Bolt and a busy week

Note: There will be lots going on this week. Both Brad Lidge and Stephen Stasburg pitch in Reading tonight, the Flyers likely will go to Washington to open the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Thursday or Friday, and the Mets come to town. Nevertheless, we're still hearing from folks about the performance by Usain Bolt at Franklin Field on Saturday.

To be sure, there were a lot of great performances at the Penn Relays last weekend, and take away Bolt and the field was still ridiculously star-studded. But these days Bolt is one of the biggest names in all of sports so that's what we're all going crazy about.

So since ESPN is offering two encores of Saturday's card at the Penn Relays, we'll repost the Bolt feature from CSNPhilly.com.

Get ready for some more baseball and hockey beginning tonight.

World's Fastest Man Puts on a Show at Franklin Field

There aren’t too many titles that cause a crowd or force folks to react. The President of the United States is one. So too is the heavyweight champion of the world. Generally, those are two jobs that make people change their schedules or travel long distances just to catch a glimpse, and even then it’s just to catch a peek amongst thousands of other folks.

These days though, those titles don’t seem to be as respected as they were in the past. The President could be one of the most polarizing figures around, while it’s difficult to figure out who exactly the heavyweight champion of the world is. In fact, ex-champs like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson pack ‘em in, though more out of curiosity than anything else.

And that is no knock on Ali by comparing him to Tyson.

But mention the “fastest man on earth” and get ready to fill a stadium and/or cause a small riot. Certainly that was the scene at Franklin Field on Saturday afternoon when Usain Bolt showed up to race in the USA vs. The World competition at the Penn Relays.

Bolt, of course, is the 23-year-old Jamaican who destroyed the world records in the 100- and 200-meters at the Olympics in 2008 and the World Championships in 2009 in a manner that transcended mere athletics. In fact, Bolt’s electrifying efforts at those competitions motivated a even a few of the most jaded and experienced sports writers to describe the events as the most exciting and exhilarating they had ever seen.

Moreover, crusty old veteran track coaches have gone so far as to compare Bolt’s talent along the lines of those possessed by Einstein, Beethoven and Newton. Certainly those aren’t the usual names one hears an elite-level athlete compared to.

Chalk part of it up to the cult of personality. Sure, his talent is so far beyond his contemporaries that an “easy” effort against competition that featured the owners of 14 Olympic medals. For a non-Olympic and World Championships year, the 4x100-meter competition at the Penn Relays just might have been the best in the world this year.

Still, the largest crowd in the 116-year history of the event all came to see one guy, and he competed for just 8.79 seconds in his anchor leg effort. Actually, Bolt’s personality is so large in the sport that Olympic gold medalists and champions of the sport lingered around the track just to catch a glimpse.

“I was leadoff leg and I could actually hear, right next to me, the crowd screaming. I’ve been coming here for about 12 years now, and this was the loudest one. It was great,” said two-time world champion, Lisa Barber, who helped Team USA win the women’s 4x100-meters. “When Bolt was warming up, I couldn't hear my music anymore through my headphones. It's great that Usain is getting this much press. He’s getting so much recognition worldwide.”

It’s worth asking who the most famous athlete on the planet is these days. Certainly Tiger Woods is pretty well known, though that has very little to do with his sport. Bolt was asked about Michael Jordan, but his Airness has been retired for nearly a decade and his successors, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, aren’t the best players in their sport on any given night.

So in terms of pure domination of a sport on a consistent basis, Bolt is the greatest on the planet. And just like all of the races he has been in since 2008, it isn’t even close.

“Over the past two years I’ve been surprised by the amount of people that know me and the welcome I get when I go to track meets or functions,” Bolt said. “For me I’m still trying to get used to it and I’m enjoying it.”

As for the runners he’s beating, it isn’t so much fun. Before 2008, the 4x100 USA team that competed at the Penn Relays on Saturday would be the best in the world and the group that competed last year set the meet record. The loquacious and personable Shawn Crawford, the Olympic champion in the 200-meters in 2004, but finished a distant second to Bolt in 2008, appears to be frustrated by Bolt’s talents. Though he’s creeping up on the end of his career, Crawford knows the window for knocking off the fastest man on earth is closing quickly.

