Deion Sanders - SportsCentury (ESPN)

and Dion the human video the only player to travel with his own spotlight a star of the first magnitude at Florida State twice an all-american Sanders went primetime in Atlanta selling himself as a man for two seasons and renaming the Georgia Dome the house that Dion bill since then he has rarely strayed from the headlines displaying a love of two sports exceeded by a towering love or himself Deion Sanders came along at the perfect time in history for both he and for his sports he was for a time the greatest force in the NFL he's a superstar we'll get me wrong and like most superstars he's very opinionated I got one thing to say this is my house it's like psychedelic you know that's the the images that you conjure up a lot of color a lot of panache a lot of shine and glare gold glitz and glitter Deion Sanders almost brings the attention that a rock star would bring into sports is it it's almost as if Elvis have become a football player Nathan you're primetime it means you want a hot seat baby you got to produce you got center stage to do what you do best of course that's the Dion's flamboyance made the offices you want to beat him too badly and maybe get out of what they were trying to do a little bit but scored him one more time oh boy there's the interception for a touchdown I will kick it to him what difference does it make why does he run through 11 guy yeah he just did did he oops 80 yard punt return he is addicted to adrenaline he's addicted to the glamour to all the charisma that he created [Music] and he knows that in order to get that addiction satisfied he's gotta do something great I never wanted to be needy ocher at anything I wanted to be the absolute best if you talking about Deion Sanders the neat thing about him is to be able to reach the level that he has in to sports and baseball and in football is very unique the 3-2 pitch relva centerfield bo Jackson going over leads and Deion Sanders blazing around second tamper goes over to get the ball plays it in there wave anymo the crab the plate gets on by Sanders flies over and [Music] the bodies at the plate from the time he first came up with the Yankees and then the Braves - when he even played for the Giants he was a lot better baseball player he improved here's a guy that played on natural ability and you look at the statistics he put up and they were remarkable while earning all-pro honors in football for eight years Sanders was able to moonlight for nearly a decade in the majors but talent doesn't explain all of Dion everybody knows Dion's very very gifted athletically not too many people know that he's very gifted upstairs as well as far as being able to think on the run or on the fly or in situations or making quick decisions here and there they're people who can pull off the great athletic accomplishments but to pull it off in a showbusiness way where he tells you he's gonna do it the very few that can do that he created such an advantage for himself because he talked to talk and walked it when you're around a guy like that can be a little intimidating his personality is so overbearing that he's an athlete I think who has suffered from the familiarity that American people have hey do you think you're busy two words Deion Sanders going touchdown he's hitting football he's getting his hair done he's wearing 7,000 pounds worth of clothing he's saying what his body he's out of control with all the flash and all the jury and all of the colorful language and what-have-you I think this was a guy that was playing a role to certain extent and then he started believing that role yes me this Deon kid isn't showing up just having fun [Music] there's no mistake about a prime-time of Dion are totally separate but yes primetime does cause Dion some hearty he started handling itself just promoting itself you know and that became hard to swallow so a lot of people but it also put pressure on him so people stopped when things and they didn't care about Dion the person even though he created this monster as primetime sword ever higher into the stratosphere it seemed he couldn't get enough of the benefits accorded to his fame let's face it when you're one of the greatest players in football one of the most recognizable players in all of sports and you have all the money it's not difficult to understand why there was a breakdown in his marriage Dion did open up a dance club and did wear gold jewelry and did drive fast cars and by his own admission did commit adultery on numerous occasions Diaw was going through his divorce and he wasn't himself he was in primetime his mind wasn't on the game and he wasn't a happy person all the money and all the power and everything he has life he wasn't a happy person I couldn't purchase it I couldn't seduce it four or five thousand dollars beds and I wouldn't get no sleep two thousand dollar suits and I couldn't cover it up ten cars in the driveway and I wasn't going nowhere Deon's ride on the wild side ended against Carolina in January of 1997 with Michael Irvin already knocked out of the game the Cowboys hopes died altogether when Sanders fell to earth it wasn't even a hard fall I mean but the way I feel I just felt on the corner