You Never Know Who's Listening

Hall of Fame RB Gale Sayers was an honorary captain for the Reds on Monday at Great American Ball Park, and stopped to talk to Joe Danneman and I about disgruntled Bengals WR Chad Johnson.

It really didn't matter which national microphone was in front of him this offseason. Ocho was willing to talk, and it turns out Sayers, a standout back with the Chicago Bears in the 60s and 70s, was listening.

And not having any of it.

"I think the players on the teams that I played on would say, 'Hey, get the hell outta here. We don't need this. We don't need this.'"

Sayers remembers making $25,000 a year and playing for the love of it. "Today," Sayers says, "the players are playing I believe for just the money. Championship? They don't even care about winning a Super Bowl. They wanna say I'm the highest paid Wide Receiver."

Sayers owns his own business in the Chicago area, a venture he undertook in 1984. He says athletes like Chad, unhappy while in the midst of a $35 million dollar contract, are "sad", and should remember that athletes of the past paved the way for today's stars to flourish under the bright lights.

"They're standing on somebody else's shoulders. You know, players that played 5, 10, 15 years ago, they made this game what it is today. And a lot of players today think they made the game. No they did not."