It is always interesting at this time of the year at the start of spring training and with the NFL combine to read the stories of how people have changed their technique. I have been following the Tim Tebow story with great interest. Apparently he has a team of “experts’ who have completely revamped his throwing style. He is not going to unveil his new technique at the NFL CONbine, but will wa [...]

What's your 40 time? I don't know anymore as I don't see consistent timing and surface/testing venues. With track the 60m is uniform but with football we have grass, field turf, track, carpet, and wind. Hand times by scouts or by football "people" confuses me as reaction to first movement seems to bring up world class performances with those that are 6.6x 55m runners. What I can say is that [...]

The latest word from that iteration of the circus known as the NFL Combine is that the theme of this combine is “Fluid Hips.” I was channel surfing yesterday and landed on several of the ESPN pundits talking about the combine. I sat forward in my chair hoping I would learn something about talent selection and identification when they started talking about “Fluid Hips.” Wha [...]

Combine training makes the player highly adapted to a few movements that really have no impact on their ability to play the game. Furthermore the movements in the combine tests bear very little resemblance to what actually happens in the game. So what are they doing? Now every sport is going to testing combines. Rumor has it that even Major League Baseball will have a combine. Has anyone ever take [...]

Last night I made the mistake of watching the Super Bowl from start to finish, I had not done that for at least 25 years. Now I know why, somewhere stuck strategically between ads there was a game. If there was ever any doubt about professional sport as entertainment not sport this settled it for me. I will take soccer or rugby any day – nonstop action. One ad did catch me eye though, it wa [...]

There was an interesting story in Tuesdays USA Today about Wes Welker Wide Receiver for the New England Patriots. He is undersized 5-9 185 and slow by NFL standards, but he is very good athlete. Guess what sport he played as a youth, yep that un-American sport of soccer. His college coach attributes a good degree of his success to the body control and footwork he learned in soccer. When you think [...]

There was an interesting article inthis weeks Sports Illustrated about Lane Kiffin the very young headcoach for the Oakland Raiders. I read the article with great intereston two levels: One was how proud his father must be (Father is longtimeNFL assistant) and second is, what are his fathers contemporaries arethinking about this - What has this young whipper snapper done todeserve being a head a h [...]

Walsh Passes Away at 75 print Kathleen J. Sullivan [...]

For all those who wonder what a track guy might run in a football 40y...here's some food for thought from David Showers of the Northwest Arkansas Times:Running at Arkansas’ pro day earlier this month was a serious endeavor for all involved, save one. For former Fayetteville High and University of Arkansas sprinter extraordinaire Wallace Spearmon Jr., it was merely a lark. He ran the 40 [...]

Here's an interesting article from USA Today by Larry Weisman on the NFL's joke-of-a-doping policy:The NFL's expanded testing for steroids and stamina-enhancing EPO moved the league closer to the standards set by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has been a persistent critic. But Gary Wadler, an internist who serves on WADA's prohibited-lists and -methods committee, sees room for [...]