Gale Sayers Should Return The Favor

In Chicago a war of words has overshadowed the start of OTA's between a former city hero, and current fan favorite. Though I am not only a passenger on the "Urlacher is overrated" train but also the operator I tend to side with Brian on this one. Do players of yesterday have the right to their opinion? Sure, but when the logos on the helmet match, maybe you as a Hall Of Famer should give your fellow-man the benefit of the doubt. I speak of course of Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers who has since received support from Dick Butkus, and Mike Ditka. Both of which come with a lot of credibility and will surely make Brian Urlacher look like the villain in this tale. Truth is, Gale should know that as an athlete the demand to perform is great and the media scrutiny is greater. To have one of your own join in with his or her opinion is discouraging. Similar to the way it is an unspoken rule for Presidents to NOT criticize other Presidents currently in office. Unfortunately a rule which is not followed by some, but I won't get into that here. The bottom line being that Gale Sayers could have shared his opinion directly with the organization instead of through a public forum. That being the advantage of being IN the fraternity. I said earlier Gale instead should have given the organization the benefit of the doubt. The same benefit of the doubt that was given to Gale when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Many forget Gale Sayers only played 6 seasons, 2 of which he ran for over 1,000 yards. Very lackluster, in my opinion, when compared to countless other running backs. When speaking with Scott, who is a Hall of Fame voter, he'll completely disagree with me stating that Gale was incredible to watch and for those 6 seasons he was the absolute best at the running back position. My opinion won't be the popular one but if we began to grade players on 6 year runs, the Hall of Fame would be a lot more congested and a little less prestigious. When discussing Sayers I couldn't tell you how many times I've heard "He blew out his knee, so there is no telling how good he COULD have been". Great, let's induct guys for how good they COULD have been. Because of his unfortunate knee issues, Gale was given the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he should return the favor.