Adidas made a heck of an offer before the NFL Scouting Combine: Anyone breaking Chris Johnson's record at the 2008 combine of a 4.24-second 40-yard dash time would get his own island valued at just under a million dollars.
Washington receiver John Ross amazed everyone by running a 4.22 40 Saturday, breaking Johnson's record by 0.02 seconds. So Ross must be practicing hanging his hammock and mixing pina coladas, right?
Not so fast, so to speak.
There was a catch on the whole island thing: Ross had to be wearing Adidas shoes to get the prize. Ross wore Nikes. Sad trombone.
Who cares, you say? Answer: Whoever at Adidas was going to pay for that island. Ross ran once, said he was done for the day, so he didn't have a chance to borrow some Adidas shoes to try for the island on a second run.
It turns out well for everyone. Adidas got a lot of advertising and didn't have to pay off on its offer. Nike got some great advertising, too, because if it wasn't for Adidas' offer nobody would have even noticed that Ross wore Nikes (pretty ironic, Adidas marketing folks), and Nike took advantage of it.
And Ross might not get an island, but he probably made himself a few bucks by running the fastest official time in combine history.
And after the draft, maybe he can just buy the island himself if he leverages his speed and fame into a high draft slot and big rookie payday.
A serious number
New York Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang made his NHL debut on Thursday night wearing No. 66. He played 17:01 and had two shots on goal.
Then, after the game, the Hockey Hall of Fame smashed and destroyed all of Mario Lemieux's stuff because another player wore his number and rendered him obsolete.
Or so it seemed, based on the reaction to Ho-Sang wearing No. 66.
Ho-Sang wore the number as a tribute to Lemieux, whom he said was "a little more dynamic on the skill side than Wayne [Gretzky]."
This, apparently, is a bad thing. They say life comes at you fast, but nothing travels with the velocity of an idiotic sports debate. Pittsburgh Penguins fans were irate someone wore the number of their beloved Lemieux, and talk shows were buzzing
Ho-Sang has been wearing No. 66 since he was 15 years old. He wore it in Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League. He's wearing it again in the NHL, and on the day of his first game it became "a thing."
It was debated on Canadian television. It churned its way through social media, onto blogs and became a Pittsburgh sports radio topic. Was this disrespectful to Mario Lemieux? Who does this rookie think he is, wearing a sacred number such as No. 66, which as you know is only retired by a single team in NHL history?
"I think a lot more people remember who he is now because they're yelling at me about wearing the number, right?" Ho-Sang said.
That should be the debate: Should numbers ever be retired leaguewide, officially or unofficially, or is that completely self-defeating?
Retiring Jackie Robinson's 42 in baseball and retiring Wayne Gretzky's 99 in hockey were supposed to deify those players and make those numbers sacred. But isn't the greater honor players choosing to honor them by wearing their numbers? Because they were inspired by them or they were in awe of them? Doesn't it serve Mario's legacy better if someone rocks the No. 66 and is asked "why?", and he's like "he was better than Gretzky?"
So keep on rocking the 66, Josh. Just because the Penguins decided gave Mario Lemieux a statue doesn't make the Islanders have to reciprocally retire his number.
Sports on 03/05/2017