Are times still taken “officially” by hand only? If so, why? It makes no sense that the simplest of technology these days can electronically pin point his time down the exact thousandth of a second. Hell, even with that video, run at real time someone could see what he “really ran.”

Well, according to Wiki:

In terms of judging a person’s speed, the best method of timing is through lasers which start and stop the times when passed through. A laser start (from a stationary position) is more accurate for measuring pure speed as it does not register a runner’s reaction time. However, the method of timing a 40-yard dash can affect the accuracy by as much 0.5 seconds (with the manual stopwatch method). The National Football League (NFL) did not begin using partial electronic timing (started by hand, stopped electronically) at the NFL Scouting Combine until 1990.

Clearly a mistake was made, yet his time is still listed “officially” as 4.43 currently.

[UPDATE]

Source now claims that Mays ran 4.19 at USC. That seems a lot harder to believe than 4.24 or 4.34, but one thing seems certain: He didn’t run a 4.43

Dorin Dickerson who ran a 4.4, is a good step behind Mays (4.43) at the finish line.

I still don’t want to draft Mays, but I think he was much closer to 4.2 than 4.4

His agent should be raising hell.