One of the Most Unprofessional Articles I've Ever Seen....

This came out of my local paper. This is bulls**t. Way to honor a local hero who gives back, I don't care how he acts....

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John Dudley: Amid his giving, Sanders displays another side

We know Bob Sanders had plenty of free time this past season, because he played in only two of the Indianapolis Colts' 19 games.

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It's obvious he didn't spend it hanging out with a media relations consultant.

Just after wrapping up a news conference Friday to announce his gift of computer labs at two Erie schools, Sanders lashed out at the Erie Times-News for asking about the value of the donation.

On what was officially declared Bob Sanders Day in the Erie School District, Sanders carved out a few minutes to accuse the Times-News of fixating on his contract with the Colts, of dwelling on the injuries that have interrupted what at times looks like a Hall of Fame career, and of ignoring his generosity toward students and young athletes in Erie.

"Why do you need to know how much it cost?" he angrily asked. "Why is that anyone's business? All you care about is my money."

If there were a bully of the week award in the world of philanthropy, Sanders won it in a landslide. Friday's outburst took place at McKinley Elementary School's library, with the school's principal and some teachers and district employees nearby.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a new act for Sanders.

This past summer he refused to do interviews before or during his youth football camp at Edinboro. That came on the heels of the first Bob Sanders Weekend in Erie, when he headed off all football-related questions and took exception when asked about a possible wedding date with his then-fiancee, now wife, who accompanied him on his gift-giving tour.

When I requested an interview with Sanders through the Colts during training camp this past August, the team replied that he wanted a list of questions submitted in advance and warned me that he would not discuss injuries.

I passed. Sanders had appeared in only six games in 2008, so it's not like the football part of the conversation would have lasted long.

The Times-News planned a story on Sanders earlier this month when the Colts reached the Super Bowl, but he did not respond to interview requests.

It's not just the newspaper's readers he's snubbed.

WICU-TV sports director Mike Ruzzi says a few years ago Sanders requested a DVD of his local appearances for a television show he was doing in Indianapolis. Sanders needed the DVD to be compiled and shipped out right away.

"We spent a great deal of time putting it together and the DVD made it on time," Ruzzi wrote in an e-mail. "Not a big deal on our part, we do that all the time. But when I called before the last camp asking if Bob was going to be available for an interview, I was told he was not doing interviews. That was a real letdown, since we made the effort to get the DVD out on time."

And now this latest arrogant gem from a local sports hero who doesn't have to be this bitter, this paranoid, or this short-sighted.

Yeah, I know this will sound like sour grapes from scorned media types. But I don't need Bob Sanders to like me. I don't even need him to know my name. I just need him to answer my questions -- or not -- without throwing a tantrum.

Sanders could have politely declined to say how much it cost him to put computers and printers in technology labs at Wilson Middle School and McKinley Elementary.

Instead he had his flak fetch a folder and look it up, and, with a glare, he confirmed the figure was about $20,000.

Then he turned angry, demanding to know why we needed that information.

Gee, Bob, I don't know. Maybe because we are in the information business?

By the time he was done, Sanders had told me to never write about his contract again ($37.5 million over five years).

He said he is sick of reading about how often he is hurt. (He has played in 41 of a possible 80 regular-season games during his NFL career.)

Look, Sanders is easy to root for. He is the little guy who overcame long odds. He is the generous, (usually) polite, God-fearing kid from Erie's east side who made good and hasn't forgotten the people back home.

That's why so many of us cheered -- privately or out loud -- when he became an All-American at Iowa.

It's why we cheered when the Colts drafted him and he became an All-Pro, a Super Bowl champion and NFL defensive player of the year.

But just because we cheer, we don't have to lick his boots, too.

Bob Sanders, world-class athlete, has turned into Bob Sanders, world-class control freak. He controls those who surround him, and he has shut out some of those who once were close to him. He controls media access. He tries to control the questions he is asked.

Maybe he's getting shaky advice. Maybe he's frustrated about the injuries. Too bad. Other athletes have dealt with worse without shedding their dignity.

Don't like the question, Bob? Show some class, anyhow.

Sanders made it clear Friday that he reads the Times-News regularly and he believes the newspaper never has treated him fairly. It was a ridiculous statement, but he wasn't in the mood to have a civil discussion, so I gave up trying to mount a defense.

There's a good chance he will read this and not talk to me again -- not beyond a phone call today, perhaps, to tell me how I've wronged him again.

I'll get over it, I suppose.

But there's someone else who might end up reading this, too -- my 12-year-old son. He became a big Colts fan after watching Sanders go through workouts at the team's training camp a few years ago when the paper had me drive to Terre Haute, Ind., to cover his rise to stardom.

Like a lot of kids, my son instantly was swept up in Sanders' energy, his focus, and his passion for the game.

It's going to be tough to resist the urge to go into his closet this morning and take out that No. 21 Colts jersey and slap it on eBay, knowing that someone, somewhere, probably needs to line a birdcage.


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Guy should be fired.

This comes on the heels of Bob Sanders paying admission for anyone who goes to our zoo today, and donating two computer labs to area schools....

 

Not only that, but when was the last time this writer donated that type of money?

 

Only problem is, in my opinion, this article only makes the reporter look bad. Makes him look like a whiny, selfish, childish, arrogant prick.