Put me in (the Bodpod) coach

I just ran a 6.8 40-yard dash. That’s a little less than Michael Vick, I know.

I may have leaned a bit at the starting line, and the cones could have been a little closer than 40 yards apart. But 6.8 is my unofficial time, and I’m sticking with it.

Boy, am I winded?

I have to sit down before I try the broad jump. I haven't jumped broadly since seventh grade, but I'm ready to make my leaps today. Then, I'm hitting the Bodpod.

I'm doing this to myself because I'm all pumped and excited from watching the NFL Scouting Combine. The participants are amazing athletes, and it’s exhilarating to watch them go through the various drills.

Plus, how can you not watch when Cleveland Browns head trainer Marty Lauzon yells at the soon-to-be NFLers while they're holding 225 pounds above their pusses? Lauzon spouts off humorous nicknames at the players as they approach the bench press. And, if a player does well, the high-stung Lauzon often gives players pecks on the cheek as they use what little strength they have left to pick themselves off the bench. Now that's must-see TV.

The NFL Network is doing an amazing job of keeping football fans interested in the off-season by broadcasting the Combine live from Indianapolis and turning the thing into a watchable event.

Almost everything at the Combine is televised. It doesn’t hurt interest either that a bit of controversy has sprung at the scouting event in the form of Vince Young's leaked Wonderlic score.

It's amazing that we're in the last days of February, fresh off the Winter Olympics and ready to delve into baseball and March Madness, and the story all the sports media are talking about is a football player's intelligence test score. I guess that provides further evidence that football is indeed America's new national pastime.

But let's save that talk for another day. Right now, I need to find a Bodpod. I hear they're a couple here in Southwest Virginia. Virginia Tech uses the Bodpod in its athletics programs, and Radford University has one in its College of Education and Human Development. (Refresh the page until the Bodpod photo appears.)

I think I'll call around for an afternoon appointment. Wouldn't it be great if you could get a tan in those things, too?

No football since the 40s? King will have to ditch the leather helmets

King College athletics director Dale Burns told the Bristol Herald Courier Tuesday that the Bristol, Tenn., school is considering bringing back football. Burns did not give a timeline for a possible start of a football program, but did tell the newspaper that pigskin talk is "on the table." Pigskin on the table? Sounds yummy! King, which has not fielded a football team since 1941, is in the initial stages of moving it athletics program from NAIA to NCAA Division II. The Tornado most likely will play in the South Atlantic Conference when the shift is complete, thus pulling out of the Appalachian Athletic Conference. Those of you who follow Southwest Virginia sports may remember UVa-Wise went through a similar process about five years ago, but wisely – pun intended – chose to remain with the NAIA. UVa-Wise's planned move was initiated mostly by college administrators, not the athletics department. Part of the reason for the planned NAIA exodus was to allow the football team to play a more competitive schedule. Shortly after the decision was made to stay in the NAIA, the Highland Cavaliers football program, which had been playing as an independent since its birth in 1991, found a home in the perennially tough Mid-South Conference. The college's other sports remained in the AAC. A move for the Cavaliers to the NCAA would have created more travel – they're not many NCAA DII schools close to Wise – and thus less class time for student athletes. King, however, is in a better geographical spot and would have close-by competition in Carson-Newman and Tusculum. Those two teams, with the addition of SAC member Mars Hill in North Carolina, could provide interesting conference rivals for King. The non-conference schedule could include UVa-Wise and Emory & Henry College.