A word of advice to any young college football players who are seeking counsel on important matters: stay away from Deion Sanders.
Deion is my boy. I’ve been a big fan of his ever since I can remember, and he is always good for a laugh or a good quote. During his playing days, the athleticism he showed was peerless and he’s probably one of the Top 5 athletes to ever live in terms of pure athletic ability.
As a mentor, though, he’s not exactly a success. Far from it.
The latest transgression involves Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant, who has been ruled ineligible for the season by the NCAA for some weird rule that hasn’t been fully explained. Apparently, Bryant hung out with Deion some this summer, which isn’t a violation of NCAA rules, except that Bryant thought it was, so he lied to the NCAA when they asked him about his relationship with Sanders. Got all that? Me neither. Why didn’t Deion tell Dez to tell the NCAA what happened? Why wasn’t Bryant aware that there were no rules broken during his visits with Primetime? Where was his mentor?
I feel bad for Bryant; he’s just a twenty-something who had no idea how to answer the vague, out-of-left-field questions the NCAA began to ask him. He panicked and tried to hide some details. Had he had better advice from his coaches and the people around him (cough, Deion, cough), he’d be suiting up to play this weekend. Instead, he’s facing an uncertain future at
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this from Sanders, however. More recently than his dealings with Bryant, Deion was an “advisor” for 49ers draft pick Michael Crabtree. As we all know, Crabtree took forever and 10 minutes to sign with San Fran and is FINALLY getting into camp now that we’re 5 weeks into the NFL season. If Sanders really cared about the future of Crabtree, wouldn’t he try to get him signed as soon as possible? Knowing how hard it is to succeed in the league for regular rookies, let alone guys who hold out for 10 weeks, Deion should have encouraged Crabtree to get the best deal possible, but then advised him to take what was being offered once training camp was nearing an end and the preseason was about to begin. By missing so many games, practices, meetings, and workouts, Crabtree will essentially be worthless to
Oh, but wait, there’s more. West Virginia RB Noel Devine, a divinely gifted runner (sorry I had to go there), was a problem child coming out of high school back in 2007. Attending the same high school as Sanders once did in Fort Myers, Florida, Devine had poor grades, a couple of young children, and had no parental figures in his life (his parents died from AIDS when Devine was young). Sanders reached out to the young man and guided him through his final years of high school and helped him decide which college would be the right choice for his future. At one point, Sanders even let Devine move into his house and looked into becoming his legal guardian. Nearly a year later, in early 2008, Devine was arrested outside of a
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s three guys Deion Sanders has attempted to mentor, and all three of them have made poor choices that could ultimately affect their futures significantly. For all of the great plays, memorable moments, and wonderful accomplishments Sanders achieved during his playing career, you’d think he’d be able to profess some sort of last advice to young men attempting to follow in his shoes. Clearly, that’s not the case. I hope that these fellas have learned from their mistakes and do find someone that is able to give them strong advice and encouragement throughout their transition to manhood.
One of Crabtree's associates at his contract signing on Wednesday morning? MC Hammer. On second thought, Deion may not be so bad after all.
~~ Lank
No comments:
Post a Comment