Bo Jackson Knows All Stars

Bo knows football.  He was the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner, clocked a 4.12 40 at the NFL combine, and went to the Pro Bowl as a Raiders running back.

Bo also knows baseball.  He slammed a near 450 foot home run in his first all star at bat twenty years ago, earning MVP honors.

Bo Jackson never was like any other athlete.  So don't treat him like one.

That's what happened when I showed up fifteen minutes late for our interview this morning.  "You're late, I have a thing about promptness" he greeted me with a sneer.  I told him I wasn't used to athletes being "on time" for interviews.  To which he retold a story about leaving his teenage sister at a Kentucky Fried Chicken years ago because he had to be somewhere and she was too busy chatting with friends to get in the car.  "I left her, period" Jackson warned me.  He was serious.

"Thanks for not leaving today" I smiled.

Bo Jackson never was like any other athlete.  But I wasn't the first to get on his nerves this morning.  Former White Sox teammate and business partner in Bo Jackson Elite Sports Complex, John Cangelosi gets those honors.

"I had to pick him up early this morning because he got in a car accident on I-294 en route to work".  Jackson picked him up and took him to his house to cook him breakfast.  "You should have seen what he was wearing"  Cangelosi laughed barely keeping a straight face.  Jackson explained his sleeveless camouflage t-shirt was a new purchase at a truck stop.  "My wife and I were returning home from Alabama and I saw it at a truck stop and liked it ... for riding my motorcycle... better than a strip mall!"  

You don't argue with Bo Jackson.  Even in a cut off camouflage t-shirt.

He's come back from hamstring strains, busted knees, broken ribs, and once played with a broken leg in college -- and didn't even know it.  One of those hamstring strains came during the 1989 All Star break.

"It seems like yesterday... nobody knew (of the hamstring strain).. I had fun, I got the opportunity to shake the hand of then President Reagan."   Not to mention hitting a mammoth home run, one of two hits in the game, stealing a base, and making a run saving catch in left field to earn MVP honors.  "It was fun, it was fun."

What wasn't fun was fighting the steroid abuse accusations by an Internet sight upon his return from hip replacement in 1993.  Jackson called a press conference, filed a lawsuit and fought for his reputation.  Back then he said, "if southern cooking and eating collard greens is steroids, then yes, I did."  Today he again denied any anabolic abuse yet admitted he heard the whispers of some of his Kansas City teammates.  "No, I would be more afraid to take something like that because just looking at it through the history of it, it's not natural.  It helps you in some ways and it hurts you in the long run.  If you do  not have it naturally, then just leave it alone."  When asked about the steroid era ballplayers of today he offered this advice.  "If you are accused of doing something like that and you know you didn't do it then you should be out there and taking action within ten or twenty minutes of someone accusing you."

Baseball is in Bo's past.  He's too busy now.

Bo didn't even realize the 2009 All Star game was tonight.  Not even realizing it was twenty years ago this week that he won the MVP at the midsummer classic.  Instead he showed me a text he sent his oldest son:  "you know it was 20 years ago I hit my All Star game home run, but my proudest moment was 23 years ago when you were born."  

Bo knows his priorities:  family, business, hobbies, and golf.

Yes that might have been Bo Jackson you saw at a truck stop filling up his 18-wheeler.  Or it could have been the golfer you saw at the local links.  "I can go out and be Tiger Woods and then the next day I will be like Charles Barkley" admits Jackson, who says, "I suck at golf, but I am addicted."

Life is good for Bo Jackson, but there's one thing left to do.

"I have a twenty year standing date with Brigadier General Jagger to fly in a P51 Mustang.  "I almost bought one in the 80's but my wife well she shot that down."

"I'd build a warehouse for it.  C'mon three car garage and a P51 garage!"

Bo knows what he likes.  Bo isn't like many athletes.  He never was.

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