The fastest shot competition during halftime of the MLL All-Star game Saturday evening draws to mind an important question: Does a sophomore from Detroit actually have the world’s biggest gun?
The competition among the world’s best resulted in a 114 MPH shot by Mike Sawyer (he first shot 113, then followed it up with 114). The youngster out of Detroit Catholic Central shot 110 earlier this summer, and 113 just over a week ago.
To the video evidence:
Obviously, Sawyer has since topped that mark, but if nothing else, Birney is close. The obvious question that arises is the calibration of the radar guns. We don’t – and can’t – know if the gun in Charlotte is exactly in line with the one in Plymouth, Mich. The only way to settle it is to have the two shoot on the same gun (or at least have Birney use a measuring device calibrated by a third party).
There’s another important question to think about, as well: Can Birney get faster? In the course of a couple months, he improved his top shot from 110 MPH to 113. He’s also a 20-year old kid who can likely grow and develop. Sawyer, on the other hand, played four years of college lacrosse and is now a professional athlete.
It stands to reason that there’s a bit more upside from Birney.
One thing is certain, regardless of whether Birney has held or will hold the world record for shot speed: he’s going to be a big piece of what should develop into a pretty good UDM offense next spring.