[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Tuesday, July 29, 1997

Deion talks about his "act" in interview

NEW YORK-(BW SportsWire)-July 28, 1997- Deion Sanders: Football and Baseball Superstar Is Ultimate Manipulator

Deion Sanders, the sensational pro football and baseball athlete who encourages people to call him "Prime Time," confesses that he is the ultimate manipulator of the media and his fans. "Mostly I grabbed the media's attention by making boastful predictions...inflating my performances to make them seem bigger than they really were," he tells interviewer Charley Rosen in the September Penthouse.

But, he adds, "I went out and delivered the goods. I also worked harder than anybody else on the practice field, so nobody could criticism me. A lot of people talk big, but they ain't busting their butt."

He also reveals that the Sanders act - the bigger and more gaudy gold chains and his hotdogging - is in fact just an act. Off the field, he's just a normal guy who teaches kids in ghetto schools in his spare time and worries about his own children's security.

He can turn the act "On and off, like a light switch. On and off. When I get on the field, that's the real me."

Sanders resents the fact that the "media have tried to tear me down personally and professionally every which way" but he doesn't worry about it. He'll keep playing ball until it bores him. "I have to do different things that keep my life exciting. It's like you can't just get in bed with your wife and make love every night. You gotta spice it up, you know."

In the interview, Sanders also rejects charges that Dallas Cowboys teammate Troy Aikman is a racist. "I'm with the guy every day. Players know their teammates, and it would be impossible for a guy to be a closet racist on a black-dominated team. It's hard to hide that."