of my face and I remember getting up saying like man help me to show me my sign language satellite him on Deion winds up going off he's woozy carried off sort of in a body bag I couldn't see nothing and then I started feeling real bad they taking me in and next time no bear cut my uniform off there wasn't anything anybody like better than to see Deion Sanders hurt or humiliated it got worse after the Panther game Sanders returned to Cincinnati to find that his wife Carolyn had left with their two children seven weeks later his stepfather died and just days after that he received divorce papers his life in shambles Deion searched for a way out when Dionne was in Cincinnati had a lot of things going on and a lot of things taking him away from the game of baseball I wanted to see my baby so bad man you know my kids Alberto was like my life support system they were the only thing keeping me alive I remember riding home with Deon you know and just talking you know they start with baseball but it wouldn't handle with baseball you know those were conversations that stayed between he and I but you know I do know that it was a tough time for him he wasn't really in control of his happiness at that time and someone else had control over that and he couldn't fix it yeah I want to see my kids okay well that's called kill Johnson come easy kid and he said what I call he say she's gonna bring them she's nobody show up he was kind of disappointing even hot you know he was hurt well his kids are his pride and joy and he just business his world around football his kids just family and with his ex-wife using him as a tool it kind of hurt him somebody called and said you know Deon he's got some things going on you know can you talk to him I had already rode that night to scope out the place where I would commit suicide and it got to the point where I said I'm gonna do this I got a call from Eugene I said we found you Isana okay where is it I'm on the way we found he was off on the cliff off interstate in his autobiography Sanders puts the suicide attempt during the spring of 1997 while he was with the Reds he describes driving his car off a cliff crashing some forty feet below and walking away unscathed one of the great mysteries of Deion Sanders is whether or not the suicide attempt that he says that he was involved in was to the extent that he said it was gets hard for people to imagine that a guy who loved himself as much as Deion loves himself whatever tried to do away with himself denied needs to be loved and I know at that time he felt you know he wasn't loved he was having normal people's problems but nobody was never anybody there to act hey dear are you alright how do you feel the day there's so much there and not to say that he's making things up but you just can't really tell how much of it is truth and how much of it is fiction when he had a book to sell Dionne was only too willing to come forward and let everybody know about the trauma he had been through and the attempt he had made on his life no one really knew no one really I don't even think my teammates to this day did I sit on the side of the bench I don't even think they knew after the answer day I picked him up from the hospital I went back home and I just told him I said you gotta tell me why I shouldn't go into court right now and get a 90 at our commitment that's what I'm gonna do unless you give me a good reason why I should no no you can't do that no you can't do that you can't do that and I remember he was dead serious I'm okay dawg I said well okay people don't drive the car off a cliff [Music] born in 1967 Deion Sanders grew up in a poor section of Fort Myers Florida his father known as daddy buck abandoned the family when Deion was six his mother remarried a few years later my father wasn't his drugs he was addicted to drugs and my stepfather will was a used alcohol a lot of other people you know would carry on the generational curse so to speak by saying well my father was an alcoholic so I'm an alcoholic and that's just passed down generation through generation but with him he put a stop to that living without a dad basically had a stepdad and then being separated from his real dad his mom was a crucial factor in his life the most difficult thing about raising Deon was raising him alone she worked her butt off for me I mean she was worse dressed so I could win best-dressed at school and she she sacrificed a lot just to see me prosper Connie was the one that really pushed Dion toward sports she sacrificed by working two and three jobs to make sure Dion had what he needed at the age of eight Sanders found his athletic calling on the football field under the guidance of his coach Dave cable coach caper really embraced me and he was like a father figure also who looked out for me maybe just a little skinny little boy he weighed about 85 pounds he has those skinny little legs and he look like a deer head deer legs head but he could run like a deer it's like watching pac-man at full speed there's a little di going around all over the place it wasn't like running to the endzone you just run around trying to see how many guys would miss him by eating up that's the whole time when I played with