Prime Time
August 8th, 1967, a star is born. Connie Sanders and husband Mimm Sanders gave birth to Deion Sanders in Fort Meyers Florida. His upbringing was most certainly tough. At the age of 2 years old his mother and father divorced. Deion was raised by his mother and his stepfather Willie Knight, though his father was part of his life. His father though made some mistakes. He got involved in drugs, which sadly was a common occurrence in Fort Meyers. When he was getting his life together, he got sick, and eventually died of a brain tumor when Deion was only seven.
Sanders doesn talk much about growing up poor in Fort Meyers, but one thing that he does say, is that sports saved him from a life of crime and wrongdoing. At the age of 8 he started dominating Pop Warner. When he eventually moved on to high school Deion became a star in basketball, football, and baseball. Deion could have become a drug dealer like most of his childhood friends, but he wanted to show people that there are other alternatives to a life of crime. Hard work is the only way youl get somewhere and Deion was a prime example of that. "Let me tell you something," Sanders said in Esquire. "The best athletes in the world end up at home on the corner. Oh you bet they do. I call them Idas. 'If I'da done this, I'd be here today.' 'If I'da practiced a little harder ... I'd be a superstar.' They'll be standing on that corner till they die telling you all the things they woulda done. I see 'em all the time. Guys who were as fast as me when we were kids."All state in each sport, Sanders childhood dream was to, o be successful,cheap nfl jerseys 2013. And take care of my family. I knew I was going to be a success no matter what."
There were many colleges that wanted Sanders services, but he chose to play at FSU, where he would become a legend. Somebody handed Deion an article on the NFL players salary and he saw that corner backs did not make big money and he didn know how he would keep his promise to strike it big and help is family, so he decided he needed a gimmick that would help his marketability. With this, rime time?was born..Prime time endowed confidence, swagger, cockiness, flashy, all into one. When he arrived on the FSU campus, the license plate on the back of his car read rime Time? Deion demanded that his own poster be sold at home games. On the field, Deion had to make the change from his main position of quarterback, to a full time corner back. Deion strived. In his first year at FSU he was a 3rd team All American. In that same year, Deion also played baseball for FSU and batted 331. The following year he swiped 27 bases while leading FSU to the college world series. Sanders also ran the 100-, 200-, and 400-meters for the track team and helped lead the track and field team to a conference championship.. In the same year he was an All American cornerback. In his 3rd and final season, Sanders helped lead the Seminoles to a 1988 Sugar Bowl victory and cliched the victory with a late interception,. In this year he was 1st team All American for the 2nd consecutive year, won the Daid Thorpr aard, led the nation in punt returning average, and broke FSU school's record for career punt return yards. Just to show how incredible of worker Deion was, he once played in the first game of a doubleheader, ran a leg of a 4x100 relay, then returned to play another baseball game. While he attended FSU, Deion was a churchgoer and read at least one verse from the Bible each day, but was no Christian. The rime Time?struck numerous times while in college. Before a punt return he shouted to the opposing team that he was going to bring it back for a touchdown, and he did. He also told fans of the opposing team that they should get there many back because they were losing so badly.
While there was no question Deion was a better football player than baseball player, that didn stop him from being drafted by the MLB...twice. Directly out of high school he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals, but he did not sign. While in College, the New York Yankees drafted him and he would ultimately end up playing with them. He told everyone that baseball was a relief from the hard knocks of football. He was called up to the big leagues In June of 1989. In 47 at bats that year with the Yankees, he only batted .234.
Shortly before his MLB debut, Deion was drafted 5th overall by the Atlanta Falcons The Falcons offered him $400,000, but Deion said that he wanted $11million. The Falcons were panicking knowing that Sanders could just go play baseball,wholesale Cleveland Browns Jerseys, so they quickly offered him a more serious offer of $4.4 million which Deion accepted. In under 24 hours Deion hit a home run with the Yankees and went off to play in his first professional football game.
Deion started his NFL career off with a bang. On his first career kick return, Sanders returned it all the way to the way for a touchdown. During his 5 year career at Atlanta, Deion was only able to make the playoffs once, but he helped the team immensely. He complied 24 career interceptions, along with 10 touchdowns in Atlanta. He also made 3 pro bowls, 2 all pro teams and was a special team machine.
During his stretch in Atlanta for football, Deion also continued his MLB career. After being released by the Yankees in 1990,wholesale cheap jerseys, Sanders was signed by the Atlanta Braves. This made traveling easier for Sanders since both professional teams e was on resided in Atlanta. Sanders enjoyed most of his success as a baseball player while in Atlanta. For the 3 and a half seasons he was there he complied 298 hits, 22 HR, 69 RBI, 75 steals, .264BA, .320OP, .423SLG%, and a 99OPS+. In 1992 he also led the MLB in triples with 14. This year was a special one for the Braves since they made it all the way to the World Series, though there was a mini feud along the way. On October 11th, the Falcons had a game against the Miami Dolphins, which Deion attended. Later that day the Braves had a playoffs game, which he also attended with a charter plane. In hopes of becoming the first athlete to play in two pro sports the same day. Sadly, Braves manager Bobby Cox did not play him. One of the broadcasters, Tim McCarver, criticize Deion on air and called him selfish. A few days later the Braves won the NLCS and Prime Time got his revenge by dumping water on McCaver after the game. The Braves went on to lose in the World Series to the Blue Jays, but Sanders came to play. He batted .533 with 4 runs, 8 hits, 2 doubles, and 1 RBI while playing with a broken bone in his foot.
