NFL

I always thought it was more of a passion issue. Like that, he had expended his mental energy with football and just didn't have the will to keep going after that. Barry talking about the guys who left the prior years who had battled with for a while makes sense in that the bond he had with the team was slipping. As another extremely competitive person, I get it. You never want to fight for something not giving 100%. If he didn't have that in him anymore, then it makes sense he retired.

Barry said at his hall of fame speech that he was sorry for all of the times he lost yards. He definitely killed drives, I remember that. You can’t get a touchdown on every touch. Just get 2-3 yrds… or 5. Just get a first down. He didn’t play like that.

Wish he would have gotten traded to a top 5 team at the time.

I never understood the details of why this was an issue or question, maybe for the contract stuff signed before the retirement. He played 10 seasons as an elite RB in the 90s. To have that level of success for a decade is amazing. Only three seasons he didn’t play every game but still more than 10/season.

CBS really gonna bring up Barry retiring during the best Lions season in 60 years. Cruel. Like telling someone "Hey congrats on your promotion, remember when your dad died though."

I lived in the same town as Barry as a kid. One day my brother had a baseball game at one of the high schools and me and two of the other younger brothers were out walking around. We went on the football field and there was Barry fucking sanders, doing some drills on his own.

He was so cool to us, he said he was about to go inside and shoot some hoops and he took us with him. We spent about 30 min with him before we went back to the baseball game. I was 9/10 and didn't fully grasp how rediculously amazing the experience was for a few more years.

No one ever believes me when I tell them I played bball with Barry that day. But I did. And he was the most down to earth superstar ever man and he was so kind to us when he could have told us to buzz off.

Barry Sanders for life man.

I met herman Moore at a Burger King about 5 years later and he was also nice but nothing could compare to that random June day at Rochester Adams high School.

So absolutely nothing new and Amazon made a pointless documentary on it. Cool, I'll save some time and just watch his highlights again on YouTube.

He finally reveals why he retired: says exactly what he said 20 years ago. Incredible story.

You know what’s weird? Barry Sanders jumped my car at a high school football game once. I had just moved to a public school from a private school and was attending my old school’s big rivalry game as all of my friends were at my old school and I had just gotten my driver’s license. My car had manual headlights that I had neglected to turn off. Barry Sanders jr. Was running back in the game I had watched.

So the game ended and we were all exiting. None of my friends had jumper cables and without them they couldn’t really help so people were just leaving and I was sorta freaking the fuck out because I knew my parents were going to be mad if they had to come get me (this was like my first social outing in my own).

I see my old school’s film guy and he’s walking with another guy. I talk to our old film guy (I’d played sports for this school so he knew me) and he also didn’t have jumper cables but the guy he was with was in a rental and thought he’d have some. He did.

So the thing is, I didn’t know what Barry Sanders looks like. Barry Sanders was a helmet and pads in either orange and black or blue and silver. I was just talking to this dude and he seemed entertained by my questions. I was asking him if his son played for the team. He said yes. I asked him what he does and he told me he owns some car lots. Yadda yadda. When my car started he asked me if I knew of any OSU heisman winners. I said yeah, Barry Sanders. That was when revelation washed over me as I knew his son had just played in the game.

Sorta a cool interaction. Fuck your autographs Barry Sanders got my ass out of trouble.

“I can’t win with these cats”

It's so crazy how everyone says Barry Sander retired too early in his prime after playing 10 years, and in this era he would be considered ancient if he somehow survived 10 years. Zeke hasn't even play 10 years and people were begging for him to retire 5 years ago.

They won 3 more games without him the next year and made the playoffs. Sanders is a bit overrated in value due to the iconic nature of his runs. His boom or bust style produced more losses on runs than any other back in the league every single year. Put the team in a very difficult situation to sustain drives. In fact despite having sanders at RB they were need the middle of the league in rushing 1st downs. Sanders was a big reason the team won but also a the biggest reason they were never going to win the title while he was there. He was a drive killer especially for the passing era at the time.

He’s said why like 4x

It was not big mystery. The Lions sucked they were going to continue to suck and he didn’t want to continue take a physical beating playing for a mediocre team.

To paraphrase, “I simply could no longer tolerate being a part of this loser organization”.

What new info did anyone learn from this article? The Lions sucked then and had wasted many years of his prime already. He didn’t want to punish his body under those circumstances. I thought this had been known since the early 2000’s. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Still sad as dude was one of the most entertaining RBs to watch on the field

Misleading title. Should be “Barry Sanders explains AGAIN why he decided to retire…just like he has before.”

“Lions killed me”

Nothing but respect for that man. The class and way he played the game I’ll never forget, even as a snotty nose little kid I can vividly remember watching him play the game the right way. Luckily got to see him in the silver dome several times

ESPN used to do mockumentary type interviews on Sunday morning countdown. They did one where Barry said “I’m tired” but they thought he said “I’m retired” so he just rang with it. 😂

Lmao didn’t we already cover this the day he retired. Leave the legend at peace. News is so wack these days.

I know walter Payton gets the nod, but sanders would’ve been the GOAT if he had kept playing.

It’s really not that shocking that a Running Back retired after 10 years in the nfl. Most guys don’t last for more then 3. The freaks Can last over 10 years and be productive as a running back.

Article is more or less crap, but the videos were fun to watch again. I forgot how common horsecollar tackles used to be

Tldr he saw the lions were going no where.

Why do people always pretend he retired super young and in his prime. He was 30 and already played for ten seasons. The wheels were about to fall off.

“Finally”? The fucking article says it was essentially the same thing he said 24 years ago.

Well, why didn't he just go to another team instead of languishing at Detroit?

Check out the doc. Highly recommended very well done

What playing for Detroit does to a MF

The Lions and generational-talent players retiring in their prime, name a more iconic duo

What I find crazy is how, in the '90s, a 10 year vet running back was thought to be "in their prime."

As a bears fan, sweetness is the GOAT in my heart.

But, pure ability to rush the ball no matter what (team skill, offensive philosophy, down/distance, game situation, etc) Barry can’t be touched. He could make everything out of nothing at his discretion.

i watched this and good lord was it BORING. Learned nothing new at all.