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Barry Sanders covered a lot of ground and left people wanting more in his first full-fledged news conference in five years.
It was a lot like the style that made him a Hall of Fame running back in 10 seasons with the Lions.
In a 45-minute session Tuesday at Ford Field, Sanders gave insights into why he retired on the eve of training camp in 1999 and his silence for the last four years.
Sanders appeared eager to build a bridge of reconciliation with the team. He expressed no regrets about the way he retired but admitted he might have handled it better. He notified the franchise by fax.
He made up his mind to retire before the final game of the 1998 season -- a loss at Baltimore.
"I got to my locker, I just broke down," Sanders said. "It hurt because I knew that I was leaving something that had just taken me to places that I would never have been able to go. Yeah, it was one of the toughest decisions of my life.
"It hurt a lot. In a lot of ways, it still hurts."
more
It was a lot like the style that made him a Hall of Fame running back in 10 seasons with the Lions.
In a 45-minute session Tuesday at Ford Field, Sanders gave insights into why he retired on the eve of training camp in 1999 and his silence for the last four years.
Sanders appeared eager to build a bridge of reconciliation with the team. He expressed no regrets about the way he retired but admitted he might have handled it better. He notified the franchise by fax.
He made up his mind to retire before the final game of the 1998 season -- a loss at Baltimore.
"I got to my locker, I just broke down," Sanders said. "It hurt because I knew that I was leaving something that had just taken me to places that I would never have been able to go. Yeah, it was one of the toughest decisions of my life.
"It hurt a lot. In a lot of ways, it still hurts."
more
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