Maurice Greene might be "only" the third-fastest man in the world, but he deserves a gold medal for the year's most creative celebration. After blazing to a 9.86-second time at the Golden Spike meet on May 24, the Kansas City native yanked off his shoes as if in pain. A friend then doused the footwear with a fire extinguisher, alleviating concerns about a possible injury. Inexplicably, this antic failed to lead to a lucrative endorsement deal with one of those athlete's-foot sprays that constantly depict flaming feet, but it did achieve the almost-impossible by drawing national attention to a non-Olympic track-and-field event.
