Professional athletes may be the fittest of the fit, but even they struggle to keep up sometimes.
Consider the conditioning test, the annual fitness check-up that all players have to pass before they’re allowed to begin training. Players have to sprint to the 25-yard line and back (150 yards) six times in a row, and they’re expected to clock in below a certain time. The times vary based on position — so, defensive ends aren’t expected to keep pace with running backs, for example.
Yesterday, wide receive Mike Wallace was not up to the test. The team announced that he’d failed the conditioning test — but just barely, beating the target time in 5 of his 6 sprints. He’s got another shot later this week; if he fails a second time, he faces missed practices, fines, and people making jokes about him.
But he probably shouldn’t worry too much; it seems that every year, some player can’t quite make the cut. Even Jacoby Jones, he of the Super Bowl kickoff return, failed the test once.