kids my aids it was like stealing man and everybody in the neighborhood used to get mad like he's playing with the little boys he's playing with a lot like man these kids my age man I'm just doing my thing he lived right across street from the cemetery and to the right side was another cemetery yeah I think that's where he probably got some of his fast moves from when he was younger I learned how to run coming through those graveyards I know that we would catch your car light coming down the street in the light of that car was our light and we would run and run and run as fast as we could as a kid he wasn't that outgoing when Deon was here he was just like any other kid in the hallway that played around didn't either play much he was quiet serious the only way he would talk if you talked to him but when I saw him for the uniform while he stepped on the football field he was a whole different child so too was Sanders elevated by his prowess on the hardwood watching him play basketball was a most amazing thing in high school when he played for North Fort Myers he was the guy everybody came to watch one night Deon was the center of undesirable attention at the North Fort Myers hi Jim this girl really says some harsh thanks to me and one of my teammates you know Cole is their famous n-word which no black man likes to hear I was happening holding a football at a time so I threw a perfect spell I mean it hit her right in her head as a result word got out that beyond it hit this white girl we had a basketball game that night and I noticed a crowd starting to gather just before half-time that I'd never seen before and I'm going down to court like good lord we got a nice house in here tonight what do you say me normal fans we told the coaches that something was going on by now that picked up the rumor that they were upset because Dianna get this girl and they were gonna come take care of it we thought Deon would be you know Dion and just play the game that'd be the end of it he got loose on the breakaway and went down and just slam dunk down you wouldn't believe instead of him going back down the court he runs over and gives a little you know one of those numbers at the gate and uh oh my goodness instead of sparking a riot Dione showmanship had the opposite offense and carried the knight upon graduation in 1985 he left Fort Myers for Seminole country although he never played basketball for Florida State he was a three-sport star baseball football and track it was wonderful Stepan I'm down on college field you know I felt like the world was mine and cuz it's when he came out for baseball his freshman year he didn't really understand what Florida State baseball was all about the next year this was 1987 and he led us to the College World Series [Music] three after hitting 267 as a centerfielder Sanders gave up baseball after his sophomore season football became his total focus I can remember interviewing coach Bowden lots of times where he would talk about the great ones or audacious and Deon was audacious and Bowden had never had anyone like him people would ask me why did you put up with that huh how could you put up with that and I say what man that was the easiest guy to coach ever we've ever had here he really allowed me to do a lot of things that he would normally allow a man to do because he know I was mature enough to handle not only the success of it but the platform that I had Sanders was so impressive at his games passed into legend almost before they were over he made 14 interceptions was twice an all-american and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back in 1988 but returning punts was his particular fetish first aid goes into Death Valley and Deon walked right up and down the sidelines I was pointing at players and coaches on the Clemson sidelines saying this one's going back 24 [Music] the sender [Music] Dion was that the players perceived him differently they looked up to him and he was a leader he was a players dream the players loved him at the episodes coaches but Sanders yearned for more than respect from teammates and coaches to that end a larger-than-life public persona was formed running backs would make us some money linebackers makers of money defense effects ain't making too much money ok I gotta do something about this at that stage and right in my dormitory room I saw it marketing crapped and he was not just a cornerback he was also entertainer he was very athletic and yet great speed and he understood even in college the nature of the beast he understood the game and therefore he could function as an island and get away with it in February of 1989 Sanders introduced himself to the NFL by taking the shortest fastest route he knew the speed try out at the rookie combine both players today they think they're gonna be a high draft choices won't even go workout for the pros at akkad by Deion had enough confidence in his talents and abilities went out and teach them he went out in sweats and ran the fastest time they have ever had run their reporters were not allowed into the combine but it was as if we were in the era of no TV when word to spread like wow and all you heard was that Deion ran for two I knew I was gonna running