| About Football Out of Bounds | |
Date: December 24, 2002
| About Football Out of Bounds takes an honest and sometimes brutal look at some of the latest news, rumors, and happenings related to the world of football. This week's edition goes out of bounds with... Deion Sanders and his potential return to the football field! |
Former NFL superstar Deion Sanders is contemplating a return from the broadcast booth to the gridiron for an encore performance in the 2003 NFL playoffs. And while the Bay Area works itself into a frenzy over the prospects of having "the Neon One" prowling defensive secondaries wearing silver and black, you'll have to excuse me if I'm just a little less than enthusiastic about another big ego making another big comeback.
Don't get me wrong. I'm for any move that gets Sanders and his overbearing self-promotion off the CBS pregame show. I just don't want to see him on the football field again.
In fact, this recent trend that brings professional athletes back into the national limelight for one last bow has grown increasingly boring with each attention-starved athlete, in my opinion. I think it started with Michael Jordan's on-again, off-again NBA career and snowballed until every other future hall-of-famer decided it was vogue to bring embarrassment to an otherwise spectacular career.
And it's not the lure of big bucks that makes a return so irresistable. The biggest reason most return is for another round in the spotlight. It's the attention of the media and fans. It's the kind of attention that goes along with the anticipation of a return that many of these former superstars have a hard time living without.
I suppose I could tolerate the occasional athlete needing to feed his ego, but a situation like this one and the one involving wide receiver Cris Carter, who recently decided to make a comeback with the Miami Dolphins, leaves me with an uneasy feeling.
Both Sanders and Carter have basically admitted they are hoping to ride the coattails of a contender to a Super Bowl ring. Sanders is hoping to collect a ring just for showing up for the playoffs while Carter has seen very limited action late in the season. If I were a member of the Oakland squad, I would feel slightly used by the zoot-suited cornerback/punt returner.
I'm also afraid this will develop into an annual resurrection of broken down, over-the-hill mercenaries looking to cash in on someone else's success while investing just a few weeks of their own time. Do we really want to see this every year?
Simply put, I'm tired of guys that can't decide whether they want to play or not. I want to scream at these guys to just go away and leave us to enjoy our football without the sideshows and distractions that have become all too common. Please ride off into the sunset or simply fade away like any self-respecting has-been should.
