Q+A Deion Sanders The former football and baseball star hosts ESPN's The New American Sportsman on Mondays.
SI: So how does it feel to follow in the footsteps of last year's
host, Rick Schroder?
Sanders: (laughs) Schroder? I'm excited.
SI: Why are you qualified to be the host of The New American
Sportsman?
Sanders: I can really fish--I've been fishing since I was a kid.
Also, I can entertain.
SI: You have a 10-acre pond stocked with bass at your home in
Texas. How often do you fish on it?
Sanders: Daily. If I don't fish in the morning, I fish in the
evening.
SI: Thoreau once said, "Many men go fishing all of their lives
without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
Sanders: Who said that?
SI: Henry David Thoreau.
Sanders: Oh.
SI: So what are you after?
Sanders: Fishing is just peace, it's joy, it's calmness, it's
quietness, the relaxing, the soothing. It's so many words.
SI: But you don't hunt, is that right?
Sanders: I'm not going to say that. I shoot, but I haven't hunted
in a while.
SI: You shoot? What do you shoot at?
Sanders: I live on 112 acres, so you just take your pick.
SI: On your 1995 album, Prime Time, you rapped "I kick this like
a game of kickball." Is that the first kickball reference in rap?
Sanders: It might be, man.
SI: Have you ever rapped about fishing?
Sanders: No. We do everything else on the lake, though. Me and my
buddies are like 10-year-olds out there, kicking and screaming.
SI: In '96 you said you might join the pro bass fishing tour,
making you a three-sport athlete. What happened?
Sanders: I didn't have the time. Now I do.
SI: So you might try to join?
Sanders: Yeah, definitely. You'll see that soon.
SI: With the show, do you see yourself as bringing a certain
attitude to fishing?
Sanders: If I'm out there saying I shook up the world or holding
up the rod like I scored a touchdown [after catching a fish],
that's just me. Whatever I do, I try to bring me to the
table. --C.B.
More from Sanders at si.com/siexclusive
COLOR PHOTO: SHAZAMM/ESPN (SANDERS) Aspiring bassmaster
