Chris CrockettRemembering How Barry Sanders Did It 'His Way' Ten Years Ago
August 17th 2009 13:31
The man is just cooler than cool to me---Barry Sanders. He is the best running back that I personally have ever watched play the game. Why do I find him to be cooler than cool, you say? Well, because every time I see the guy or read a story on Sanders and remember what he did, I think of the song 'My Way' by Frankie Sinatra. Barry surely did it 'his way'---and to me that is the epitome of cool.
In these current times when so many guys like Brett Favre struggle to say goodbye to the game as well as the limelight of professional sports at advanced ages, remembering what Sanders did 10 years ago is nothing short of mind-blowing as far as I'm concerned. He walked away from the NFL at the age of 30---still quite healthy and unbelievably productive--- while rapidly approaching the all time rushing record of Hall of Famer, Walter Payton. How many athletes can you think of that would walk away as they are approching a huge milestone in their respective sport? Here's what he had to say in a Chicago Tribune article that I read this weekend..."I am very fortunate that I was able to leave in that way. I don’t have any regrets," he said. "It was the right time. It had kind of built up for maybe a couple of years. I had really good feelings about the fact I had a great career." There was not a whole lot I could complain about." We don't have to fully understand all of his resons for leaving or even agree with his decision. Bottom line, it was his decision to make, and he did so in an age where so many great athletes just can't close the door and go out on top of the mountain. As a professional running back in the NFL he has averted the future health issues of so many that came before him and who will come after him because they played the game too long. They take such a pounding as running backs in the NFL that many of them have trouble completing daily activities that we all take for granted in our average lives. I remember watching an interview with Jerome Bettis, the former great Steelers running back. He had said that toward the end of his career, it was taking him two hours to get himself out of bed and down the stairs from his bedroom to his kitchen, because of the pain.
Barry Sanders is currently involved in marketing for a few different companies on top of his duties as part owner of a bank in Oklahoma and a car dealership also in Oklahoma. He is enjoying his life as a healthy 40 year old man with his 4 sons. He has no regrets about his decision to leave the NFL while still in his prime. If you ask me, there is something to be said for going out on top. What a great story.. He surely did it his way---and for that---he should be proud.
Chuck Hanf
Two Cents From Beantown
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Comment by jason007thomas
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Comment by Josh Gans
Don't knock my man Brett Favre about his decision making either, I'm pumped to see him come back.