That is if it’s even open at all.

Team USA with medalist Walter Dix and anchorman Ivory Williams, Mike Rodgers and Crawford, actually had a nice lead over Jamaica heading into the final leg.

Then Bolt got the baton.

“I just hate to lose,” Crawford said, muttering a few unprintable words under his breath.

“[Racing against Bolt] excites and it motivates. The more excitement they bring to track and field, we all get the attention because we’re on the same playing field. But it motivates me because you want to be that guy winning. I want to get up there and showboat a little bit and be in the spotlight so I can talk a little mess.

“Well, I already talk mess.”

Talk is cheap, of course. Bolt doesn’t appear to say much on the track aside from flashing his trademarked “Lightning Bolt” pose, which probably is the coolest bit of posturing in all of sports.

Actually, just seeing Bolt run might be the coolest and surreal effort in sports. Standing yards away from the finishing line on Saturday, Bolt moves past as if he were a runaway motorcycle and the breeze from his nearly 30-mph wake was enough to cool the crowd on a sun-soaked afternoon.

“I told the guys to make sure I didn't have to work, because I really didn't want to do much,” Bolt said. “I got the baton, so I wasn’t really worried about anything else.”

Worried? What could the fastest man in the history of the earth ever have to worry about?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjNxCdlDrv8&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Bolt just another legend at Franklin Field

Based solely on the number and the variety of eliteathletes that have competed at Franklin Field, the relic and classic, brick stadium is by far the most-storied and historical spot in the city.

Oh sure, there was a lot of pretty important events that occurred over at Market and Fifth, like that birth of a nation business, and the framing of the American ideal and grand experiment. Between Independence Hall, the First (and Second) Bank of the United States, and any number of spots where taverns once rested in Olde City, there’s a square mile on the east end of town that is debatably the most historical piece of land in the world.

Yes, once upon a time things went down in Philadelphia.

But if we’re just talking about sports and/or athletic competition, nothing beats Franklin Field. Take away the fact that the Eagles won their last championship at the old stadium 50 years ago, the sheer number of Olympic champions that have taken a spin on the oval in the place is staggering.

Put it this way… there are world-record holders and Olympic champions who have competed at Franklin Field in the Penn Relays and are not members have the event’s Wall of Fame. Michael Johnson isn’t in it, nor is Jesse Owens, one of the most important African-American athletes of the 20^th Century (top two at least). Both runners raced at Franklin Field yet are not memorialized on the far wall on the east end of the stadium. They don’t mess around in this stadium.

Still… Jesse Owens.

Of course Usain Bolt isn’t in the Wall of Fame, either, but that’s for a good reason. Bolt, still just 23-years old, will make his professional debut at Franklin Field on Saturday. As a school boy in Jamaica, Bolt made the trip to Philadelphia to race at Penn several times, but that was before he was the fastest man in the history of the planet.

Bolt seems poised to add to his legend when the world-record holder in the 100- and 200-meters steps up to the 400, which was Michael Johnson’s signature event. But that isn’t going to happen any time soon. The training is too difficult for the 400, Bolt said. While we’re at it, don’t expect any world records at Franklin Field, either, since Bolt says he wants to spend the 2010 track season “taking it easy.”

“I want to try to get through the season injury-free and be unbeaten,” Bolt said. “If I need to run fast to win, I will do that. But if not, I will just take it as easy as possible.”

Those aren’t exactly the most inspiring words, but like anything “easy” for Bolt is a relative term. At top speed Bolt gets over 30-mph, and because of that he usually commands six-figures in appearance fees just to show up at a track event. However, for the USA vs. The World competition on Saturday, Bolt waived his fee to race at Franklin Field.

Oh yes, Bolt came to Philly for free.

“I told my coach, we decided we really needed to come to the Penn Relays this year,” Bolt said. “So we decided that it's OK. I like to run the relays with my team. For me, it was just enjoyable, a very fun moment when my coach told me we're going to the Penn Relays. I was happy to come here.”

No, certainly that’s not something we hear every day around here, then again, Bolt may need a few more appearances at Franklin Field to get his name etched on the wall at the top of the curve. Yeah, Bolt is the fastest man in the history of the planet, but that’s nothing new for the folks here.