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The Edge of the Unknown
The 2016 Ohio State football season will be…
?
Head football coach Urban Meyer has proven his prowess for delivering a Buckeyes team that seriously challenges for the national title/a playoff spot during the past few years. This includes a national championship in 2014. Following a mega successful NFL Draft this summer, the 2016 season will likely be successful, but with questions. Many of these questions will start with the words “how” and “who.”
How will quarterback J.T. Barrett rise to the level of a Heisman candidate, necessary for Ohio State’s overall team success? Who will Barrett pass the ball to in short down situations? Who will Barrett’s long-range target(s) be down the field? How will Mike Weber compare to Ezekiel Elliott? How much running will Barrett have to do to make up for a (potentially) struggling Weber? Who will be the play makers on defense? Who among the heralded freshmen will make a name for themselves like Joey Bosa?
Luckily for the Buckeyes, they have a defensive end with the last name Bosa (Joey Bosa’s brother Nick).
The point is that Ohio State football is a well-oiled machine that will, in all likelihood, produce yet another incredible season for its passionate fans. But how incredible? Nobody knows for certain exactly how this season will transpire. In order for November showdowns to have the same consequence as past seasons, there’s a word that must reveal itself in the preceding months:
Inspire.
Who will inspire the Buckeyes to push themselves beyond their expectations to the next-level seen during the 2014 National Championship run? This is the question that Urban Meyer most likely wants answered the most because the solution to this overarching, macro problem could resolve or band-aid many of the existing and inevitable micro issues.
The video editing crew is giving it their best shot to inspire fans before the first kickoff of the 2016 season against Urban Meyer’s former team Bowling Green State University this Saturday at The Ohio Stadium at noon.
“Welcome to the Edge.”
And what will be on the other side of the edge for the Buckeyes in 2016?
The Weight of History
If Usain Bolt (9.58 seconds) or Andre De Grasse (9.91 seconds) ran the 100m at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, how would they’ve fared against the legendary Jesse Owens (10.3 seconds)? Too bad we’ll never know.
Well, as Marty McFly would say, “This is heavy, Doc.”
The time traveling dash took place shortly prior to this year’s Olympics.
The natural inclination for sports commentators and analysts is to hype current athletes and achievements with superlatives. At times, the compliments fly at a slightly exaggerated rate. How quickly we forget the results of the past…or even just the last year. Still, there are athletic performances (individual and team) that warrant lightning-in-a-bottle fanfare. But it’s important to introduce perspective whenever possible. The fact is that Usain Bolt is a sprinter we may never see again in our lifetime. If you were to design the perfect sprinter, that final concept would look a hell of a lot like the 6’5″ Jamaican.
Witnessing Usain Bolt sprint today is the closest feat of running dominance and wow factor fans can experience that compares to the “Buckeye Bullet” people saw take flight 80 years ago.
Mr. Bolt’s achievements are undeniably laudable. However, as the phrase, “The greatest of all-time” is being cemented with his legacy, the video above shouldn’t necessarily deny that illustrious label. Instead, the struggle and significantly slower time produced by the 2016 Olympic 100m bronze medalist Andre De Grasse (9.91 seconds) should provide historical perspective and weight to the conditions, resources and technological advances made between 1936 Germany and 2016 Rio.
Usain Bolt is a once-in-a-lifetime sprinting legend and one of the fastest runners ever.
That’s an accurate statement at any point in track & field history.
Rio’s Fun Run
You won’t see this everyday.
- Usain Bolt (19.78 seconds)
- Andre De Grasse (19.80 seconds)
The finish line of the second 200m semifinal heat captured above features possibly the two fastest sprinters in this event in Usain Bolt from Jamaica and Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse. “The Lightning Bolt” (29-years-old) has even said the latter (21-years-old) could one day take over the 200m crown, once the world’s fastest man retires, of course.
Running and jumping in Junior Olympics and AAU summer track competitions from the third grade through high school, I can say that track & field is an intense sport. An amazingly fun sport, absolutely, but intense. By intense, I mean that every second, split-second, inch and movement is micro-analyzed. All the training and blood, sweat and tears that drip in the summer heat during practice is meant to achieve the maximum results because every second, split-second, inch and movement matters.
Whether the stakes are qualifying for the next race, meet or making the medal podium, competing loose (yet with acute concentration) is the name of the game.
Keeping this sport’s competitive spirit in mind, that’s what makes the finish of the 200m semifinal heat with Usain Bolt and Andre De Grasse seen above a genuinely special anomaly. The two world-class sprinters were easily 1-2 in their heat to qualify for the final tomorrow night and, surprisingly, chose to showcase their friendly rivalry to the world in an unlikely setting.
Thankfully, this moment of playful sportsmanship was captured.
Usain Bolt said in an interview with NBC’s Lewis Johnson immediately following the race tonight that he was expecting Andre De Grasse to ease up at the finish line to save energy for the final. Makes perfect sense. However, the Canadian had an alternative plan and instead chose to sprint to the 200m finish line as fast as possible to remind “The Lightning Bolt” that he’ll have a serious challenge tomorrow night.
NBC was given a preview to an Olympics version of “Must See TV.”
Track & Field is such an incredible sport and, hopefully, the fun pic between Usain Bolt and Andre De Grasse will increase viewership for the 200m final tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. ET. and possibly inspire yet another striking moment in the event:
The unthinkable sub-19 second 200m.
We all know that a lightning bolt strikes with authority (and apparently a grin).
Happy Monday!
Lightning struck last night in Rio for the third time.
Usain Bolt is scary fast and awesomely entertaining. NBC journalist Bob Costas made the astute observation that Bolt is not a show-off, but is, more accurately, a showman. And Mr. Costas was proven right late last night when the legendary Jamaican sprinter beat American rival Justin Gatlin by .08 seconds in the breathtaking 100m final for his mind-boggling third consecutive Olympic gold medal and immediately joined in festive celebration with his countless fans along the rail of the track immediately following his epic conquest. His warm-down style is by far the best in the world.
Above all the entertaining bravado, Usain Bolt is a class act. This video/interview is from a few years ago.
The world-class 100m Olympic final was pretty close.
- Usain Bolt (9.81)
- Justin Gatlin (9.89)
- Andre De Grasse (9.91)
Even with the razor-thin margins between Bolt and Gatlin & Gatlin and De Grasse, Usain Bolt dominated everyone’s focus at the finish line. The man that Mr. Costas determined is now a more famous figure in Jamaica than Bob Marley (hmmm…?) is a larger-than-life athlete and persona. Standing (and sprinting) at a towering 6’5″, the “Lightning Bolt” has kept our attention for several Olympics and international competitions.
Back in 2013 at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, Mother Nature went as far as to validate Usain Bolt’s perfectly given last name.
Remember this surreal, once-in-a-lifetime moment?
(Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)
Fans of Usain Bolt won’t have wait long to see his next strides toward Olympic glory. The Jamaican sprinter will run in the 200m tomorrow morning. As his 9.58 seconds world record in the 100m, 19.19 seconds world record in the 200m and the picture above reveal, you know something special will happen.
Wherever Usain Bolt is, a show is sure to follow.
A lightning show, to be specific.
Have a Showstopper Kind of Week!
Jimmy's Daily Planet 