), a terrifying event akin to Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling.
“I come for one thing and one thing only—to go fast,” a teenager told Mission Local last week at the annual event that sends skateboarders (and some standing atop a bicycle seat) shooting down the steep incline of Dolores Street in San Francisco. Despite COVID concerns, hundreds of (mostly masked) spectators lined the street to watch this:
Odds & Ends
Arizona Cardinals’ owner Michael Bidwell is hospitalized after testing positive … The most intriguing teams to watch in the NBA bubble … Ranking the NBA’s top 15 small forwards this season … The NFL’s most overpaid players (based on their cap hit) in 2020 … NFL executives, players, and coaches rank the NFL’s 10 best receivers … Fantasy football sleepers for 2020 using the same model that predicted Derrick Henry’s breakout season ... The 65 best movies on Netflix right now … Everything coming to Netflix in August … First-time online poker player won $188k at the World Series of Poker … Random: An official in Pennsylvania resigned after charges for (seriously) naked gardening.
Valentina Sampaio
30 Years Ago...
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