for two you know I really thought I ran a 41 now I was upset at dams because I felt like I could run a 42-foot breakfast back then all you had to do is he do you have the football that is on a punt return or an interception it looked once he wants to cut the ball like everybody else was it going in slow motion he's just running past and wave and not bye-bye [Music] the 1989 driver will go down in history as one of the greatest in the NFL yep Troy Aikman Tony manna rich was a can't-miss player you had Barry Sanders going third yet Derrick Thomas going forth and then Deion Sanders going to fit Lana Falcons first-round choice Deion Sanders cornerback for to say I was kind of scared I thought he was gonna take me I would ask for so much money that I had to put me on layaway I said the kind of stuff that people wanted to say that people in have enough guts to say [Music] the most important thing in Dion's mind was to be the greatest athlete entertainer that the world has ever seen I came over the first day came to the airport and it was like you know maybe I rocks start coming through he was type of guy who was ready to put on a show for him and when he hit the feel that exactly what he did [Music] he focused more attention on the Falcons in a positive way then anybody could have ever imagined at the time for such a downtrodden franchise there was hope that at least when we go to a fountains game we may get beat but we're gonna have a good time you couldn't help but know about him it didn't matter if you're in Atlanta or Alaska I mean you knew it beyond Sanders he had MC Hammer Holyfield all those guys on the sidelines cheering Atlanta I was five from California on a Saturday night to get to Atlanta Sunday morning just to watch Dion play when Sanders wasn't playing for the Falcons he shifted his focus to baseball drafted by the Yankees in the 30th round he played sparingly in 1989 and 94 for signing with the Braves [Music] dianna as a baseball player is 180 degree different than the football player he's quiet he's calm he's enthusiastic you know and he makes things happen baseball was something that he had done all his life he enjoyed it it was almost a way to pass the time until football came I can remember sometimes we'd be at pricing when in Georgia and then Dionne would practice with the Braves but to make off practice he would fly in a helicopter the chopper shuttle lasted until the baseball playoffs in October 1991 when he became purely prime time he led the Falcons to their first playoff victory in 13 seasons his techniques were not good everybody said but he was always there and you didn't throw in his own you didn't throw away that number 21 was she just didn't do it he doesn't do things by the book because he doesn't have to be honest so fast he can have bad techniques that still cover to play dion is probably one of the only guys that control half the football fields just by his presence there's a saying that certainly made the rounds Wendy I first came into the league quarterbacks wouldn't even throw to his side of the field that you know water covers three-quarters of the globe Dion covers the other quarter [Applause] in 1992 Sanders continue to divide himself between the Falcons and Braves though a part-time player he batted 304 stole 26 bases and led the majors with 14 triples while his celebrity spiraled through the roof I I knew Deion Sanders the naturally talented athlete who could have played baseball very well for a long time if you wanted to but never really appeared to want to Dion was really regional to thinking he could be a pro baseball player a major league baseball player as much as I admired him as a great athlete I didn't think he should do it didn't think he could do it in October of 1992 Dion's split-screen athletics took on a carnival aspect after playing for the Braves at a playoff game in Pittsburgh on Saturday night he was in the Falcons secondary when they lost to Miami the next afternoon that night he was back in Pittsburgh sitting on the bench as the Braves lost I think some things are very unfair like when I played two sports on the same day it wasn't about a media circus somebody offered me a plane to make it back and forth I said okay just so happen that came with Springs a camera would be there to play two sports in one day it's got to be a dream because you can't even think that's possible and because we were in the playoffs it was possible one who did not appreciate Dion's feat was baseball announcer Tim McCarver I think Dion's doing a rather self-centered thing to have so here tomorrow talk about a guy playing both ends against the middle which is up there popping his mouth off and I remember mama saying baby that man whoever was doing the game was really talking about you bad that's okay I think here [Music] the dumping of water on Tim McCarver is just silly it was asinine and you know and I don't think Dion Sanders is repeating that because he was we wanted to tangle physically with Tim McCarver at that point although Sanders hit 533 in the World Series there was little love left in Atlanta as the Falcons limped to a six and 10 record he was increasingly seen as an athlete focused more in his own promotion than