Musings On The X-Man [split]

[Paul Henry]

Donald Thomas for me is slowly inching towards the category in which I rank Xavier Cater: "Yeah extremely naturally talented but if you dont care that much about the sport you can just get lost or fall off a cliff for all I care and let us as fans and technicians not lose any sleep about you (or start posts). Until U do I will be more into following the 50k walk"

[eldrick]

Donald Thomas for me is slowly inching towards the category in which I rank Xavier Cater: "Yeah extremely naturally talented but if you dont care that much about the sport you can just get lost or fall off a cliff for all I care and let us as fans and technicians not lose any sleep about you (or start posts). Until U do I will be more into following the 50k walk"

eh ?

he's been on/off injured since 19.63

he had serious ankle surgery last year which has affected him - but some recovery occuring

there's nothing in his recent bio which indicates he isn't fully commited to sprints if healthy

[Paul Henry]

Donald Thomas for me is slowly inching towards the category in which I rank Xavier Cater: "Yeah extremely naturally talented but if you dont care that much about the sport you can just get lost or fall off a cliff for all I care and let us as fans and technicians not lose any sleep about you (or start posts). Until U do I will be more into following the 50k walk"

eh ?

he's been on/off injured since 19.63

he had serious ankle surgery last year which has affected him - but some recovery occuring

there's nothing in his recent bio which indicates he isn't fully commited to sprints if healthy

And there is nothing to say that he is (looking at his off field behaviour for 2008)

[guruof track]

[quote=Paul Henry][quote=eldrick][quote="Paul Henry":382f0y04]Donald Thomas for me is slowly inching towards the category in which I rank Xavier Cater: "Yeah extremely naturally talented but if you dont care that much about the sport you can just get lost or fall off a cliff for all I care and let us as fans and technicians not lose any sleep about you (or start posts). Until U do I will be more into following the 50k walk"[/quote]

eh ?

he's been on/off injured since 19.63

he had serious ankle surgery last year which has affected him - but some recovery occuring

there's nothing in his recent bio which indicates he isn't fully commited to sprints if healthy[/quote]

And there is nothing to say that he is (looking at his off field behaviour for 2008)[/quote:382f0y04]

[url="http://floridatoday.com/article/20090402/SPORTS/904020333"]http://floridatoday.com/article/2009040 ... /904020333[/url]

Read the article, it addresses what you feel are a concern. You seem overly criticial of a young man who hasnt had a healthy season since 2006. And you saw what he did then.

Last year was Bolt first season (since he was 17) that he wasnt coming off an injury and you see what he did. If X has 2 consecutive injury free seasons I think you may eat those words.

[jazzcyclist]

[quote=guruof track][quote="Paul Henry":l660nv0z][quote=eldrick][quote="Paul Henry":l660nv0z]Donald Thomas for me is slowly inching towards the category in which I rank Xavier Cater: "Yeah extremely naturally talented but if you dont care that much about the sport you can just get lost or fall off a cliff for all I care and let us as fans and technicians not lose any sleep about you (or start posts). Until U do I will be more into following the 50k walk"[/quote]

eh ?

he's been on/off injured since 19.63

he had serious ankle surgery last year which has affected him - but some recovery occuring

there's nothing in his recent bio which indicates he isn't fully commited to sprints if healthy[/quote]

And there is nothing to say that he is (looking at his off field behaviour for 2008)[/quote:l660nv0z]

[url="http://floridatoday.com/article/20090402/SPORTS/904020333"]http://floridatoday.com/article/2009040 ... /904020333[/url]

Read the article, it addresses what you feel are a concern. You seem overly criticial of a young man who hasnt had a healthy season since 2006. And you saw what he did then.

Last year was Bolt first season (since he was 17) that he wasnt coming off an injury and you see what he did. If X has 2 consecutive injury free seasons I think you may eat those words.[/quote:l660nv0z]
I'm as big an X-man fan as you are, but let's be honest, injuries haven't been his only problem since 2006.

[guruof track]

They have been his biggest problems as far as his improvement his concerned. But the article I posted addresses those off the field concerns as well.

Bolt and Gay are examples of people who when healthy (much like Carter) the sky is the limit.

Angelo Taylor has MUCH worse off the field problems than Carter, but he has been healthy and able to perform through it all. Thats the point I'm trying to make.

[Dietmar239]

Wow, talk about watering down a good high jump thread. Who are we talking about again?

