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The real reason behind Barry Sanders quitting the NFL

Discussion in 'Football: NFL, College, High School' started by Rockets34Legend, Nov 15, 2003.

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  1. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Contributing Member

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    http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1662343

    New book details Barry's reasons for quitting

    WICHITA, Kan. -- Former All-Pro running back Barry Sanders says he quit the NFL because he was exhausted and frustrated that the Detroit Lions' front office did not seem willing to build a winning team.


    In a book to be released next week, Sanders recalls openly sobbing on the sidelines on a rainy afternoon in Baltimore in 1998 because he knew it would be his last game.


    It was the final game of another lousy season for the Lions, a meaningless 19-10 loss to the Ravens in which the running back from Wichita had a rare fumble.


    "I was crying because I knew it was over," Sanders says in the book, "Barry Sanders: Now You See Him ... His Story in His Own Words," an as-told-to book written with longtime friend Mark McCormick of The Wichita Eagle.


    As the clock ran out in Baltimore, he said, "It also ran out in my career. I decided they could go on without me."


    It would be months before Sanders shared that decision with the rest of the country in a brief retirement statement that only hinted at his true feelings. His retirement shocked the sports world because he was only 31 and on the verge of breaking Walter Payton's all-time NFL rushing record.


    Although the statement referred to his loss of will to continue in the NFL, it did not openly criticize the Lions' front office.


    Sanders changes course in the book, saying a "communications gap" opened between him and the Lions' front office as the team unloaded quality players.


    After working to help Detroit try to build a winner throughout the 1990s, Sanders suffered as the Lions slumped to 5-11 in two of his last three seasons.


    "After all these years, I'd come full circle," Sanders says in the book. "It was tough to stay focused and motivated."


    The realization that management no longer cared about winning "slammed me harder than any linebacker had ever hit me in my entire career," Sanders says. "That realization trivialized everything I did during the off-season to prepare myself. It trivialized everything I dreamed about from the time I was a kid in Wichita ..."


    In another chapter, Sanders details the year when he became the third player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. That accomplishment was significant to Sanders, as were others such as reaching the 100-yard rushing mark in 14 consecutive games.


    The record he walked away from wasn't as important, he says. Fed up with football, Sanders lost interest in chasing Payton's career rushing record.


    "I had already achieved a level of success that gave me much satisfaction and pride. I didn't need to pass Walter to prove that to myself," says Sanders, who remains the third-leading NFL rusher of all time with 15,269 yards.


    As for his brief retirement statement, Sanders says he didn't refer to his feelings about Lions management because he "didn't want to take shots at people as I left."


    His only regret, Sanders says, is that he didn't include a statement wishing his team good luck.


    The 17-chapter book also details Sanders life from his childhood in Wichita to his years as a star at Oklahoma State University and into retirement.


    He credits his mother, Shirley Sanders, for much of his success and discusses his often strained relationship with his father.


    Sanders, who was with the Lions for 10 years, maintains a home in suburban Detroit. He is involved with American State Bank in Oklahoma, makes appearances at card shows, works with charities and plays in celebrity golf tournaments.
     
    #1 Rockets34Legend, Nov 15, 2003
  2. RunninRaven

    RunninRaven Contributing Member
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    Barry was the ****ing man, and Emmitt isn't fit to hold his jock strap. I wish he had never retired. :(
     
    #2 RunninRaven, Nov 15, 2003
  3. 4chuckie

    4chuckie Member

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    Quitters never win and Winners never quit

    Barry is a quitter. he quit on his team and teammates. Say what you want but he let alot of people down. If he wanted to play for a winner why didn't he demand a trade (hint it wasn't about winning it was bacause he didn't want to play anymore)

    Emmit will never quit until no team will give him a chance. Maybe that is a bad quality but he always brings/brought it.
     
