Keep it 100?

For Bokolis- well, for the younger version of the man behind the curtain- Flo-Jo's 10.49 was one of those what...the fuck...was that? moments, something incomprehensible, something that wasn't real...and I don't impress easily.

Many women's track & field records still stand from back then because out-of-competition testing wasn't implemented until after the '88 Olympics.  All you had to do was come off about 5 weeks out and you could beat the tests.  Ben Johnson likely was caught because someone put one over on him.

Flo-Jo beat the WR by .27 seconds...at the time the Mens WR was Ben's 9.83.  At that point, the WR were .66 seconds apart- ignore the fact that Ben's was removed and the record reverted to 9.93.  This turned out to be the low point in the difference between the two WR; it was 1.13 coming out of Mexico City and it has stretched back out to .91.

Some eyeballing shows that, where it took the men 15 years to break the 100m world record- in the altitude of Colorado Springs- set at the 1968 Olympics in the altitude of Mexico City (and 23 to break the long jump), the women's world record was equaled at the next Olympiad...by an East German broad.  Whereas each lowering of the Men's WR has been by someone of West African descent, this started a run of 12 years where the women's WR was held by a German from one side of the Iron Curtain or the other.

It stands to reason that the women's WR holders should have at least a somewhat similar profile to the men's.  If you saw one German in there who had the record for a minute, you may write it off as an aberration. Five Germans and no one else over 12 years...systemic doping.

Since the 10.49, the men have shaved .25 seconds off their WR (Bokolis is ignoring that the record reverted to 9.93 after Ben Johnson was banned and will use Ben's 9.83) and it's (legally) been beaten 60 times.  This can be broken down as .11 in 20 years and Usain Bolt taking it down another .14 in two shots, one on the first anniversary of the other...hmmmm.  As Bolt is getting older and is surely not as interested, unless someone else emerges- slim chance- it looks like it's going to stay at 9.58 for at least another 10 years.

As for the women, if you revert to Evelyn Ashford's 10.76 from 1984, they've gotten just .12 seconds in over 30 years, from 5 women (legally) besting Ashford's mark 21 times.  Even if you allow Marion Jones' 10.65, which was at altitude, and Carmelita Jeter's 10.64- and you have to reason that Marion Jones was on some better stuff than they had in Flo-Jo's day and speculate that Jeter throwing up those numbers at age 30, destroying previous PBs, was on at least as good stuff as Jones- you've still gotten nowhere.

Regardless of your views, Flo-Jo's 10.49 was wind-aided and shouldn't have stood.  The 10.61 in the trials final and the 10.62 in the QF heats in Seoul are more "legit."  The record book has forgotten the wind-aided 10.54 she ran in the final in Seoul, much like the world has forgotten the Bulgarian broad who matched Flo-Jo in the first 30 metres and, just as she was finding the next gear that, at 70 meters, had her solidly second and on pace to run under 10.80, popped a hammy...all that training, all those roids and womp womp womp womp.

The announcer of the Olympic final says of Flo-Jo, this girl has taken this event 20 years in front of herself. Hell, at the time, I remember thinking it would take 50 years before someone touched the 10.49.  A little over halfway there, it looks like that may have been conservative.


So much for evolution.

The takeout

Y'all haven't heard from Bokolis in a minute, but know that I'm ready to fuck somebody up.

The fuss is all about Chase Utley's alleged "dirty" takeout play at second base, which has apparently broken Ruben Tejada's leg, in the seventh inning of Game 2 of one of the NLDS.  Bokolis finds it odd, as the last thing I was worried about was that Utley was dirty.

See, leaving aside that it is awful for Tejada that his leg is broken, Bokolis is bothered that every other commercial is for drugs or fantasy baseball gambling Utley was, after review, granted second base.  It didn't even register that Tejada came closer to touching the bag than Utley ever did and, that he ran off the field without bothering to find out whether he was out, despite that Tejada probably didn't nick the bag, didn't bother me much more.  This (neighborhood) play is explicitly excluded from replay review.  The argument about it being an inaccurate throw- no error was given- is nonsense; it was a shit throw, to be sure, as Daniel Murphy is a shit fielder, but did not pull Tejada off the bag.  Tejada missed the bag because he attempted a pirouette in the hopes of uncorking a relay to first.  Insofar as Tejada had designs on- don't ask me why- trying to turn two, the neighborhood play was in order.

Still, Bokolis, while McKayla-smirking- c'mon, admit it,  now that she's legal, y'all're just itching for a vid of her bobbing on some knob (after smirking at the size/state of it, of course) to surface- at the whole thing, wasn't disgusted at the overturn or the takeout.

In fact, Bokolis, going in, had expected the Mets to lose this game.  Sure, I was lamenting that Syndergaard wasted so many pitches because he doesn't quite understand that no one can deal with his fastball, if it is well placed.  But, I managed my expectations ahead of time and predicted this.

So, before Bokolis talks shit about how I'd've napalmed everyone, I'll tell you that I was most disgusted that the Mets lost that game the way inexperienced teams lose these types of games. They got the two runs, Greinke was throwing junk, not trusting his fastball, itching to give up 5 runs over five innings.  It didn't work out that way, as the Mets are far too dependent on the long ball and, while they are capable of that against anyone, they are not capable of stringing together 4 or 5 hits against the top pitchers.

In baseball, your problems start when you don't score- pragmatically, because the other team gets to hit, and psychologically, as there is less margin for error.  You will hear mongoloids regurgitate, good pitching stops good hitting as if they'd learned it in Sunday school, right after whateverthefuck it is they teach you to chant in Sunday school, as if you're supposed to not score.  Bokolis has told you before that's not true; great pitching stops good hitting.  Merely good pitching is effective against hitting that's not very good to begin with.

Much like after Wright's two-run single in game 1, the Mets seemed to shut down after getting the two home runs in game 2.  They must have booked Syndergaard matching deGrom's 7-Strong from the opener, and already had Harvey on the mound looking to clinch.  Not that it doesn't happen- the Dodgers approached the bottom 8th just that way- but it's not supposed to happen in baseball from the 3rd inning.  You do not park the bus in baseball; the game is set up so that you score until you can't and you have to take direct action to thwart they other team.

The play at second will obscure Terry Collins' shaky pitching decisions.  Even if that were a viable strategy, it was apparent the whole night that Syndergaard, no deGrom just yet, was tracking to a 6-inning outing.  Bokolis is a firm believer that, if you don't think your starter can get out of the inning, you don't send him out there.  As a guy who hadn't performed well on the road, there was no right to expect Syndergaard to get through the 7th inning.  What's more, the manager is not supposed to be so dazzled by 99-mph heater (really, 95) that he doesn't realize that his pitcher had been missing spots all night, and that his heater was saving him, not carrying him.  Needlessly bringing in Reed to pitch to Gonzalez backfired, as Reed badly missed with location on the fateful 0-2 pitch.

Tejada must have never learned to not turn his back on the streets or runners, and he learned a hard lesson.  Even though Utley trotted off the field, his expression indicating that he knew what he was doing and he got the pound of flesh, Bokolis shook it off because Utley is probs still sore from back when Jayson Werth was going in too hard on his wife, as a middle infielder, has license to give as good as he gets.  As to whether it was dirty, while I may be a little swayed by having just finished Bob Gibson's new book, it's the playoffs- nothing is dirty.  If this happens to you, it means you were played, caught underestimating the other guy's greed.  All the chicken hawks whinging for retribution on Utley should know that the time for retribution was two pitches before the go-ahead hit- experience would've taught you that.