Bo Jackson was like a shooting star in the NFL. He only played four years, with a nasty hip injury cutting his career short. He never played a full season either, because of his MLB commitments. But when he was out there, he was a treat to watch. With a sublime combination of power and speed, Jackson was perhaps the greatest athlete to ever grace an NFL field. Now, however, he couldn’t care less about the sport he once dominated.
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During his appearance on the Get God Pod with Marshawn Lynch & Mike Robinson, Jackson admitted that while he “hates to say it,” and insists he’s “not sour” about his NFL career, he no longer watches the NFL.
“And I hate to say it, and it’s not that I’m sour. We sat and watched golf. I don’t watch any baseball, football, or basketball.”
Host Robinson pushed Jackson to explain why a former NFL and MLB player wouldn’t watch either football or baseball. The former L.A. Raiders running back explained that since he already “did the job,” he didn’t feel the need to watch someone else try to do the same.
“That was my job. I know I did my job right. I did my job to the best of my ability. I don’t need to watch somebody else do my job, or do what I used to do as a job.”
But there’s more. Jackson expressed that he would watch football if it resembled the sport he played — not, as he described it, “a dance contest.”
“Besides, for me right now—and I can’t take (anything) from these young cats playing—but I’d rather watch football. I don’t need to see a dance contest. I don’t need to see a celebration. I don’t need to see that, dude.”
Jackson is likely not the only former player who’s rubbed the wrong way by the showmanship and swagger displayed by this generation of players. They were raised in a different era, so it makes sense that they value a little bit more disciplined approach.
If Jackson had celebrated mid-game like players do today, he says he would have received a tongue-lashing. Instead, the former two-sport star suggested that today’s players should wait until the game is over and they’ve won before celebrating.
What made Jackson so unique was how disciplined he was despite having more god-given talent than arguably any other player in NFL history. However, when asked whether he thinks he’s the greatest athlete in NFL history, Jackson, who doesn’t love to toot his own horn, decided to steer away from that debate.
“You know what? I think that I’m the best at (being) the best dad. I’m the best grandpa. I’m the best brother, brother-in-law, uncle. I’m the best friend.”
Jackson’s careers in both the NFL and MLB are two of the biggest “what could have been” in sports. And yet, Jackson doesn’t focus on his past or pine after awards he could’ve or should’ve won. Instead, focusing on family, he has made peace with a pro sports career that never quite reached its immense potential.