winning you know at Atlanta when he had all that you know primetime beyond beyond all that stuff that it was just a bunch of baloney because they weren't women for him to be recognized as he wanted to be recognized appreciated as he wanted to be appreciated he had to get with somebody else in 1994 Dion and Atlanta parted company in May the Braves traded him to the Reds then four months later he signed with the 49ers obviously people think oh my goodness how did we lose Deion Sanders and everyone was feeling down I stepped up and said hey listen guys football goes on when he left Atlanta it was a case of you won't paint me I'll go get my money somewhere else in San Francisco was the case of I'm gonna go play on a team of great stars and I'm gonna I'm gonna be the greatest star truly a dream come true all along I've said that my main goal and my main concern is to win a Super Bowl and I think the tradition that the San Francisco 49ers exemplify they don't come second to anything the only reason why he went to the 49ers was to win they were in a situation where Dallas had a leg up on him and he felt that he could be the difference to get him over the hump Deion Sanders in the Atlanta locker room he's the king when he comes to the San Francisco locker room he's just gonna be another Prince truthfully weekend in week out date and day out you really didn't see him is that much different than anybody else now Deion when he was with the 49ers subdued himself a lot and he didn't go into as nearly as much as he has with other teams but he still was doing his little dance in the end zone and a couple of times when he made interception returns when he was in the open you know he just kind of danced the last 20 yards and Jerry didn't like that the relationship between Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice on the field was fantastic these guys it was a great experience for both of them to go at each other in practice every single day because when you're at that level there's not very many guys that you can practice against that are gonna challenge you off the field it got pretty heated at times it's like oil and water you could see that those two couldn't possibly get along I think it was just normal that normal competitiveness with two magnificent athletes does it sound better their Dean's got tension with Jerry Rice it doesn't sound better that they'd get along so he's not gonna say to the media no I don't like jail yes I do like Jerry you gonna let the media itself create the monster Carrie it was a bad boy - we used to mix it up with her but we had some good times at practice because I could honestly say he made me a better football player the fourth and deep banks even the defensive coaches for just in all of the things he can do [Music] with Sanders in their secondary of 49ers won their first Super Bowl in five years the guys fit right in he kind of adapted this whole personality to fit the 49ers he was the missing piece of the puzzle he's very cognizant of what it took to be a part of the team the persona you'd think oh maybe he doesn't get it but I promise you he got the whole picture I just kind of threw out jokingly one time I said you know really the next level is to go to Dallas and help them win the Super Bowl as the entertainer he was he needed the focus what better place to go than America's team Jerry Jones thought that if we're gonna beat the 49ers we got to get him away from there I remember he's just feeling at the time when he left that I wish we could have stayed together a couple more years because I think we would have done some neat things Jones Lord Sanders from San Francisco with a seven-year thirty-five billion dollar contract that included a thirteen million dollar signing bonus Jerry Jones knew the way to Deion smart cash I'm looking forward to the first a step put on his football field or to put on that star was one of my always wonderful to start doing that and I get the best re every day on my help me you know Jerry always thought he was a pretty big celebrity in Dallas as it was when Dion came there Dion took Jerry to the next level [Applause] [Music] if I had 11 men like that I could rule the world sports today has morphed into entertainment and Dionne was one of the best at parlay in the show business aspect of it into his paycheck this guy allows you to blitz whenever you want to he allows you to protect your other cone and on top of that he can catch a punt any will in the field at any time and take it to distance that that's a sham and that's the scheme on that's the glitter and glamour I'll take it every time with the Cowboys Sanders captured his second championship in two years he was at the top of his game and he continued to let everybody know it [Music] while the teen his flamboyance wasn't always a hit as he changed uniforms Deon is the poster boy for the strutting and the preening and the look at me image that a lot of professional athletes have portrayed I've criticized Deion Sanders over the years for his showboating and Deon can't be back once at the Super Bowl I have to admit about the on who picks his spots I happen to walk by its massive crowd of people and he lifts himself up and says hey hey you're