11/05/24
November 15, 2003
"I didn't see what good there was in hanging around when the organization wasn't trying to put together a winning team.":
Sanders new biography is due out next week. I appreciate his candor, but:
1): Why didn't Barry go elsewhere?
2): Though Lions reps emphatically deny the possibility, does this sort of admission bar Sanders from front-office work in Detroit?
3): Isn't there no crying in football? Wait, that's baseball...
posted by forksclovetofu to football at 10:32 PM - 4 comments
He's right isn't he? In all the years I've been watching the game (since 1985) I've never seen the Lions look remotely like they had a chance of a Superbowl. Some teams are just doomed to be crap for eternity, and Detroit are one of them. As the old joke goes, Sanders retired due to illness and fatigue..
posted by salmacis at 05:14 AM on November 16, 2003
more of a quitter than many already think he was I don't get this. I've never heard anyone (reputable) accuse Sanders of quitting. If he was a quitter, he wouldn't have stuck out a decade on a team that, as he says, just didn't have it together. Through a few decent seasons and several lousy ones, he kept going out on the field and churning out yard after yard, regularly breaking out runs that sent shivers down my spine. I gave him the benefit of the doubt on the way he left the game. Now I don't have that, so he goes down a few pegs on the respectability meter This story changes nothing in my estimation of him. I have always assumed that this was the way he felt at the time of his retirement; this story just confirms it. I'm not sure how lying about how he felt at the time would make him more respectable. I would loved to have seen him play a few seasons more. As much as it would have hurt, I would rather have seen him go to another team (even one in the former NFC Central) than retire outright. He deserved a better team than he got. He tried and tried, going week in and week out with very few injuries. I think his retirement when the rushing record was clearly within his grasp said two things: 1)he just didn't care about the record, he wanted to win, and 2) since the Lions organization didn't show him that it had a serious commitment to winning, he felt a few extra years would be an exercise in futility. In his usual style, he didn't air his dirty laundry in public, he didn't demand a trade, he just walked away. And as far as Walter Payton goes, it seems to me that about the time he reached the point in his career when Sanders retired, he was no longer on a team that was going nowhere; in fact his next season was the year they took the Super Bowl. And if I remember correctly, the reason he did not end up elsewhere is that the Lions had no intention of letting him play elsewhere. If they didn't have him, nobody else would either.
posted by deadcowdan at 06:50 AM on November 17, 2003
And if I remember correctly, the reason he did not end up elsewhere is that the Lions had no intention of letting him play elsewhere. If they didn't have him, nobody else would either. It's a pretty solid bet that the Lions wanted to squeeze as much PR out of Barry getting the record as possible. Not that any of the attention or extra cash flow would have gone back into building up the team or anything.
posted by lilnemo at 01:41 PM on November 18, 2003
I wonder why he even admitted to this. This makes him look like a whiny bitch and like more of a quitter than many already think he was. How many years did Walter suffer with sucky teams? Did he pack it up on a hall of fame career? I love Barry Sanders, andI gave him the benefit of the doubt on the way he left the game. Now I don't have that, so he goes down a few pegs on the respectability meter, I guess. Again, why admit this? Say you wanted to leave on your terms. say you wanted to leave before your skills eroded, say anything except "they suck, I quit".