    #3 4chuckie, Nov 16, 2003
  4. rocketfan83

    rocketfan83 Member

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    Barry Sanders and Michael Vick were/are the only players Ill watch regardless of whom their team is playing. To bad Barry retired but he was the greatest I ever saw. He would have absolutely shattered Walter Paytons record.

    BTW isnt this old news that Barry retired because of the lions suckiness? Thats what I always thought. I rememeber there was strong talk about Barry coming back to Miami a few years ago I think he would have gotten a ring there. But oh welll
     
    #4 rocketfan83, Nov 16, 2003
  5. IROC it

    IROC it Contributing Member

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    Maybe not. But he will retire due to injuries. Probably, and sadly, after the current season.
     
    #5 IROC it, Nov 16, 2003
  6. GreenVegan76

    GreenVegan76 Contributing Member

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    Barry Sanders was/is the most electrifying football player I've ever seen play football. I was really sad to see him retire, but I have nothing but respect for the man. He lost the fire, so he hung 'em up. That takes a lot of character.
     
    #6 GreenVegan76, Nov 16, 2003
  7. RunninRaven

    RunninRaven Contributing Member
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    Sure...demand a trade. Then all the Emmitt fans can point at that and say he was a misfit or ungrateful. Nah, Barry quit, but I don't blame him for quitting. If it isn't in you to play football anymore, then it isn't in you. Certainly the Lions weren't doing anything at the time to stir Barry's competitive fires, so if he felt it was time, then it was time. I don't judge players based on stuff like that, I look at talent and skill, and it was that to which I was referring when I said Emmitt couldn't hold Barry's jock.
     
    #7 RunninRaven, Nov 16, 2003
  8. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    I absolutely love how sports fans think they know best when it comes to players retiring. Whether it's Barry ending his career early or Dream ending it too far down the road, it's not our place to say when someone ends their career.
     
    #8 Rocketman95, Nov 16, 2003
  9. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    He was one of two or three players I've seen play that were simply amazing in the moves they'd execute to blow by defenders. Detroit also had another guy whose career was cut short who was nothing short of a spectacular runner when his game was on : Billy Sims.

    Barry didn't have legs, he had hydraulics. Nobody should be able to stop and change direction like that. Nothing human anyway.
     
    #9 Dr of Dunk, Nov 16, 2003
  10. Coach AI

    Coach AI Contributing Member

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    I blamed the Lions for Barry leaving at the time, and I still do. I guess you can only work your ass off for so long before realizing you aren't going to get any help, and getting fed up.
     
    #10 Coach AI, Nov 16, 2003
  11. RocksMillenium

    RocksMillenium Contributing Member

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    I don't have a problem with Barry Sanders retiring, I have a problem with WHEN he retired. He never let anyone in on the fact that he was retiring, and then he waited until the last possible second to retire, preventing the Lions from getting a quality running back. He may have called himself paying back management and screwing them over, but he also screwed over his teammates, who busted their @ss out their every week and deserved to have their leader tell them he was retiring and allow them to get help. Instead he left them hanging. As much as I like Barry Sanders, and as much as I respect him for retiring when he wants to, I say he quit on his team, mainly because of the way he left, not because he left. Management is the reasons for running him out of town, but Barry is the reason that a lot of people lost respect for him on the way out the door. Barry retires earlier in the offseason, then I doubt there is any real backlash.
     
    #11 RocksMillenium, Nov 16, 2003
  12. PhiSlammaJamma

    PhiSlammaJamma Member

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    If everyone else around you quits first, is it still quitting?
     
    #12 PhiSlammaJamma, Nov 16, 2003
  13. RunninRaven

    RunninRaven Contributing Member
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    If he was sitting on the sideline crying because he knew it was his last game, you'd think some of his teammates would have known he was retiring...or at least suspected it. Did all of his teammates claim it was as much a surprise to them as it was to fans? I remember it was unexpected...but I have a feeling at least a few of the players on the team knew before we did.
     
    #13 RunninRaven, Nov 16, 2003
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