The Bo Jackson overhype is ridiculous

[NFLExpert49]

Was he a rare athlete? Sure. 

Was he great at any professional sport? Not really.

He was a mediocre professional baseball player and a dangerous but overrated NFL RB. Impressive power/speed ratio, sure. "4.12?" What was Rod Jones, then?

And perhaps the silliest of all is people who actually think that had he not gotten severely injured, he would have been in the discussion as one of the greatest RBs of all-time.

Aside from the fact that he may have been the worst pass catching back to ever lace them up with the pair of bricks attached to his wrists, this is a guy who was already 28 years old at the time of his injury. Before that (and to be fair, since he missed some football games playing baseball), the best he ever averaged in a season was 86.4 rushing yards per game. For a guy who sucked in every other facet of the game, that does not put you in the discussion for greatest RBs in history. Not even close. 

He was a part-time player whose small sample size lets people's imaginations run away with them into unrealistic territory. It's like how Bills fans thought the coaching staff was stupid for not making C.J. Spiller the clear feature guy because he averaged 6 yards per carry one season while splitting carries with Fred Jackson. 

And the reality is, he was likely already about halfway done with his football career as it was. He was a novelty, not a great. 

And what's really irritating is that whenever someone presses people on the ridiculous Bo Jackson "greatness" myth, they are sure to hear a bunch or responses from people who are apparently dead serious - without a hint of tongue-in-cheek - going, "he was the best in Tecmo Bowl." People seem to be honestly believe that proves he was great. It's unreal. 

The Jackson mythology is obnoxious.

[Kiwibrown]

Not even gravity touches Bo.

[Slateman]

If you have 30 home run power, you are not a mediocre baseball player.

[DingoLadd]

This is NFL general not baseball general.

Yes, he was a better baseball player than football player.

[MistaBohmbastic]

I'd like to know what finally sent you over the edge to bring this up out of the blue at 11:30 PM est on a Tuesday night.

[NFLExpert49]

20 minutes ago, Slateman said:

If you have 30 home run power, you are not a mediocre baseball player.

You are when you swing for the fences every single plate appearance. The guy's on base percentages were atrocious. 

[showtime]

Do you have any idea how incredibly impressive it is to be a professional athlete in two different sports?  That's downright insane.  It's damn near impossible to be a pro at any sport, let alone two.  That's why when you hear people talk about the greatest athletes of the modern era, you often hear the names of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.  Look at a guy like Michael Jordan, who is the consensus greatest basketball player to ever live.  He left the sport during the prime of his career to play baseball and he wasn't very good at it.  Jordan couldn't even dream of being a pro baseball player.  I'm just using Jordan as an example of someone who was at the absolute apex of their sport and tried to play a totally different sport and couldn't do it.

[MKnight82]

Is this 30 year old salt?  Random.

[NFLExpert49]

3 minutes ago, showtime said:

Do you have any idea how incredibly impressive it is to be a professional athlete in two different sports?  That's downright insane.  It's damn near impossible to be a pro at any sport, let alone two.  That's why when you hear people talk about the greatest athletes of the modern era, you often hear the names of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.  Look at a guy like Michael Jordan, who is the consensus greatest basketball player to ever live.  He left the sport during the prime of his career to play baseball and he wasn't very good at it.  Jordan couldn't even dream of being a pro baseball player.  I'm just using Jordan as an example of someone who was at the absolute apex of their sport and tried to play a totally different sport and couldn't do it.

That's fine, but that has nothing to do with it being ridiculous that people think Bo Jackson could've been in the discussion for greatest RBs in NFL history had he not injured his hip. 

[showtime]

3 minutes ago, NFLExpert49 said:

That's fine, but that has nothing to do with it being ridiculous that people think Bo Jackson could've been in the discussion for greatest RBs in NFL history had he not injured his hip. 

Yes it does.  He's one of the greatest athletes ever.  Had he not gotten injured, he could have been one of the greatest ever.  Who knows?

[megatechpc]

Gotta totally disagree with you here man.  Bo Jackson would've been one of the greatest RB's of all time had his hip issues not derailed his career.  He was just too good an athlete and natural runner to NOT be great.  

[NFLExpert49]

15 minutes ago, showtime said:

Yes it does.  He's one of the greatest athletes ever.  Had he not gotten injured, he could have been one of the greatest ever.  Who knows?

I guess you didn't read my post. 

[megatechpc]

5 minutes ago, NFLExpert49 said:

I guess you didn't read my post. 

I read your post.  The problem is your OPINION is just laughably wrong.  Obviously we will never know what he could've been had he not had the injury (which was a lot more complex than just a simple hip injury) so any post in this thread is simply personal opinion of how good he could've been.  You also have to factor in his baseball career as well, because had Jackson played only football for his professional career who knows how much better he could've been.  The guy just did things that few other RBs in history could do athletically, and let's not simply sweep under the rug the dreadful Raiders teams he played on.  Football is the ultimate team sport and nobody can do it all by themselves.  Also, your contention that because he was 28 when he got hurt that means he had had plenty of opportunities to prove he was great is just false because Jackson only started 38 games total for his entire career (or about 2.5 full seasons).  We just simply don't know how good he could've been had multiple things have been different so its curious to me that you have made a definitive judgement that he sucked based only on opinion.

[daineraider]

He weighed 240ish could change direction very quickly and run someone over without slowing down.  That isn’t just a decent athlete.  He was also only playing football once baseball ended and he was splitting the carries with Marcus Allen.  Are his stats crazy impressive?  No, but he played fullback his first 2 years.  He wouldn’t have been better than Barry, but as a full time RB I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t have been a top 2-3 back during the 90s.

[Nabbs4u]

I'm going to assume with a rant like that you are actually old enough to of watched him "Live" and not through video/ highlights/ YouTube? If not that too explains alot.

Couple things though. There are reasons we don't see Two Sport (Major) Athletes but a handful of time in a generation, they are few and far between. You knock Jackson for supposedly not being great at either sport but with his time Split between MLB and the NFL, how could you really? Could you imagine if he only played one? Full time?

His size , speed and power are what made him dangerous. What made him one of the more feared RB to face defendively of his era. Despite having to split carries with Allen and never being the Bell Cow.  Despite only really committing 1/2 of what it takes to truly be great at either sport but good enough to be a All Star in both. Sorry but that speaks volumes about the player he not only was but could if been to me!!

His injury did derail his career. You can't deny that. Did prevent the rest of us from seeing what "could" of occurred had he played for another 4-6 years. Much in the same way injury derailed TD from possibly being considered the GOAT. Injury does that.