Q+A Deion Sanders The former football and baseball star hosts ESPN's The New American Sportsman on Mondays.

Author:
Mark Bechtel

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.