This is a silly post, but given that track and field athletes rarely crack the national spotlight, it feels like I should chime in.

Noah Lyles is the ‘world’s fastest man‘, which is the title given to the most recent winner of the 100m dash in the Olympics. He’s somewhat polarizing in track and field, in that most fans either decidedly like him or dislike him. He’s self declared that he’s ‘corny’, which he undoubtedly is. But he, unlike a lot of other track and field athletes, actually wants to be a global sports figure. He’s trying to ‘change’ track and field to make it more popular, and he’s using himself as the star of the show, kind of how Usain Bolt was. As a track and field fan, though I do find Lyles incredibly corny, I respect what he’s trying to do.

I don’t even know how the ‘feud’ started, but at some point, Tyreek Hill sort of casually said “I would beat Noah Lyles in a sprint“. Lyles saw this as a launch point; the perfect media fuel to make him a star by latching onto the entertaining prospect of “wait, who would actually win in like a 40y dash on a football field?” It’s the perfect sports bar conversation.

I wasn’t going to post about this, UNTIL I SAW THE ODDS.

This, to me, was mind boggling.

Noah Lyles does one thing better than anyone in the world, run in a short straight line REALLY fast. If the race is an obstacle course where you have to catch a ball, hurdle a person, hit a kid, then do a backflip across the finish line, I would consider Tyreek. But even a ~40 yard dash on a football field, if the race actually happens, I may genuinely wager tens of thousands of dollars on Lyles at -130. I don’t know if there will be a better bet in my lifetime.

This has McGregor vs. Mayweather vibes, as it’s more about the spectacle, but McGregor was +400 in that fight. You bet on him expecting him to lose. At -110, there is zero value on Tyreek. In my opinion, the line should be Lyles -1000, as you can’t rule out a slip at the start or a pulled hammy. But if it’s a ‘normal’ race, there’s less than 1% Tyreek would actually win.

If the race happens later this year, I’ll be sure to pull up this post. In the meantime, you’ll probably see a lot more stupid theatrics where Lyles wants to make it a big deal to stay relevant and Tyreek probably won’t care that much.