In 1992, Deion Sanders was named first-team All-Pro for the first time in his career as the team’s cornerback. Atlanta Falcons. One of the games he missed this season was play in the World Series for the Atlanta Braves. They lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six matches. Those who thought Sanders playing playoff football and baseball at the same time was a self-centered spectacle were right, except for the fact that he was the best player in that World Series. He hit .533 with a 1.255 OPS and stole five bases.
What he decided to do was reclaim his position as the best athlete in the world by going even further in life as a two-sport athlete than Bo Jackson. For Jackson, football was a “hobby” that he only participated in after the baseball season. While Sanders was reaching his peak as an NFL superstar, if his team had won the World Series, he would have been the MVP.
The fact that 31 years later, Sanders is still one of the most recognizable figures in all of sports, while there is a generation that has never seen the Pizza Hut commercials with him and Jerry Jones, is a testament to his strength of personality and ingenuity.
Sanders’ passing touchdowns are not the reason he was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year in 2023. He received the honor for the work he has done as a head football coach of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Sanders came into a program with one winning season since 2007 and did his best to remake it in his image in just one year. He brought with him 50 players via transfer portaland before October, he was on the set of ESPN College Gameday, wearing a huge white cowboy hat and tending The rock a pair of Prime 21 sunglasses.
This would be the last of Colorado’s highs in 2023. They beat Colorado State in overtime later that night and won only one game the rest of the season. What he didn’t bring with him in Louis’ luggage was beef, and the Buffs spent the next two months making pancakes.
Kudos to Sanders for what he did in one season in what was arguably the worst FBS program in America last year. He propelled a team with a victory into the national spotlight, with the same swagger and defiance he had as a player. Unfortunately, for them, one of the greatest athletes of all time can no longer stop half a field and return punts for touchdowns.
This is why Sanders gets the Sportsman of the Year award in 2023, it’s like Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese winning the Oscars for The perfume of a woman And The dead, respectively. Their best work was not properly appreciated at the time.
Sanders was part of a new era of black athletes that began with Michael Jordan. As a rookie, Jordan dipped his toes in the shameless booty waters with the gold chains and custom Air Jordan tracksuit during the 1985 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. He was reportedly kicked out of the All-Star game the next day because veterans were not satisfied with what they considered to be an arrogant young man.
What came out of Florida State in that decade was speed, gold and a group of young black men who weren’t afraid to say they were the best. Sanders wasn’t the first to emerge from this cloth, but he was certainly the best. He sprinted into the spotlight like it was the end zone. In doing so, he made a lot of money.
So much money that the NFL took the Dallas Cowboys in court in 1995 for signing him to a seven-year, $35 million contract with a $12,999,999 signing bonus. The league had the same distaste for Sanders’ irreverence toward the standards of the sport at the time, as did the late Tim McCarver and the newspaper headlines that called him out. “Frequent liar miles.” »
Sanders got his money, fame, championships and accolades for his athletic prowess and bombastic personality. However, the respect of being a transcendent sporting figure did not come so easily to him. Sanders reset the contract market in 1995 after years of building his “Prime Time” persona that was unstoppable in two sports, and Cal Ripken Jr. was named Sportsman of the Year for setting a record for consecutive games played .
Near the beginning of SI’s video commemorating this honor for Sanders, he explains exactly how he left an indelible mark on sports and pop culture. With a diamond-encrusted whistle and a crucifix around his neck at 56, he said: “I move the needle, I make things happen.” I provoke an opinion.
He is absolutely right. Sanders has moved tectonic plates for more than three decades with his moves on and off the court. He played what was considered a nameless, faceless position as an NFL cornerback. Scoring touchdowns, dominating big league pitchers in his spare time, and telling us about his greatness while adorning himself in gold, Sanders is a generational talent.
His second act reminds people of the power of his presence, even though fighting the clots kept him from having the power. same number of body parts like when he used to “Deion Shuffle”.
However, this honor comes far too late and for a lesser performance. There was a time when he was a truly revolutionary figure. Sanders was as black and as great as he wanted to be at a time when a lot of other people didn’t want to see that.
And then he was dangerous. Now he’s a cool dad, still easier to kiss than a hot-headed kid who’s better than everyone and knows it.
