dlq04

Good for you Ray, you're on top of this stuff. I only know I love watching Big Ben lead the Steelers down the field and wishing Stafford had a decent running back on the Lions.

S2KRAY

Thanks Dave, maybe they can get Barry Sanders to come out of retirement. Now there was an awesome running back. Loved to watch him play.

NNY S2k

Barry was my favorite running back to watch. He was simply amazing.
Levi

dlq04

Sanders was truly a great running back but in the end I hated him because of how he left the team. He just stayed home in Texas and did not report to training camp. It left everyone wondering if he'd be there for the first game - he wasn't and that was history. As I recall he never called management or the coach.

tof

Best RB of all time? -
-Jim Brown
--Gale Sayers
--Barry Sanders
--Walter Payton
--Eric Dickerson
--Emmit Smith
--Other?

(I'll vote a tie between the first two, but then again...)

S2KRAY

I didn't know that. I thought he had more class than that.

tof

Sanders announced his retirement at the end of July in a letter to his home town newspaper, the Witchita Eagle. So the team knew he was not returning well before the start of the season. Still, his sudden retirement made it difficult for the Lions to replace him. Well, in fact there was no one in the league who could replace what Sanders was able to do. And the lowly Lions were not considered a great destination anyway. So the timing of his retirement probably had far less impact than the fact of his retirement. Later Sanders would reveal that the main reason for his retirement was a front office that had obviously given up on putting together a winning team as it got rid of some of the best talent in the wake of several bad seasons. Sanders did offer to return half his signing bonus, $5.5 million, if the team would release him. They refused and Sanders retired.

For a more nuanced view of Sanders and his retirement, check out this short article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071016...rs_speaks.html

Some additional details and updates in this short ESPN post:
New book details Barry's reasons for quitting

S2KRAY

I feel better about him after learning this. Always another side to a story. The Lions were struggling.

Legal Bill

Buffalo had a guy. O. J. something...

dlq04

Thanks for doing the reseach but it doesn't change my opinion of him at all. "Sanders announced his retirement at the end of July in a letter to his home town newspaper, the Witchita Eagle. So the team knew he was not returning well before the start of the season. Still, his sudden retirement made it difficult for the Lions to replace him." That doesn't show any class at all.

"Later Sanders would reveal that the main reason for his retirement was a front office that had obviously given up on putting together a winning team as it got rid of some of the best talent in the wake of several bad seasons." If every star player decided they didn't like the way management was running the team, there would all be retired.

"Sanders did offer to return half his signing bonus, $5.5 million, if the team would release him. They refused and Sanders retired." Just as well IMHO.... let him sit home with his cows.

Jim Brown and Gale Sayers were the best, both on and off the field.

I remember this all too well. My office was within walking distance of the stadium. The local paper, The Pontiac Press, printed stories about how his stranded team begged him to come back from London, where he ran off to. As the link said, "There was no press conference, no tearful goodbye, no thank you to the fans, no explanation for his decision beyond his letter's assertion that his desire to leave the game exceeded his desire to remain." And there was no class. He will never get my respect.