The newest inductee into the JerkishBehavior Hall of Fame is one of the greatest football players and arguably thee best running back of all-time in Barry Sanders. Growing up, my favorite running back was Emmit Smith and my cousin’s was Barry Sanders and he used always tell me that Emmit had a Hall of Fame offensive line and players around him while Barry Sanders did it all by himself. As the years have gone by and my appreciation of individual greatness having grown greatly, my cousin was right in that Barry Sanders was arguably thee best running back ever sans Walter Payton. This is about Barry Sanders who was a legend the moment he stepped foot in the backfield. In high school, Barry didn’t play running back until the 4th game of his senior year but in the last 7 games rushed for 1,322 yards and made the All-State team, BANANAS!!! During his lone season as a starter in his junior year at Oklahoma State, Barry Sanders had the greatest season in college football history by many experts. Listen to these UNFUCKINBELIEVABLE stats, Barry Sanders had 7.6 yards per carry average (4.0 would be out of this world) and averaged 200 yards a game including rushing for over 300 yards in 4 games. Barry Sanders set college football records with 2,628 rushing yards, 37 rushing touchdowns, 5 consecutive 200 yard rushing games (one 200-yard rushing game in a career is a great accomplishment), and scored at least 2 touchdowns in 11 consecutive games. For an encore to end his career in the Holiday Bowl, Barry Sanders had 222 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns in only THREE quarters, who does that? Needless to say, Barry Sanders won the Heisman Trophy that year as the best player in college football. Barry Sanders set 34 NCAA records during this season and is the 2nd best college football player of all-time according to ESPN.
Barry Sanders continued blazing his legendary trail as the greatest once he entered the NFL for the Detroit Lions. Barry finished 2nd in the entire league in rushing and touchdowns as a rookie and won Rookie of the Year. Barry continued to improve his ridiculous numbers every year including NFL records of 5 1,500 yards rushing seasons, 25 games of 150 yards or more rushing, and 15 touchdown runs of 50 yards or more. Barry Sanders lowest season rushing total was 1,115 yards which is some running backs career best. Barry Sanders career best rushing season came in 1997 when obtained the Holy Grail for running backs and had a 2,000 yard rushing season which has only been accomplished three times in NFL history and he won MVP as the games best player that year as well. Barry Sanders won the rushing title 4 times and came in 2nd three other times. Barry Sanders was selected to the Pro Bowl (football’s All-Star team) for his entire 10-year career and won Offensive Player of the year twice. These numbers are even more incredible considering Barry Sanders was only 5’8 which is rare since most successful running backs are at least 5’10 to 6’0. Barry Sanders showed that greatness can come in any size and broke the mold. Barry Sanders was so unstoppable because his height in that he was so low to the ground that he was impossible to catch and see along with the possessing an infamous spin move and the greatest juke moves the world has ever seen (Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson combined had nothing on Barry just ask #42 of the New England Patriots who shall remain nameless) which has led to many broke ankles of opposing defenders. Barry Sanders was in greater than his numbers in that he was probably the most humble athlete ever. Barry Sanders never celebrated his touchdowns or unbelievable flashy moves but just handed the ball to referee and went back to the huddle. Barry Sanders never wanted to bring attention to his play and only cared about winning. Unfortunately, Barry Sanders never came close to winning a championship because of a week supporting cast but he will always be considered a winner to everyone. Sidebar: Barry Sanders had the rawest non-cleat turf shoes ever in the Nike Zoom Turf Training with straps. As arguably the greatest running back ever to do it, the newest inductee into the JerkishBehavior Hall of Fame is Barry Sanders.
5 JerkishBehavior Moments
1. Barry Sanders abruptly retired from the game of football at the top of his game and was within his normal season average of 1,400 yards from breaking the all-time rushing record held by Walter Payton. Barry Sanders retired because he was tired of losing and felt like his team wouldn’t get any better anytime but instead of being disloyal to his franchise he retired instead, WOW, who does that?
2. In 1997, Barry Sanders rushed for only the 3rd ever 2,000 yard season and ran off a NFL record 14 consecutive 100 yard games including two 200 yard rushing games while en route to his lone MVP trophy. Oh by the way, Barry Sanders only had 53 yards rushing after the first 2 games, JERK!!!
3. During his rookie year, Barry Sanders was 10 yards away from his 1st rushing title but declined to go back into the game because he didn’t care about that kind of stuff, UNHEARD OF!!!
4. The most infamous Barry Sanders run was when he made #42 for the New England Patriots at the time literally do a 360 from his juke move and #42 after the game sweared there was two of him on that play.
5. Barry Sanders is only the 2nd player ever to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame while still in his 30’s (Gale Sayers is the other.), CRAZY.
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