[Paul Henry]

So Let me correct myself and shut up: Carter similar Bolt and Gay has had major injuries but ALSO SIMILAR TO THEM HAS MAINTAINED THE SAME LEVEL OF FOCUS AS THEY. HE HAS DEDICATED HIS ENTIRE EFFORTS INTO RECOVERY AND DODGED ALL DISTRACTIONS THAT COULD KEEP HIS HOPEFULL FANS CERTAIN THAT HE IS STILL INTERESTED IN THE SPORT.

I firmly believe in the truth you have relayed and I am a convert.

Yeah right!! Carter fans are like people in abusive relationships but keep denying it; and keep hopelessly remembering that day they had onthe beach which was so special with hopes of having that again.

[jazzcyclist]

They have been his biggest problems as far as his improvement his concerned. But the article I posted addresses those off the field concerns as well.

Bolt and Gay are examples of people who when healthy (much like Carter) the sky is the limit.

Angelo Taylor has MUCH worse off the field problems than Carter, but he has been healthy and able to perform through it all. Thats the point I'm trying to make.

Another thing I have to add is that X-man is somewhat delusional if he believes he should have been starting ahead of Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis in his sophmore year. Not only were they both seniors at the time, but the were also both first round NFL draft picks. At the major football schools, it's not uncommon to see future NFL first-rounders ride the bench for a couple of years. But if the guys in front of you are also future NFL first-rounders, you wait your turn. Mark Sanchez spent his first three years watching Matt Leinart and John Davdid Booty play quarterback for USC while he sat on the bench, but now he's about to be an NFL first round draft pick.

[guruof track]

So Let me correct myself and shut up: Carter similar Bolt and Gay has had major injuries but ALSO SIMILAR TO THEM HAS MAINTAINED THE SAME LEVEL OF FOCUS AS THEY. HE HAS DEDICATED HIS ENTIRE EFFORTS INTO RECOVERY AND DODGED ALL DISTRACTIONS THAT COULD KEEP HIS HOPEFULL FANS CERTAIN THAT HE IS STILL INTERESTED IN THE SPORT.

I firmly believe in the truth you have relayed and I am a convert.

Yeah right!! Carter fans are like people in abusive relationships but keep denying it; and keep hopelessly remembering that day they had onthe beach which was so special with hopes of having that again.

I will ask you this and I'm done with it. Do you think his off the field problems are a BIGGER contributing factor to his lack of improvement (although he has PRed every year in some event with the exception of 2007) than his injuries?

I think part of his problem is he hasnt focused on a single event and the pipe dream of being a 100 meter runner has plagued him.

I'll wait for your reply, but with that post I'm done hi-jacking this thread.

[jazzcyclist]

One major difference between X-man and Thomas is that X-man is a two-sport athlete who genuinely loves track as much as he loves football. He didn't just turn to track because he couldn't cut it in football. He turned to track because NIKE made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Thomas, on the other hand, cares very little about track relative to basketball, and only turned to track because he couldn't cut it in basketball. If Thomas had succeeded in basketball, track would have never been in the picture for him. However, I believe that even if X-man had been drafted in the first round in April of 2008, he would have told the team that he wasn't reporting to camp until after the Olympics trials if he didn't make the team and after the Olympics if he did.

[Texas]

I see Carter has one of those who will never accomplish what he could have because of a lack of discipline. He does appear a bit a..hmm...thuggish...which doesn't help.

[Marlow]

I see Carter has one of those who will never accomplish what he could have because of a lack of discipline. He does appear a bit a..hmm...thuggish...which doesn't help.

Character assassination am fun!

[gh]

people who get themselves arrested--no matter how trivial the incidents--twice in short order in two different states have perhaps made some iffy choices.

[guruof track]

This is beating a dead horse. The politicks of pile on from what I gather.

If off field decisions were anywhere near the magnitude of injuries then someone please explain how a healthy Angelo Taylor (with all his problems) has won 3 MAJOR gold medals and a bronze medal over the past 2 seasons??? (ANd this is not a slight to Taylor, just applying the same logic)

X-Man is is nothing more than a grown kid, who is still learning to be an adult. If we are going to make character assumptions based soley on 2 incidents and not the plurality of some 23 years of living on the earth then so be it. But I'm sure all of us have made mistakes we just don't have the spot light on us.


Had X-Man been healthy in 2007 and 2008 we wouldnt even be having this discussion.