You're missing the point. I didn't say it was a good idea to stand around for a second. What I said was that in track, it is electronically timed, like the combine. The only difference is the timer starts at the gun, which according to the article adds about .15 seconds to the time. Meaning Those track guys (on average) ran 40m in .15 faster than their times indicate. Reaction time should be another test all together, not combined in the same set-up as your 40. The football guys, the timer starts when they start. Meaning it is how fast they actually ran it, not how fast they reacted PLUS how fast they ran.
The absolute measure of the time is irrelevent. The times are done the same way, so the measurement's importance is in its relativeness to how fast other players are timed.
if they really want to know how fast someone can run they should measure the time the runner takes to go through one spot. actually, they could set up a series of gates to measure the times to be sure they get the fastest time. all the other times are crap because they include acceleration and reaction time and probably several other things, which are all irrelevant really. we really just want to know who's fastest, right?
Gerry James ran a 4.3 and Dalton Hilliard ran a 4.6. Sometimes 40 times don't equate to football ability.
You do still have to take into account the reaction time of the coaches pressing the stopwatch both when the player starts and when he reaches his destination though. So it is accurate in the sense that it compares favorably to all of the other times players have run, but inaccurate in the sense that it isn't a true 4.3 (or whatever number it may be for any given run) 40 time.. because they aren't actually that fast. Brian ~Go Tigers!~
"world class sprinters in spikes, running against other world class sprinters, being timed electronically and not by hand RARELY cross the 40m mark under 4.5." Just to clear this statement up, a 4.5 in a 40m sprint equates to a 4.11 40 yard dash. 40 meters doesn't equal 40 yards. So technically a world class sprinter would have a much better time than 4.5 in the 40. A 4.7-40m equals a 4.29 40-yard dash which is flying.
right... the NFL combine does a good job with the 40. They've gone away from timing by hand and implemented partial electronic timing. They start on the time by hand on the player breaking the plane and stop it electronically which give you a good idea of their speed without reaction. My issue is really with all the advertised 40 times taken by hand by college or HS coaches. All 40 times taken by a particular coach might not be an accurate time, but would be a decent comparison of those players speed. But once you start comparing 40 times taken by hand by different people the variance of reaction time makes the comparisons almost useless. btw players at the NFL combine consistently broke 4.3 before the introduction on electronic timing since then it's only been broken a few times.