the guy who was rip of me on the sports reporters on ESPN hey what do you think of me being here now and Deon very cleverly that's how he understands a meeting he said well my mother didn't like now what are you gonna say that deep down the side there was this resentment many of his teammates hated his guts dionan get along with everybody you know people had different fuels the religious financially or whatever of him but they knew when it was time to line up on Sundays they knew one guy was competing playing lights-out football there were a lot of guys that love Deion Sanders I put myself right at the top of that list you know anybody that can help you win on game day you'll love heaven on your team I'm telling you Dan was a great teammate when it came to playing his sport baseball or football I don't think you'll find too many guys I thought it was a bad team in there are two sides to him he's not the same person on the field as he is often filled his second year in Dallas he went over to this local old folks home he would do this every Tuesday every year he would have a sudden he would do with our people that's less fortunate him but he never ever wanted that in the media one pass a game made me throw his Wayne he called me one day during the football season well you know why I meant I'm bored you know I'm not to play offense so I might have to run back plants and that's all I can do that's the only time I can get my hands on the bone in 1996 Dionne found a new way to make an impact he played wide receiver as well as defensive back catching 36 passes for the season that's the stubbornness of a great athlete he felt like he could help the team and he wanted to play over there the owner was gonna give him the chance yeah I'm with the ball in his hands on the open field is a spurious gihan football he makes your heart jump up in your throat after a season playing both ways on the gridiron Deon directed his star power at baseball hitting 273 and stealing 56 bases as a read in 1997 but off the field Sanders life was in free fall the death of his stepfather his failed marriage and his suicide attempt had led him into an emotional wilderness he just said he saw these lights he just said Lord I'm ready and he said he got on his knees prayed the prayer salvation he just developed a peace after that [Music] he's always believed in God as he'll tell you he's always read the Bible but it's his life now is more serious he's trying every day to crucify his flesh so to speak and to lift his spirit higher you know when you have everything you want and you're still empty looking for something when that's when you need Christ in your life oh Lord the Lord had better plans you are the light of the world a city on a hill cannot be hidden neither do people light a lamp and put it up on their bow instead they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house he admitted his mistakes in his life and he was wanting to share that with people and walk a different path Deon's the type of guy you can sit on the porch and talk about life with and get into depth and really feel like you got something out of the conversation there wasn't just a superficial deal wasting time I love where the onions now cuz it has a whole different attitude a very different personality is entirely different in flamboyancy you won't say the things that he used to say I don't think he believes them anymore I've never found peace now I have the peace of God they know peace like it if anybody in here is a Christian I think you understand you can relate to me if anybody's in here not I see that you may think this is not real you know him being a Christian reporters in Dallas but you know challenging questioning whether he was true to what he was telling everybody well he would get upset about that that people would challenge his belief in God what happened is if we have seen a legitimate evolution and who dion is as a person we have seen if you will a slightly kinder gentler side and certainly a wiser side he seems to have matured although you know being Deion Sanders it's got to be awfully hard to mature with what he's been surrounded with [Music] [Applause] the Lord didn't tell me not to be primed [Applause] [Music] [Music] I don't need football to baseball to make my dad make somebody doing something look at the smile I can make some money when we return to sports century Deion Sanders enters his final seasons in the Sun has his flashiness overshadowed his greatness in 1998 with his final major league season behind him Deion and 31 began to show his age and the wear and tear of being primetime he started having some these foot and leg injuries in baseball and you know the thing about foot injuries and leg injuries and what have you I mean that is Deion saying you take away Dion's legs you've taken away a good portion of Dino any other cornerback in his physical condition over the past couple of years would have been challenged repeatedly Deon got by the last couple of years his reputation more than anything else what is football big blows you know blows the head blows of the body it's a two-sport guy and i think that took away I mean after you play football then you play baseball then you go