Gale Sayers still sings "Bear Down" in his spare time and is convinced the Bears will not win a championship if they get away from their running game. Those are just a couple of the things we learned from the Hall of Fame running back when the Northwest Herald's Tom Musick and I caught up with him at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon.
Like his former teammate Dick Butkus, Sayers was in town as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Fan's Choice program, in which fans are being given a small say in the election process of future Canton inductees.
Do you think because of this program the Hall of Fame will put a lot of stock into what fans say?
Gale Sayers: I think they will. What's the show on TV, "Dancing With The Stars"? The fans got most of the say-so in that. I don't like that. They should be voted on by the people who know that they can dance and things like that. I think this way the Hall of Fame, the people that vote for the Hall of Famers, potential Hall of Famers, they are sports reporters and people like that so they know the game, they've been following the game for 30, 40, 50 years. Those are the people whose votes should count the most.
What's it like to be here on a game day? Do you still feel the same emotions you did as a player or is it not the same at all?
GS: I always feel the emotions when I hear the playing of the national anthem that turns me on. After that, here comes the kickoff. But I enjoy the game very, very much. [There's] a couple things I don't like in the game, but no, I still enjoy it.
Do you ever get sick of hearing that "Bear Down" song?
GS: No, never. It's a great song. I enjoy it.
Do you still sing it?
GS: Yes, I do sing it. (Laughs)
In terms of this season, is it going to be different seeing a Bears team that focuses more on the passing game, compared to teams of years past?
GS: No question. We've had great running backs play for the Chicago Bears. I hope they don't get away from [the running game], because if they do get away from it, they will not win a championship. You got a running back back there in [Matt] Forte; I think he's a fine young running back and he can do a good job for us if they use him. If they don't use him, then they're wasting a great back, and so I just hope that [Jay] Cutler does a better job than he did [against Green Bay] and really run the whole offense. You can't have a passing game without a running game. It will not work. You will not win a championship.
What do you see in Forte that maybe reminds you of yourself or maybe another type of running back?
GS: I don't see anything in him that reminds me of myself. He's just a fine running back. He can pick holes, and when he has enough speed, [he can] go for a touchdown. But I think if you continue to use him, he's going to be an outstanding football player, but [if] you don't use him, he's going to get very, very frustrated.
In your mind, how much has the game changed from when you played to now?
GS: The thing that I see that's changed in the game that people never think or say anything about, when we played, O.J. Simpson, myself, Jim Brown, some other players -- when we played, the hash marks, they were about 7 yards inside the sidelines. You probably don't even remember when the hash marks were about 7, 8 yards inside the [sidelines] on both sides of the field. The officials put the ball on the hash marks, so you wouldn't go 7 yards to the sideline, because there was no way you could run when you did that. So everybody would go to the wide side of the field [on] running plays. The defense knew that, so they would slant to the other side of the field, so they had an advantage over the offense. Just check it out today [the hash marks] are right in the middle of the field. There's no short side of the field, so they can run any way they want to run. That's the thing that people don't know, and this is why running backs gain thousands of yards, 15,000 a career, because they didn't have those types of things to deal with. Other than that, it's a good game.