"Deceptively Fast"

[FieldThrower]

Is there truth to this term? I think there is. I've watched alot of white guys outrun supposedly "faster" black guys on a football field and it seems that the deception is in the physical construction of white bodies compared to blacks, as well as the difference in muscle composition.

Just take a look at this run by Jesse Lumsden, for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXgi7Etyaes

Watch it once focusing on Lumsden's running, then one for the black "fast" DBs (which I'd say were 4.40-4.55 runners). Lumsden's style resembles a racehorse, bull, tiger or rhinoceros, while the black guys were like race dogs, gazelles or cheetahs. In other words, heavy boned, powerful and smooth; compared to light-framed and twitchy.

I think when people expect to see "fast", they don't expect it to come in a big load and be smooth or fluid. The look for the black twitchy running style. Whites are built differently, so will likely have different running styles than blacks. This is especially true when the size difference is significant.

 

[Riddlewire]

I've never seen this property apply along racial lines. From what I've seen, it has more to do with body ratios. A player with relatively longer legs, regardless of his height, will always look like he is running more slowly than he is. An upright running style will further amplify this perception.
Matt Jones is the best example of this. He never looked like he was moving all that quickly, but he was covering lots of yardage per stride. Every black defensive back that he left sucking vapor would always have a comment for the newspapers that was similar "He didn't look like he was moving that fast and then he just flew by", etc.
Randy Moss also exhibits this trait, though. With an abnormal leg:torso ratio, he looks like he's not running with much effort, but he's moving very fast.
The real effect is unrelated to race. But it's a term that has become a caste-favored code word for 'white'.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I think a pre-Caste System college example of this was Archie Manning at Ole Miss. He had long legs and ran very gracefully, not really looking like he was moving that fast, and not covering as much ground as he was. He ran through SEC defenses like few college QBs had done before. Matt Jones reminded a lot of Mississippi folks of Manning whenJones was at Arkansas.