back to football ain't got to save yourself and pace yourself some it's hard not to believe that it didn't tear him down physically it's really shortened his football career and kept it from being really something special he had a chance probably go down as the greatest corner that's ever played the money was there for him in both sports so it was intriguing to him and he did a great job but he knows now it can take a toll on I can't imagine it takes me six months to rest up on the season's over and he was taken basically no time off that has to show there was a lot of question about how well Dion could still cover was he still a capable man on man defender and Dion said I've been on that island longer than Gilligan and I ain't looking to be rescued want to introduce my wife first mrs. Pilar Sanders my heart from Washington DC and that Moss my daughter DeAndre my son Bucky my son Shiloh and my father Darrell Green in June of 2000 Sanders signed a seven-year 56 million dollar deal to help resuscitate the Washington Redskins as he stares into the brilliant twilight of an eventful occasionally bizarre career Dion Dion still sparks speculation what parent wouldn't want their child to be as talented as Deion Sanders what parent would want their child to behave in the boorish self-absorbed fashion that Deion Sanders behaves people talk about beyond Sam's I don't like Deion because he's a hot dog Oh Dan is not a hot dog Dan is a great football player Deanna's a marketer now you couple that marketing with a great product on the field and championships and you can darn near sell anything to anybody I want to joke with them that if you could would you hire alexander olga leaf or some other marketing company to do your morning signal no one's better than me and he's right no one's better than him and he he knows the stick no matter how cynical you might be about Dion through Saturday it's okay to say well wait let me step back and examine this for what it is on Sunday there was no such examination there's no question when a guy like Dion is on your side you're feeling just a little bit cocky but the unbroke to the game was sort of throwback quality to the 60-minute man concept that had been out of the NFL since the 50s or early 60s be a deep one and be I just broken off Deion Sanders said he's gonna be the next Iron Man he's a half-ass to a football player who couldn't tackle my wife Amma he has critics loved to say well you can't say he's a great football player because he doesn't tackle you know what we never saw people complain that Barry Sanders was in a great blocker a defensive back is meant to keep points off the board to keep the other team from scoring Deion Sanders turned the position into a weapon for his team [Music] Dion had speed that we've rarely seen on the field than any position and the fact that he could do that at corner and make moves on the ball and law you into thinking that this guy's open oh god not only is he not open there it goes for attention over his 11 seasons with the fountains 49ers and Cowboys Sanders for 21 touchdowns including nine on kick returns and eight on interceptions and he's a flashy guy and people like to watch him come play in the reason why he's done that is because he knows how to make big plates at the right time he's Jim Thorpe of the latter 20th century in a lot of ways you're playing the professional sports the two sports that we all want to succeed at his kids he's the first guy to play in the Super Bowl and the World Series that's pretty impressive what do you've ever been a great baseball player a multiple time all-star I don't know but you know what I've come to the point that I can appreciate everything that Deion Sanders did at whatever level he could achieve and it upsets me when so people some people's you would have been such a wonderful baseball player yes both all of them baseball player I think what is good enough for me I'm happy I think he'll be known as a great player certainly a Hall of Fame player certainly will you identify Deion Sanders what a particular team I don't think so when he gets up there can't know hi or whenever that is will just be a smile that he kind of knew this all along and that was shared with the rest of us down in Atlanta the story goes that one night 1991 a few Braves fans performed the Florida State Tomahawk Chop in honor of their new baseball hero the tribute was soon adopted as the rallying cry for a team that dominated the National League through the 90s meanwhile Dion's trend-setting ways off the field were surpassing his on-field exploits if the true measure of a superstar is to excel against all competition while mastering the media the Deion Sanders occupies a privileged seat in the firmament next to Reggie Jackson for sports century I'm Chris Fowler [Music] you

Channel: Rounding Third

Views: 8,869

Rating: 4.130435 out of 5

Keywords: Cincinnati Reds, Washington Redskins, Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Cornerback, Hall of Fame, Canton, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Super Bowl, Playoffs, Punt Return, Two Sport, Both Ways, Bo Jackson, Bo Knows

Id: gsViY2Bs0PM

Length: 42min 8sec (2528 seconds)

Published: Fri May 22 2020