Bo Jackson reveals which stories of his legendary athleticism were lies (2016) | ESPN Archive

you know look we can only speak for each other right but I remember being a kid and you know you're the guy you're the guy we all went out got the poster we all went out got your sneakers and we'd all just talk about you all the time and then when you decide okay I'm gonna go ahead and play baseball the point that I'm making is that every one of us liked you and there was there was nothing negative about it it's like oh if he wants to go play baseball and oh no wait he's gonna play football now too like this is so exciting I don't know that it would have gone that well if you were a college kid deciding to do that now do you ever think of how different it would have been if you made that kind of decision today well I could speak for myself if I were 21 22 years old I think I can compete on that level but 99.99% of the kids can't and I'm not and the reason that I'm saying that is because the gene pool the the talent pool is so deep and you it would be hard to cut the mustard in both sports now especially on the professional level oh you are you are trying to cut the mustard at both sports you're ending up being second string in both sports but I think well Ryan's getting out too and I tend to agree with that I hate it where we are today as you see so much specialization like UCP you know parents coaches are saying you have to play this sport you have to play one sport I believe in letting a kid be a kid don't don't pigeonhole a kid to do what you love as a parent let's let that kid and go out and experience sports from every angle from every aspect that there is because what you as a parent may like and love it may not be his or her passion let him go out and choose the sport that he wants to play and and as far as it's getting ridiculous how you watch our parents are living vicariously through their kids and so forth it's all do you think my kid has a chance of making it to the big leagues your kid seven years old let him play let him come let him catch butterflies in the outfield when he supposed you let him be a kid and put it's ridiculous bow watching the 3430 on you was awesome have there ever been lies about the legend of your athleticism that you've heard that you know wasn't true but you're ok with it oh there's only one yes well it wasn't a lie that stretched the truth a little bit when they said this was with the piaac killing incident where they said I jumped off I jumped over a 40-foot ditch it was it was about see I jumped from 35 that's the thing with you we don't know it was over 20 feet but I jumped from an incline so I jumped from up here to the bank down here ok and I had about a 40-yard head start to so I had I had a little hot sauce on me when I went off when I jumped because somebody shot my hay and pow they shot in the air and everybody thought well they're shooting at us so we scatter it like deer gone and I jumped the fence ran and jumped over over the ditch well the day before it had rained hard there and when I landed on the other side because in Alabama it's just red clay and it was a bank it was up and it was an incline and when I landed I sunk down to my calves so I pulled one foot out with the shoe on and the other shoe stayed stuck in the mud so that it had to be in it I could have I could have cleared 20 25 feet there so so so no it wasn't 40 feet it wasn't 40 feet good straighten that out straight you you like being a mentor you like playing that role to younger athletes yes did you ever reach out scam Newton Oh cam is like my third son what was your advice to them through this year both the good and the bad um go out and let your game speak for itself period I talked to cam I try to talk to him on a regular basis about once every month or or so and and the things that I tell him are the same things that I would tell my 27 my 29 year old sons I talked to him like a dad I don't sugarcoat anything and some of the things that I say to him I say to my kids and I can't repeat on air so so so I am a fan but I am more so a father figure to him because I know with him being in the position that he's in and we have all been in that position to where we have a bunch of yes people just surround us and they aren't willing to tell you what you need to hear and I'm gonna always tell you what you need to hear not what you want to hear so I do want to go back to that that day when you decided at least make the announcement that you're gonna play baseball how how different could it have gone had you just didn't want to play in the NFL for Tampa right I didn't want to play for Tampa now so if it was anybody else what would have happened if it would have been the 49ers more than likely I probably would have still tried out for baseball somewhere if they had allowed me but but I I told Templin don't draft me they screwed me so I decided that I'm gonna put the screws to you and what they did can you revisit I know a story but I don't know that every listener being the first-round draft pick they let you go visit the city and the team that is that is scheduled to to have the first pick and you know that they're going to drop to you well the owners got in touch with me and my people into that well the owner is gonna send this Jenna to pick you up and and the first thing that we said was that is it okay with the NCAA have everybody checked with the NCAA to see if it was okay because I don't want to screw anything up and they came back to us a couple they say yes we checked and everybody said that it was okay because you want to stay eligible because there's no longer stay eligible for our baseball yes and I took the trip went down and sat down and had a fun time I don't know with Hugh greens and all those guys and I had a nice time and and and a couple of days later I get back and we got a baseball game and I'm getting dressed and I had fully dressed I'm walking across the parking lot to go to baseball field I walk into the stadium and my head coach walks to the side of it he said Bo can I speak to you for a minute and he asked me he said did you take a trip into Tampa the other day on a private jet I said yeah the owner sent a set up to get me I said they checked with the NCAA to make sure that it was okay and he said Bo the NCAA called and said that they never did and they have declared you ineligible for the rest of Europe for the rest of your senior season and at the time I was batting oh I was betting five six hundred with about a dozen and we were only about three weeks into the season I had a dozen or so home runs just tearing the season up and and and the more I thought about it the more I understood that the reason they did that because they knew the season that I was having and as well if we can get him out of baseball that he don't play football so and and I am the type of person use I am the type of person you step on my foot I'm gonna stomp on yours to let you know don't step on my foot again period so one turn of the screw deserves another so I screwed it right back to him and I told him no sometimes if you draft me you're gonna waste the draft pick I said I swear to god you're gonna waste prep it and they drafted me anyway and the proofs in the pudding they lost the draft pick and I end up playing with a team that I was probably meant to play for just just period um when it's in the cards for you it's in the cards for you and it was not in the cards for me to go to Tampa Bay period we've been talking a lot about Steph Curry in his greatness in basketball and we've also been talking about how players from past eras are kind of having a hard time acknowledging how he is when you look at yourself the way you played who do you think compares to you in today's game does anybody come close to it Steph Curry's close now I'm gonna give the man his props I don't watch basketball I don't watch football and I don't watch baseball but every time you turn the news on and they're talking about basketball Steph courage dropping three-pointers from the rafters from from the stands and that's what he do that's what he do and-and-and the country the world has taken notice of this kid and an his three-point scooting shooting skills he's he is phenomenal I would comparing two I would compare him to if they were gonna do a video game of Steph Curry I talked about this earlier it would be the it would be the Tecmo Bowl a basketball would it be Steph Curry you give him the ball on the other end of the court with a half a second left and he throw it up he didn't make it but three that's just him he is a nice kid I like the way he carries himself and you but you just have to give the kid his props I personally think that he'll rewrite the three-point history book he will do that he will do that so I have to get my props out to him so you're referencing his dominance in relation to that sweep toss with you and tecmo bowl on the floor plays it but yeah our choice fourth down in 36 option it to me God that is College Football Hall of Famer bo Jackson and quite possibly the greatest athlete the 20th century thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for more sports highlights and analysis be sure to download the ESPN app and for live streaming sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus

Channel: ESPN Throwback

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Id: 8Brn62nUlHM

Length: 10min 46sec (646 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 30 2019