Sanders Doesn’t Have Heart of a Lion

Barry Sanders is an ingrate. He’s a traitor. He’s a stinkin’ little weasel. He ought to be spanked and told to stand in a corner. He also is a great football player, the best most of us have seen.

For a decade, he has done extraordinary work for ordinary teams. What he does with a football in his hand can not be done by any other man on this earth.

So, in our winning-redeems-all-sins culture, Sanders will be forgiven his trespasses the minute he scoots between some giant’s legs and pops up 80 yards later in the end zone. Call it the Latrell Sprewell Syndrome. Heaven help us, a dozen NFL teams would hire Orenthal James Simpson should the famous defendant demonstrate an ability to gain 100 yards this Sunday.

It’s not a world we like, but it’s the world it is, and in this world it would be no surprise to hear Barry Sanders has been given his way. Galling as it would be to see yet another popsicle handed to a spoiled brat, the Lions surely will hear: TAKE HIS MONEY, TRADE HIM AND DO IT NOW!!!

Those exclamation points may, in fact, be delivered by NFL muckety-mucks because Sanders is the rarest of football players, one whose presence in the ultimate team game makes a difference not only in winning and losing but in attention paid and tickets sold.

Look, the pouting little twit Steve Francis wasn’t the first prodigy ever to ball up his fists and hold his breath until he turned blue. John Elway comes to mind. He did it in 1983 because he didn’t want to fall into the Bob Irsay loony bin in Baltimore. Now comes Francis bending the NBA to his whims without having broken a pro sweat. He hates Vancouver without having been to Vancouver, probably thinking Canada is a foreign country not up to speed on indoor plumbing.

To soothe his fevered brow, the NBA falls all over itself to get him out of the wilds of British Columbia to the safe haven of civilized Houston. And if pro basketball does that for Steve Francis, what might the NFL do to get Barry Sanders back in play on Sundays?

Here’s a man who in another season, maybe less, can set the all-time NFL rushing record. He needs only 1,458 yards to surpass Walter Payton. Though Sanders “retired” two months ago, saying football no longer mattered, it’s clear he now wants to play. His agent’s negotiation with the Lions is a signal Sanders wants to end his silly vacation. But he wants to do it on one condition: He wants out of the Lions’ organization.

To make that happen, he has offered to repay $5.4 million of a signing bonus if the Lions will release him or trade him.

Well, that’s not much of a deal from the Lions’ point of view because the facts indicate Sanders must repay that money anyway. It seems to be money due him only if he played in each of the next four seasons. His offer to the Lions appears to be nothing more than what he’d be legally obligated to give them.

So, with contract law apparently on their side, the Lions are playing hardball. They say they’ll never let Sanders go to another team. It’s either the Lions or nobody, they say.

There could be two reasons for saying that. The Lions could be posturing in hopes of getting a better deal. Or, and this is more likely, their refusal to release/trade Sanders is based on the idea that although it’s impossible to get real value for him during the season, it’s all but a certainty they’d get a sensational deal in the offseason when teams can make salary-cap room.

There’s also the possibility, rumored about Detroit, Sanders would come back to the Lions next season if his apparent nemesis, Bobby Ross, is no longer the coach.

Ross’ work in two seasons may be reason enough for dismissal. His Lions have gone 14-18; he has had bitter words with players and he is seen as the cause of Sanders’ defection. If added to all of that is the possibility of Sanders’ return upon Ross’ departure, the coach’s future in Detroit is uncertain.

At the same time, it ought to occur to the Lions that Sanders seldom says anything he doesn’t mean. If he says he’ll never again play for Detroit, the track record suggests that’s precisely what he means -- in which case the Lions have to think of what’s best for the organization.

The questions become:

1. Is it best to play principled hardball and demand that a contract-breaker honor a contract he says he’ll never honor?

2. Or would it be smarter to drop the weasel, gain a few million dollars and get a handful of young players?

What ought to happen is that the Lions, having exercised their macho muscles, use their brains. Make a deal with someone who’ll give them $10 million and whatever draft choices they want in return for the rights to Sanders.

If a deal of that magnitude sounds ridiculous, remember what the Saints did to get Ricky Williams, who never will be a Barry Sanders.

Yes, Sanders at any price bumps into salary-cap regulations. But y’know what? Maybe two people understand the salary cap, and those nerds work for the NFL. The commish Paul Tagiliabue, if he’s worth a dime, will sit on those people and say, “Find a way to get Barry Sanders in uniform. And find it Now!”