In 1994, Sanders left the Georgia Dome in what he once called, is house?to his new home in San Francisco. Deion returned to the team after a few games because of his duties with the Cincinnati Reds, whom he was traded to mid season, but that did not stop Sanders from making his impact felt from the get go. He had 6 interceptions to go with 303 interception return yards to lead the league, and he added 3 touchdowns to that. He made his return to Atlanta one season after leaving them to go the 49ers. In that highly anticipated affair, Deion got into a fight with former teammate Andre Rison, and later ended up making an interception and bringing it back for a touchdown while staring down his former teammates. The season would end in a success for Deion. He was elected to the Pro Bowl, the all pro team, and he was Defensive Player of the Year. To top it all off he helped lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl victory including his interception in a rout over the Chargers,. While doing so, Sanders became the first player to eve play in a World Series and a Super Bowl. Sadly, this would be the first and last season for Deion as a 49ers. The media proclaimed Sanders as the piece to the puzzle, but star receiver Jerry Rice was irate at that perception and he felt the credit wasn given to the team. Sanders felt unwanted and unappreciated by the 49ers so they parted ways.
After he left the 49ers, Sanders took the year off from baseball due to arthroscopic surgery, but he still had to sign with a team and so the bidding wars began for the talented corner back. Sanders ultimately ended up signing with the Cowboys and stated, always wanted to be a star didn I? Now I get to be a star everyday on my helmet? He signed a 7 year deal worth $35 million, to go along with a $13 million signing bonus, which made him the highest paid defensive player in the game. Deion was unable to join the team until mid season because of the surgery, but his presence was made immediately. Just like he did with the 49ers, he helped lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl victory in his first season. In the Super Bowl game, Deion made history with his 47 yard catch. It marked the first person in NFL history to catch a pass and make an interception in the Super Bowl. He later took a shot at his former team by saying, "I didn't even get to hold the trophy last year".
What else if there for Deion to do? Well, we all know he is very flamboyant, but nobody ever thought they would see the day where Sanders would make an album, but they were wrong. In 1995 Prime Time released a rap album titled, rime Time? The album ended up being a huge disappointment, to nobody surprise, but it did get its 15 seconds of fame with the song, ust Be the Money? which was in the top 10 charts.
Prime Time would end up playing four more seasons with the Cowboys. During this stretch he continued his MLB career. Other than his 56 steals in a season, nothing of substance really came to show for it. The Cowboys were not able to continue their dominance and they slowly creeped their way to mediocracy. Sanders ended up with 7 total touchdowns during this time as well as 14 interceptions. One remarkable feat that Sanders accomplished was the fact that he became both a starter on offense and defense being the first person since Chuck Bednarik over 30 years before.
Prime Time had it all. He had the money, fame, luxury, family, but that all came crashing down. His wife wanted a divorce from Deion and that proved to be the downfall of Deion. He was extremely depressed, his wife wouldn let him see his kids, and his thoughts immediately went to suicide. His first attempt was standing by a cliff with cars whizzing by. Sanders wanted to jump in front of one of them, but he felt bad for the person who would have hit him and luckily he didn go through with it. He came very close at his second attempt. He jumped into his black Mercedes and was off. In the process, he almost ran over friend and attorney, Eugene Parker, who was trying to stop him. Deion went to to a spot he had seen earlier where the road was near a cliff. He hesitated, then pushed the gas and the car leaped over the edge of the cliff, hung in midair, then went straight down. The Mercedes fell flat into a pool of water. Ther was no explosion, not even a scratch on the car. At the time Deion was listening to Kirk Franklin's "Conquerors? which was one of his favorite songs because it was about overcoming adversity through the power of God's love. God proved to be there when Deion needed him most, and this was the turning point in Deion life.
Deion eventually came out with an autobiography called, Power, Sex, and Money: How Success Almost Ruined My Life. The book told us about his past, as well as his downfall. Deion began to read Christian books as well as listen to sermons. He was a new man, a better man. Sanders was now able to handle all the temptations and wrong doing of his past a lot better. He was tested right away though. In his book, examples are shown to show the improvement of Deion as a person. hile he was playing in the outfield during a Reds game in Houston, a loudmouth started yelling "Deion you *#!#?* jerk. You garbage! You suck!" At the end of the inning Deion ran over to the wall where the guy was sitting and said "Hey, man, you know what? God loves you. God bless you!" After that the guy shut up. But the next night a whole group started screaming obscenities at Deion. He went over to them and said "Man, I'm so thankful to be here. God is good, and He loves you, too. God bless y'all!" As he trotted back to his position, one of the guys yelled "Hey, Deion, you don't have to get personal!" Then they shut up.?br />
Deion continued his career at Washington, and then after retiring he came back and played for the Baltimore Ravens. During those three seasons, Deion ended up with 9 interceptions. He then retired for good. Sanders is an 8 time Pro Bowler, 6 time All Pro selectee, a member of the 1990s All Decade Team, has 53 career interceptions, 1331 career interception return yards, 19 career non-offensive touchdowns, and he was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team. Deion changed the way teams played against him. Teams would often not even bother to look Deion way because they knew he would make a play. Sanders was one of the NFL only ock down corner? His versatility will never be matched. He has lived through every side of the spectrum, and is finally in a good place with his new wife and kids. Sanders has reached out to numerous players such as Devin Hester and Noel Devine and has proven to be an inspiration to these athletes. Sanders will go down as one of the best players to ever play the game of football, but more importantly, hel go down as a great person.
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