Free Press columnist Mitch Albom talks about Barry Sanders' retirement and why it shouldn't have been a stunner. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press
Twenty years is a long time.
On a recent sweltering afternoon in late June, legendary Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders stood underneath the boughs of the mighty oaks that form a canopy of shade in front of Detroit Golf Club. To those 100-foot-tall trees, 20 years is but a slice of time. To the golf club that was founded in 1899, 20 years is but a fraction.
But in athletics, and especially in the NFL, 20 years is an eternity.