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ndsmcobserver.com | Friday, april 9, 2021 | The Observer
Sports Authority
Sports Authority
The 40-yard dash is too hyped-up Matt Smith Sports Writer
The NFL is obsessed with speed. The 40-yard dash is the main event every year at the NFL Combine and at pro days, with fans, scouts, and players drooling over prospects who run between 4.2 and 4.4 seconds. Social media blows up over the potential emergence of the next Tyreek Hill or Chris Johnson, two speedsters that took over the league at wide receiver and running back, respectively. However, do these times even matter? Does having a fast 40-yard dash time actually translate to success in the NFL? These questions have come up recently as prospects prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft. Due to COV ID-19, the annual NFL Combine was canceled. Therefore, prospects have only been able to show off their athletic abilities at their pro days. Prospects have been posting remarkable 40-yard dash times, and many current NFL players have questioned how accurate these times are. Denver Broncos tight end Noah Fant tweeted that he should have declared for the draft this year so that his time would have been faster. Broncos teammate and defensive back Essang Bassey also joked about the times on Twitter, posting a GIF of Oprah handing out fast 40-yard dash times. An article from FiveThirtyEight determined that 87.6 percent of prospects post faster times at their pro days than at the NFL Combine, so we shouldn’t put too much emphasis on how fast prospects are running this year. Nevertheless, should we even care about these times in a normal year? The answer seems to be no. In the same article, FiveThirtyEight plotted 40-yard dash times and career receiving yards per route for wide receivers and concluded that “higher speed isn’t associated with higher on-field production.” Considering how players use their speed in the NFL, this conclusion makes sense. Players are not running in straight lines every single
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play. Wide receivers and running backs are constantly cutting, shifting, and juking to create separation from their defenders, and linebackers and defensive backs mimic these movements to keep up with them. They are constantly moving in multiple directions, not just one. Wide receivers are the most valuable if they can combine their precise routerunning with their speed, but this is much different than straight-line speed. Looking at the 40-yard dash times for statistical leaders from the 2020 NFL season also seems to support that these times do not directly lead to success in the league. Of the top ten leaders in rushing yards, none posted a time that was faster than 4.41 seconds at the NFL Combine. Lamar Jackson, the league’s ninth-leading rusher, claimed that he ran a 4.34, but that time has not been confirmed. Of the top ten leaders in receiving yards, only two ran faster than 4.40 seconds with Tyreek Hill at 4.29 seconds and D.K. Metcalf at 4.33 seconds. Hill’s time comes from his pro day rather than the NFL Combine, but I think it’s safe to say that his time is probably accurate based on how he burns past defensive backs on a weekly basis. Hill and Metcalf are both athletic freaks, and they should be considered outliers rather than the norm for the prototypical wide receiver. So while social media freaks out about Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore running his 40 in 4.29 seconds and Florida tight end Kyle Pitts posting a time of 4.44 seconds, just know that this does not automatically crown both as top-five players at their respective positions once they are drafted. I’m sure both of them will be extremely successful in the NFL. But this is due to the fact that Moore and Pitts are highly skilled, athletic players, not that they ran fast 40-yard dashes in their underwear. Contact Matt Smith at msmith88@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
An open letter to Major League Baseball Liam Coolican Sports Writer
Dear Major League Baseball, You’ve come a long way in recent years. Just a few short years ago, José Bautista created a minor scandal - and one of the most exciting moments in recent memory - when he f lipped his bat in celebration of a walk-off home run in the 2015 ALDS. It may not have been the first bat f lip, but it was certainly the most high profile, and it created a moment of reckoning for baseball. Even today, players are putting themselves in danger of getting drilled by a pitch - and possibly seriously hurt in the process - if they celebrate in a way the pitcher deems excessive. You have chosen the right path; the “Let the Kids Play” advertisements have served as a brilliant marketing technique and a way to normalize showing emotion in the game. However, the recent two-game suspension of Nick Castellanos shows there’s still a long way to go. On opening day, Castellanos f lipped his bat and skipped up the first baseline after launching an Opening-Day homer. In the following game, Cardinals pitcher Jake Woodford drilled him in the ribs with a 92 mile per hour heater. It is difficult to prove intent, and I like to think pitchers don’t intend to harm members of the opposing team, but it does appear that players get hit after a bat f lip more often than would be expected. After rounding the bases and scoring on a wild pitch, Castellanos stood up, f lexed in Woodford’s face, and appeared to yell “Let’s Go!” Then, Castellanos turned and attempted to walk back to the dugout, but Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina took exception and grabbed his neck. Both benches emptied, and there was the usual light pushing and shoving, but the umpires were able to restore order relatively quickly. Absurdly, Castellanos was the only player ejected from the contest, despite not initiating any physical
contact. To make matters worse, it was announced that he had been suspended for two games, but not before he hit another home run in the subsequent game, with another major bat f lip. The league’s statement cited his “aggressive actions” as the primary reason for the suspension, despite the fact that Molina grabbed his neck as he attempted to walk away. Instead of suspending a player whose only crime is showing a little emotion while he plays the game, maybe you should move towards addressing the problematic culture of retaliation in baseball. With pitchers throwing harder and harder, hitters shouldn’t have to be afraid that they will be intentionally hit with a projectile approaching 100 miles per hour if they violate the so-called unwritten rules of baseball. No one knows exactly what this metaphorical rulebook contains, but the main component appears to be “Don’t play with any sort of passion.” Some, like Castellanos, seem not to care, but others may simply avoid all controversy. We’ve seen some horrific injuries due to being hit by a pitchmost prominently Giancarlo Stanton’s facial fractures after being hit directly in the face. This prompted a number of players to begin wearing a faceguard attached to their helmets. It is daunting to stand just 60 feet, 6 inches away from a pitcher who can touch triple digits with his fastball, even without having to worry about if said fastball is going to be hurled directly at you. If you really wanted to “Let the Kids Play” as your advertisements claim, you wouldn’t suspend someone for doing just that, while looking the other way while pitchers attempt to do them harm. It goes without saying that the vast majority of HBPs are unintentional, and the point of this piece is not to claim that Woodford hit Castellanos on purpose. It is merely intended to point out the hypocrisy of claiming that you want players to show more passion while punishing those who do exactly that. A common reason for sports fans not
following baseball is that it is “boring.” The league undoubtedly knows this, and the aforementioned marketing campaigns target that demographic. But if you’re not willing to back it up by protecting the players who do as you ask, it is merely empty rhetoric. There is no easy way to deal with the problematic culture of retaliation. It is difficult, if not impossible, to prove intent. The best way forward in this regard is to promote a culture where showing passion is encouraged, rather than seen as unsportsmanlike. Obviously, there is a gray area between mere passion for the game and unsportsmanlike behavior. But if you continue to punish those who show emotion, it provides more ammunition to those who will continue to claim that celebrations like bat f lips are antithetical to the spirit of baseball. You still have time to remedy the situation. Castellanos has appealed his suspension, and you would be well advised to grant his appeal. A twogame suspension is not an especially lengthy punishment; the problem instead lies in its inconsistency with your supposed values. The desires of a sports fan today have shifted dramatically with the advent of social media. Today, the most popular athletes are those who produce highlight-worthy clips, rather than those who succeed quietly. Due in large part to this shift, baseball has lagged behind football and basketball in viewership. Players like Castellanos, who aren’t afraid to display their passion, and other up-and-coming, exuberant stars such as Ronald Acuna Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr., are how the league is going to attract and retain new baseball fans. It’s past time you recognize that. Sincerely, A concerned fan. Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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