Two of the fastest players in the National Football League have raced a cheetah on the National Geographic Wild‘s Big Cat Week, which will air in November. Chris Johnson, who has run the 40 yard dash in 4.24 seconds, is a running back for the Tennessee Titans, and is one of the racers. The other one is Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears. Hester is a wide receiver, but better known for his punt/kickoff returning prowess.
No specifics have been released about how long the race is, or if the cheetah is put at some type of disadvantage. This can’t possibly be an even race, over the same distance for each racer. A cheetah, which is the fastest animal on earth, can attain speeds of up to 75 miles per hour. No human being has ever run half of that speed, for even a short period.
I’m sure this is just a publicity stunt for ratings on the Nat Geo Wild channel, but it is interesting. Former wide receiver Chad Johnson beat a horse in a race in 2007, but he had a huge head start, and the horse didn’t seem very fast. Johnson actually won the race easily. However, racing a cheetah is a much different story. There has to be some type of head start, or other handicap to the cheetah, to even make the race close. My father Bill Thomas built his own race car back in 1964 (which is shown below) and he named it the Cheetah, naming it after the fastest animal.
Anyway, I will be interested in the races between Chris Johnson, Devin Hester and the cheetah. If the race is even close to being a straight-up race of sheer speed, then I’ll take the cheetah. The longer the race, the bigger distance the cheetah will win by. I hope it’s at least interesting to watch.
If you would like to have future commentaries sent to you, click on the link below, to take you to my website, then just enter your email address:
Sports With Frank Thomas
