There Is An Officially Authorized Barry Sanders Documentary Coming Out On Amazon In Which He Explains The Mystery Reason He Retired.
Detroit Free Press- An age-old Detroit sports question could be answered in a new documentary coming out this fall.
"Why did Barry Sanders retire?"
The legendary Detroit Lions running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer announced on social media Friday a documentary he's been filming over the last year with Amazon that promises to answer the question that has been stuck in people's craw for nearly 25 years.
Sanders called the new doc "the definitive movie on my life," while adding "The great mystery of why I walked away will be answered once and for all."
When he retired, Sanders was within striking distance of Walter Payton's NFL record for career rushing yards and would've likely passed him with one more season. Sanders finished with 15,269 yards in his career and needed just 1,457 yards to pass Payton. He rushed for 1,491 yards in his final season and played all 16 games in each of his final five seasons. Payton was eventually passed by Sanders' contemporary, Emmitt Smith, who finished with 18,355 yards in his career, a number that might now be untouchable in today's pass-first style of football.
This is fucking awesome news.
Not necessarily because I'm fixated on the reason why Barry Sanders retired, moreso because this guarantees us at least an hour of Barry Sanders highlights- him breaking people's ankles, putting linebackers and corners on ice skates, shrugging off D-lineman that are 6 yards in his backfield before he even touches the ball, and on and on.
I will never in a million years speak ill of Walter Payton, God rest his soul, but if Barry Sanders didn't retire in his prime like he did, he is the only name we speak of when referring to the greatest running back of all time. Jim Brown would probably still be in the conversation, but Sanders would have destroyed everybody's records and even 50-year-old Emmitt Smith couldn't have eclipsed them.
Not to be a negative Nancy but I think we could all do without self-important Jemele Hill being involved in this. If she's giving her 4 cents on Sanders, we better be fucking getting "$5 Wayne" Fontes front and fucking center. Even though he was probably a large part of the reason Sanders walked away from the game.
(Sidebar- is there any other team that's had arguably the two greatest position players (Sanders and Calvin Johnson) just up and retire at the peak of their careers? Only the Lions.)
Speaking of Johnson, props to the Lions organization for ingratiating itself and mending ties with Calvin Johnson and Barry Sanders over the years. They're heavily involved in the team again, acting as ambassadors with the fans and players. They were both at the airport waiting to greet this year's Lions draft class earlier this summer. Really cool.
But back to the documentary, this is awesome news and should be a must-watch for any football fan old or young.
p.s. - Spoiler Alert- the answer is Martha Ford. Final Answer.
Rey Del Rio. Getty Images.p.p.s. - real og's remember big cat's "martha ford looks like she eats people's souls" blogs