Dear ESPN: Please Hire Gale Sayers

Gale Sayers was on Mike and Mike in the Morning today, and although I heard less than five minutes of the interview, I learned more about football than I usually learn watching two hours of NFL Countdown. The Mikes asked Sayers to evaluate LaDainian Tomlinson and compare him to great runners of the olden days, and Sayers launched into a detailed analysis of the way offensive football has changed.

Sayers pointed out, for instance, that when he was playing, the hashmarks were closer to the sidelines than they are today, which made it harder to run on the short side of the field, with the defense adjusting its formations to force runners out of bounds. Conversely, that made things more wide open on the other side of the field for runners of Sayers' day.

Sayers also discussed artificial turf (which would have made guys like him faster) and medical advances (which would have lengthened his career). And he talked about the way rules have changed to favor the passing game.

My point with all this is that Sayers is a great analyst, and I can't for the life of me figure out why I don't see him on TV more often. Why doesn't ESPN hire him to do regular commentary and analysis? He's smart, articulate and still follows the game closely. It's possible that he's been offered jobs and turned them down (his Wikipedia entry says he's a successful public speaker and businessman) but if he's willing to go on Mike and Mike for free, presumably he'd be willing to do regular ESPN appearances for money. If ESPN hired him, it would be money well spent.