Darrius Heyward-Bey's 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine has been reported over and over in the sports media (including in The Baltimore Sun) as the fastest of all prospects this year, 4.3 seconds.

Very impressive. Except that the time -- like those assigned to just about all football players -- is probably best described by a word that used to be referred to as "a barnyard epithet." In other words, wrong.

No one is arguing Heyward-Bey isn't fast, but is he faster than the 'roided-up Ben Johnson was at the 1988 Olympics? Track experts figured out that when Johnson made his gold-medal-for-the-moment run, he covered 40 yards in 4.38. This piece about 40 times is four years old but well done and worth reading for NFL fans fed these inaccurate times by the league and the media.

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On a gorgeous afternoon in the New America, the Sun pickup basketball game resumed. For the record, six appeared: Pesky Andy, Stevie G., B-Hop, Mr. Jones, Dead Man Walking and (making his debut) The Donald. It wasn't too bad for our first outing, until the dreaded injury happened. Pesky Andy was tripped up by Mr. Jones and went sprawling on the blacktop, his hand landing under his body and his face smacking the ground. Early diagnosis: sprained hand and scraped, bloody patches on his face.

Photo: Getty Images