Fast Forward to any knowledgeable fan born after 1975 and ask them the same question and you'll undoubtedly hear- Neon Deon Primetime Sanders! Cliche, but understandable. Champ Bailey! Got hawked by the Patriots TE Ben Watson on the one yard line, but good selection I guess. Rod Woodson! Arguably the best all-time, agreed. John Lynch! Slow, white, Stanford Alum, solid pick nonetheless. And of course you'll hear names like Ed Reed, Chuck Woodson and Troy Polamalu and true students of the game will throw out names like Aeneas "I single handily ended Steve Young's career" Williams, Darrell "4.0 40 year old" Green and Darren Sharper. (An entire future post dedicated to him, stay tuned!!)
But once in a blue moon, and this has probably happened to us all, you'll come across the guy who maybe catches a Sportscenter once or twice a month, and is a little behind on the current events, but he's caught a few games and he's remembered a few stats, and when the topic of DBs comes up, he thinks he's got the cerebral fortitude and the high register football acumen to hang with the big boys in a sports-related conversation and he'll inevitably throw the name JASON SEHORN out there...
Mistake.
It was Warren Sapp who first noticed the reverse racial discrimination when he called Sehorn "extremely overrated." And then went on to inquire, "How does a guy who has never been to the Pro Bowl get so much attention?"
Great question Mr. Sapp, but you and I both know the answer. The dude was one of the best-looking dudes we've ever seen in the league and he started at a glamor position (right corner back, the last Caucasian to ever start at that position in the NFL) for the New York football Giants for eight seasons. And the dude proposed to a super-hot TV star (Angie Harmon, Law and Order) on Jay Leno's Tonight Show in front of a nationwide audience.
But I'm with Mr. Sapp. Sure the man had 19 picks in nine full seasons in the league, not too shabby, but not up to pro-bowl standards. (For reference: Ed Reed already has 44+ in only 7 full seasons and Darren Sharper has 57+ in only 11 full-seasons). And sure, the man had one of the most athletic pick-6s in NFL history (the Giants fans voted this play the best play ever in Giant stadium) (see video below),
but the dude was also a part of two of the most infamous plays in NFL history as well. Question: Do you know why we didn't see a rematch of the Patriots-Rams in Super Bowl 36? Answer: Jason Sehorn (never mind Bulger's bonehead toss near field goal range). Sehorn was picked up by the Rams in 2003 and moved to Safety after the Giants were through with him once a horrific knee injury suffered while returning the opening kickoff of the 1998 season slowed him significantly. If you remember, the Rams and Panthers played one of the longest playoff games in NFL history, going into double OT. On the first play of 2OT, Steve Smith became a legend (Delhomme still working on it), and Jason Sehorn lived up to Sapp's expectations and floundered. At that point, he should have faded from our collective football consciousness forever just like his white safety counterpart on that play Adam Archuleta has. But he hasn't.
(see the 2:00 mark on the video below)
Yup, that's Sehorn, on his face, and that's the last play of his career.
The second play occurred while boy-wonder still played for the Giants. Sehorn had an angle on a receiver heading for the pylon, but at the point of no return, when Sehorn had to decide whether to lay out and save the TD at the one yard line, or slow down and pull up his trousers that had so unceremoniously begun to fall below his waist, he chose image over grit, PR over PT, self over team, saving face over showing ass, and let an opposing receiver walk into the endzone without a fight. I never forgave him for that.
Jason and the Argonauts were a group of heroes; a band of brothers. And although Sehorn was a Trojan in college, he couldn't hold a freaking roman candle to the real heroes of the DB universe mentioned above. Ronnie Lott, also a Trojan, would lose an entire body part for the team, the profession and the game he loved. Sehorn couldn't even lose a little face. The ironic thing about all that is, if Calvin Klein came calling, Sehorn would probably bend it like Beckham and drop his pants in a New York minute.
Let's listen to Mr. Sapp and give credit where credit is due. If a football player is really white, really good-looking, and marries a beautiful model, then let's not give him too much credit until he proves to us all that he's really talented, really tough, and a true professional.
This is Little Boy Blue and I'm 6'2 soaking wet, Peace and Prosperity-
I welcome any and all comments or emails.
