Bo Jackson and the 4.12 time 40-yard dash

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Yes, one scout got a hand-reading of 4.12.

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Well, multiple did from what I've read.

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Did he actually run that time? Of course not.

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No one can even confirm the details of the run: was the track even 40 yards? Stuff like this matters, as illegitimate tracks (distance, slope, etc) are absolutely a real thing.

Common sense would tell you that a 4.12 time is absurd. That would have made Bo roughly on par with Usain Bolt, when in reality he wasn't even the best college sprinter of his time. There are guys from that era who ran faster track times than Bo and yet tested nowhere near 4.12. Even if you want to argue that he had some special "40 yard dash" skill that allowed him to run absurdly faster in that measurement, the idea that no one else has come even near that time in the 30+ years since with superior training and coaching is ridiculous. The football players of today literally train with track specialists who perfect technique specific to the 40-yard dash. That didn't exist back when Bo ran the 40; thus the idea that with less training he is somehow still 0.1+ seconds faster than 30+ years of athletes is absurd. The thing with track times is that the lower you go, the more extreme the difference in time actually is. Thus the relative difference between say 4.20 and 4.30 is significantly greater than the difference between 4.50 and 4.60, even though its a 0.10 difference in both cases. Bo's supposed 4.12 compared to John Ross' 4.22 is actually an ABSURD difference.

I have no idea why Auburn fans defend this crap as if their lives depend on it. Bo Jackson is rightfully recognized for his athletic achievement, you really don't have to pretend that he was "literally Superman" to confirm his legacy.

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I think you are taking this just a tad too seriously

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How so? By pointing out that it wasn't real?

Most Auburn fans literally believe that he was actually 4.12 fast, and they are serious about it. I have no intention of further perpetuating that myth.

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Well, I mean, it was real, as real as any other combine time before electronic timing was used.

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Except that if you actually research the claim you will find that he very likely didn't even perform this feat at the "Combine" as you know it today; but yet at a "special session" in front of a handful of scouts. This essentially means that the time holds as much comparative legitimacy as a time ran on any untested school track: not much.

Like I said; no one can even give an exact place or time for this run. If you can't confirm even those basics, then you can't even confirm that the track was even 40 yards.

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Bo said himself that he ran a 4.13 electronic time then. Stop watches were even faster. You don't want to believe it, that's fine, but acting like it is completely absurd for anyone to believe it is a silly position to take.

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Have you heard Bo speak? He's not exactly impervious to pushing the mystique towards his supposed feats. Most of his legend in fact stems from a series of unproven fables; like that he could kill wild boars by throwing rocks at them. I don't doubt that someone didn't actually get that reading and then tell him it, which is why he repeats it as fact. He was told the time, and so he believes it. That doesn't mean that the time itself isn't inaccurate, which it quite obviously is unless you want top delude yourself into believing that he is in fact potentially the fastest human being ever (or at least in that discussion).

Who gives a shite? The story is the dude ran a legendary 4.12 hand time by scouts. End of story. Will live forever in enjoyment for us to use as arguments against other team's scrubs.

/thread

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I think you are taking this just a tad too seriously

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He always does.