Bo Jackson was probably the greatest athlete since Jim Thorpe. Look at what he could have had and already had. A Heisman trophy with Auburn in 1985 4,575 total yards with 45 TDs 43 rushing and 2 receiving. In the NFL left with 2,782 yards and 16 TDs caught 40 passes for 352 yards and is the only MLB All Star Game and Pro Bowl Game player in both sports history. And then in MLB he was even better AL All-Star (1989) 1989 All-Star Game MVP1993 AL Comeback Player of the Year Award 20-Home Run Seasons: 4 (1987–1990) 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1989) 100 RBI Seasons: 1 1989. Had he not of gotten hurt he would have had two hall of fame inductions. The Baseball Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bo would have had it all. The greatest athlete that never was. It's amazing how humble he is about it. You have to think that on the inside it still eats him up alive knowing what he could have been. Truly an amazing individual.
Support MGoBlog: buy stuff at Amazon
OT: "You Don't Know Bo" one of the best 30 for 30 I've seen since the Fab Five story.
HAVE
Not many guys can play 2 sports @ such a high level for so many years. What a damn shame that he is not in both Hall of Fames?
He was only in the NFL for 4 years!! He also was only in MLB 6 years prior to his injury. He really didn't last long enough to accumulate a HoF career. His legend will never die though
He only played four full years in MLB, actually, before the injury. He just got a cup of coffee in 1986. He was a regular from 1987-90.
Like the elf lord "Feanor?"
And those 4 or 6 years are a hell of alot longer then most make it. Nevermind the fact he was playing two sports that most struggle to start, let alone shine, in just one. Agreed he wasn't the second coming of Jesus, but don't diminish his career because he didn't last two decades as a pro. Remember he played both in college as well. The guy was the greatest pure athlete of our era. Period.
Didn't see it but this made me lol:
Moral of the story: Bo Jackson is basically a larger, faster, less retarded Forrest Gump.
— Bryan MacKenzie (@Bry_Mac) December 9, 2012
Also, the greatest Techmo Bowl player ever. He'll always have that.
They pointed it out but he was truly Paul Bunyan of sports. Cool, he killed his priests pig with an apple! But c'mon, his legend was the marketing. Great athlete but...
You should have seen all the yards he racked up for me in Tecmo Super Bowl.
...here is an example of just how elusive and effective he was in the rushing game - he ate an entire quarter of clock on this one:
In all reality, it was a pretty good show though. At least for me, there is always a question of "what could have been" with Bo Jackson. The hip injury effectively ended both careers, but it would be interesting to think about where he might have taken each if he had been able to stay at it. It was also pretty cool that he choose to finish his degree after he left professional sports. He seems like he has done well enough for himself since then, which statistically few athletes could say in some sports.
I watched that whole thing thinking, "can he make it?!?!?"
Every football video game should have a secret code for a Bo Jackson that can be added to the roster and is unstoppable.
I'm most surprised that all the other players still had gas at the end to chase him around.
Great especially for those like me who have heard about the legend and seen the highlights, but were to young to watch. I put this one up there with the best I've seen this season with the "Benji" doc.
It was not apart of the 30 for 30 series, but still comes out of the ESPN Films pipline
I still thing Benji is the best one
I still think Benji is the best one
Bo and The U are my top two. Both have a healthy dose of Boz hatin'. Coincidence? No such thing.
Really enjoyed The U and You Don't Know Bo tonight, but my favorite was probably Pony Excess. SMU was probably deserving of the Death Penalty and I don't think there was any other way to stop their systemic corruption, but I doubt we will ever see that severe of a penalty handed down to any program making them irrelevant for nearly 30 years.
The "death penalty" didn't make SMU irrelevant for nearly 30 years; SMU made SMU irrelevant for nearly 30 years.
After any sanctions, a program can either keep cheating and stonewall, like Ohio State, USC, or Alabama, or they can commit to doing things the right way and making it back. SMU was under too much scrutiny for the former, and their administration lacked the fortitude for the latter.
I wish Ohio State would get a two year death penalty for ten years of cheating under Jim Tressel, and their utter lack of contrition, as evidenced in numerous interviews by Gordon Gee and Gene Smith.
I found the commentary in this one to be fairly annoying. Especially Klosterman. Endless annoying comparisons and platitudes.
but at least he prefeced his comparison with: "This may seem like a ridiculous comparison, but..." when trying to relate Bo to the Beatles.
Agreed, way too many metaphors. Seemed like he was trying to make Bo seem like some greek god from the Odessy instead of a freak of nature athlete.
I thought the same thing about too much Klosterman.
My reactions to him went from, at first, "Why is he even in this?" to, "Ok, I get it. Bo was a cultural icon that transcended sports and having Klosterman here isn't so bad," to, "Wow this guy is trying to turn Bo into something that feels really forced and contrived." That point was really cemented in the part at the end where he tried to frame Bo as an "anti-authoritarian" figure because Bo did the non-conformist thing of excelling at multiple things... that conclusion and his rationale was just really a stretch.
Overall great documentary though. I have a vague memory of Bo but was still pretty young when he was around so didn't know as much as what the documentary said.... all the personal stuff was really cool, like the stuff about his relationship with his mom, and just hearing him speak, how soft-spoken and well-grounded he is, and just how really he's kind of a normal guy, into hunting, his man cave, etc. He just seems like a very down-to-earth, genuinely good, kind, likable person.
Because he's Bill Simmons buddy.
Why, I don't know.
I enjoyed the Bo 30 for 30, but I thought "Benji" was the best one so far.
Was the best 30 for 30... Enough said...
The escobars was on the same level
The Two Escobars was the best, hands down.
I wept at the end of it.
This was a really good one, but my favorite is still the one about Miami football.
Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, and Marcus Dupree.
Herschel Walker remains the best athlete of the three.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/11/herschel.fitness.martial.arts/index.html
I enjoyed it. I was around to follow his career, but I forgot just how huge he was, and how crazy it was that he'd just suddenly join the Raiders in midseason (after baseball was over) and be awesome.
At that time I was into baseball cards and subscribed to Beckett Monthly. They had a "Weather Report" where readers voted in who was "hot" and who was "cold" based on how popular their cards were. I remember Bo Jackson actually being #1 on the "cold" list after he made the announcement to play football in 1987. People thought he was throwing his baseball career away. But then he turned out to be great at both sports, and soon he was #1 on the "hot" list. It's a shame he couldn't keep it going for longer.
The Two Escobars is my favorite, hands down. Caught a little bit of the Bo one last night, really looking forward to catching the whole thing.
wasn't able to watch it. Anyone know where i could find it?