Probably my favorite piece of writing, ever.

Will Bo Jackson be the last pre-video mythical sports figure?

How much good video is available of him? Right now we are like old men at a counter talking about Babe Ruth.

I may start a thread posing this question.

 

Was in Auburn to do a story on Bo and Lionel (Little Train) James when they were playing there. James was talkative as hell and extremely funny. Bo struck me as one of the most shy superstars I'd ever been around. I'm sure it had to do with his speech impediment. You could tell he was painfully self-conscious about it.

One funny line I remember from James that day: "People see Bo walk down the street and they say, 'There goes a football player.' They see me walk down the street and they say, 'There goes a Ping Pong player.' "

 

Because of NFL Films, there are plenty of good football highlights of Bo:

And some good Auburn highlights as well:

Not much in the way of baseball, though. I've tried numerous times to find the throw-out of Harold Reynolds on the Net, but have had no luck.

Just for fun, here's a ridiculous run by "Video Bo" on Tecmo Super Bowl:

 

Reading the words doesn't do that scene justice. Hearing Buck say the words, lyrically, poetically, a quiet, reserved version of the best speech Martin Luther King or Jesse Jackson ever made, sent chills up my spine.

 

Fuck yea, dude. Awesome show for a kid growing up at that time. My neighbor almost broke his neck trying to run on the side of a barn like Bo did on that wall.

 

Holy shit! I have never seen that before......that's just unfathomable.

One of the best Bo stories I heard was after he crushed the home run in the '89 all-star game, he high-fived Kirby Puckett on the way to the dugout - and, according to Kirby, just about tore his shoulder out of the socket with the force of the hand slap. Now that's strong.

 

Bo is also a hell of a cook, apparently:



And I'm not sure if they're still going, but he did have a chain of "Bo Jackson Burger" restaurants open for a time. One of them opened near us. It closed a few weeks later (it had been a Krystal that was already going under). The burgers tasted like ass.

 

Sweet potato pie and shut your mouth.