He wasn't an athlete, he was a god!

July 25th

First of all I would like to say Happy Anniversary to my parents… it’s the big 3-1 for Aprile and Rick.

I was reading Jeff Pearlman’s blog today when I came across this picture…

While sitting at my desk and looking at this picture an overwhelming feeling came over me; it was my childhood.

Growing up I had my favorite Baseball players (Mark McGwire and Lenny Dykstra) and my favorite Football players (Jim Kelly and Steve Tasker) but Bo Jackson was in anther universe.

To me Bo Jackson was a god!!!

I remember thinking there was no way he was human. He was to perfect. Everything Bo did was on another level, he was a freak. It was like God had touched him on the day he was born and said “you will be the greatest athlete ever.”

The first time I ever saw Bo was in a game against the Sox. He hit 2 rockets off of the Monster; you would have thought they were going to put holes in it they were hit so hard. I remember saying I need to know everything about him. His real name (Vincent Edward), where he went to college (Auburn), where he was born (Alabama).The more I found out about him the more Bunyan like he became.

I didn't pray to god when I was little... I prayed to Bo!!!

I once read that he was standing on the Centerfield warning track in Auburn Baseball Stadium with a group of teammates. One of them turned to him and asked him to throw a baseball as far as he could. Bo took the ball, backed up against the fence, took two steps and threw the ball… it landed in the fourth row of seats behind home plate!

Hall of Famer Buck O’Neil once said that when Bo hit a baseball it made a sound he had heard come from the bats of two other players: Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

The Legend of Bo Jackson grew even more when I found out that as good as he was at Baseball, he was even better at Football. Bo was the kind of Running Back that Jim Brown wishes he could have been. If Bo Jackson would have been a car he would have had the body of a 57 Caddy with the engine of Tony Stewart’s Nascar. Who can forget the Monday night game when he made Brian Bosworth his bitch. Or when he scored that 93 yard TD and kept on running up the tunnel.

He could have played without the pads

I was hooked. I remember sitting at the dinner table and spreading the gospel of Bo Jackson.

“Mom, did you know Bo Jackson is so fast that he once hit a ball up the middle and it hit him as he was sliding into second”

“Dad did you know Bo Jackson is so strong that he when he does pushups he doesn’t push himself up, he pushes the Earth down”

I believed he could do anything. When Michael Jordan said “Bo knows Basketball” in those great “Bo Knows” Nike commercials, I actually expected to see him lining up at the 3 alongside His Airness for the Bulls. I hated Bo Diddly when he criticized Bo’s guitar playing by saying “Bo you don’t know diddly.” You are wrong sir!!! In fact; rumor is a young Vincent Edward Jackson once caught a plane to England and showed Jimmy Page the opening riff to “Stairway to Heaven”.

Bo was even the greatest video game character of all-time! Super Mario couldn't even pull this off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PBvOxicz-0

Than the unthinkable happened, he was gliding (Bo glided he didn’t run) around his O-Line against the Bengals and he got hit on his hip. I thought “he’s fine; he’ll be back next week carrying 3 Chiefs into the end zone. But he didn’t, in fact Bo never played football again.

The day my childhood died!!!

A lot of things happened to me in 1991: I was in 5th grade, I made my first All-Star team in little league, I even kissed my first girl. More than any of those though I found out Bo Jackson was human.

Like I said Bo didn’t play Football again, he did play Baseball but he wasn’t the same. Yea, he hit a homerun in first at bat back but it didn’t impact me as much as it did before. He was a DH now; His glide was replaced with a limp.

Paul Bunyan was now just 6 feet tall.

I have since grown up and have responsibilities. I have clients that complain about their commercials, I have a car payment and rent, I have college loans and I have stress. All of that went away for a brief time today when I saw that picture. Thanks Bo!!!

A couple of great videos on Bo Jackson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekL3Nm4VD0M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GPxkpjCvWI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLGADNEeb50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjO_QfFYV78