Back Porch Random Acts Of Sport

Usain Bolt is, without question, the fastest man in the world. He owns the record for the 150-meter dash, the 100-meter (where his record is a ridiculous sub-10 seconds), the 200-meter, and, as MDS mentioned, he may as well go ahead and try to add the 400-meters and the long jump trophies to a case that includes 2008 Athlete of the Year.

In the meantime though, he's busy with a new, ahem, pet project: he just adopted a cheetah, which, as you may know, is the world's fastest animal. Seriously.

A football player who became momentarily confused on a punt return tackled his own teammate during a semi-pro game last week.

Manjit Singh is probably a little nuts, but you've got to give him credit for his toughness: Would you pull a double-decker bus by attaching two cables to the bus and clamping the cables to your ears? Neither would I.

Wynne Arboleda, a player in the Philippine Basketball Association, has expressed regret after punching and kicking a fan sitting at courtside during a game this weekend -- but he also says it's time for the league to crack down on fans who hurl insults at players.

Energy bars have long been the food of choice for athletes, muscleheads and fitness freaks, but now they're the meal of necessity for inmates at some Massachusetts jails.

I've never been an X Games fan, but skateboarding strikes me as a rather harmless activity for our nation's youth. Apparently the good people of San Francisco disagree, because they've made skateboarding illegal -- and a San Francisco police officer is shown in the above video profanely explaining that to a young skateboarder.

We've already established this week that the football fans in Canada are more determined in their efforts to grab attention than their counterparts in the States. On Thursday, we learned that the players are a notch or two above their American counterparts on the crazy meter, as well. Take, for example, the case of Edmonton Eskimos defensive tackle Xzavie Jackson who was involved in a skirmish on the practice field with teammate Aaron Fiacconi.

Now, fights on the practice field and feuds in the locker room are nothing new in sports, especially on the gridiron. Stuff happens. Tempers flare. Emotions get the best of people.

A group of college students who film themselves making trick shots and collectively go by the name Dude Perfect have posted video of what they say is the longest basketball shot ever made, off the third deck of Kyle Field at Texas A&M. One angle is above; the other angle is below.

As a child, Sultan Kosen was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor that caused his body to grow uncontrollably, leaving him with difficulty walking, not to mention fitting in. But Kosen, who now stands 8-foot-1, says he's thrilled to get some positive recognition for his height: The Guinness Book of Records has now proclaimed him the world's tallest person.

Tamir Goodman is retiring. This might not mean much to you because Goodman is better known as "The Jewish Jordan". (This always struck me as weird, although I've since taken to calling Michael Jordan "The Gentile Goodman".)