By Justin Porreca
Staff Writer
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The life that Brian Bosworth wants back is something a cheesy Dish Network commercial cannot bring him. Despite an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary solely dedicated to his meteoric rise and fall, which aired this past Tuesday, do people still know who Brian Bosworth is?
“They either didn’t like me or had a preconceived notion of who I was. They didn’t like ‘The Boz,’” Bosworth said in an article with Muscle and Fitness.
Bosworth’s alter ego was bigger than him, bigger than Oklahoma. The Boz was egotistical, narcissistic, arrogant, rebellious, cocky, outlandish, childish, and a complete circus act. The Boz was a better fit in Vince McMahon’s WWF than the NCAA or NFL.
On the field, away from the flashing cameras and microphones shoved in his face, Bosworth was the charismatic leader of the Oklahoma Sooners defense. Ever since his first game, which was a coming out party for Bosworth, a “Release the Kraken” type moment, he was a bad man.
He led the Sooners from the bottom of the Big 8 to National Champions in 1985. He wreaked havoc. He was a force to be reckoned with. He would put on jaw-dropping performances, like his 22 tackles against the Miami Hurricanes.
Due to his tremendous performances on the field, Bosworth became the first winner of the Dick Butkus Award, which honors the nation’s best linebacker, in 1985, his sophomore season. He won it again in 1986, becoming the first and only two-time Dick Butkus Award winner. He was also an All-American in 1985 and ‘86. He led the Sooners in tackles every season he was with the team.
Unfortunately, Bosworth’s play on the field and his accolades were not enough to propel him into superstardom. The Boz parlayed Bosworth into another stratosphere, and once he was gone, it was a futile effort to try to get him back.
He was busted for steroids by the NCAA, despite being off of them. This led to his suspension and him patrolling the sidelines of the 1987 Orange Bowl, and ultimately the moment that changed Bosworth’s life.
Instead of staying out of trouble, like his coach Barry Switzer advised him to do, the Boz consumed Bosworth’s judgment.
Bosworth appeared on the sidelines with a t-shirt that read, “National Communists Against Athletes.” The shirt brought on a media firestorm, and ultimately caused his dismissal from the Sooners. Bosworth’s only choice from there was to enter the NFL, which brought him more scrutiny and controversy.
This was the beginning of the end of Boz. He was free-falling from the dazzling heights which he ascended in his freshman season.
He opted out of entering the 1987 NFL Draft to avoid being chosen by an abysmal team. He wanted to land with a big market team, like the Raiders, Giants, Jets, or even the Eagles. So he decided to enter the Supplemental Draft in June of ‘87. He was the prize jewel of the draft; whoever landed him got themselves a franchise linebacker. None of his desired teams won the Supplemental Draft lottery. The Seahawks won, gave up their 1988 first round pick, and took the smack-talking Bosworth.
Bosworth’s tenure with the Seahawks and the NFL was short-lived, not because he was an atrocious linebacker in the pros, but because his body failed him miserably.
“Under intense scrutiny and intense pressure, on a very old football team, [I] still made the playoffs for the first time in seven years, was second on the team in tackles, and dislocated my shoulder against the Houston Oilers and continued to play on it anyway,” Bosworth told Muscle and Fitness’s Matt Tuthill. “If anyone took the time to look back and see what really happened to Boz, that was the undoing of him physically as a football player.”
Bosworth’s body only allowed him to last three seasons in the NFL before he had to pull the plug on his career due to serious shoulder injuries.
The lasting image of Bosworth that sports fans have of him is the iconic showdown at the goal line with Bo Jackson. As you probably know, Jackson ran over Bosworth, and that ultimately defined his career. He’s labeled as a bust for that reason, and also because he only lasted three seasons.
But it’s completely asinine to label a player a bust based on one play and injuries derailing him. Did Bosworth come into the league and stink up the joint as an inside linebacker? No. So, is he truly a bust because he could not finish his career due to injuries?
Bosworth’s career was rather good, albeit short-lived. He was on pace to be a great inside linebacker for the Seahawks. If Bosworth had opted to sit out his sophomore season in the NFL to repair his shoulder, he would not have been forced into early retirement. Instead, he continued to play on a bum shoulder, partially due to the Seahawks hierarchy riding on his shoulders in hopes of him leading the team back to the playoffs. The question remains though, if Bosworth’s career came to an abrupt end due to injuries and he is labeled a bust, why isn’t Jackson considered a bust?
Jackson, who was originally drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986, then re-drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders in the seventh round in 1987 because he opted to play baseball in ‘86, did not live up to the hype that surrounded him. Jackson was a decorated and celebrated college football player, but that did not guarantee success in the NFL.
Why is that? Injuries derailed him as well. Jackson blew his hip out in a playoff game versus the Bengals in 1991, and needed a hip replacement.
His career was shut down. Four seasons, only one season more than Bosworth, still an incredibly short tenure, but he’s not labeled a bust. Both had short but good careers, but one player is has “bust” etched next to his name, and the other does not. It’s because everyone hated the Boz, and his failure gave people the chance to pounce on him when he was weak.
No one defines Bosworth as ahead of his time or as the architect of the alter ego or the over-the-top persona. Bosworth’s antics as “The Boz” paved the way for “Neon” Deion Sanders. No one stops and thanks Bosworth for being the inspiration to the creation of “Primetime,” either. In fact, no one even realizes this. Plus, with all of the overinflated egos swirling around the NFL today, the Boz would fit in nicely. He would be hated to an extent, but respected for his on-the-field play.
Bosworth has still failed to be elected into the College Football Hall of Fame. One of the greatest linebackers in College Football history, and he still is not in the hall.
He’s an All-American and a Butkus Award winner twice over, and he is still passed over year after year after year. It is because he is still being punished for his antics with Oklahoma as the Boz. His rebellion, which included his wacked-out mullet, is the source of the problem.
One criterion for the hall is supposedly that the player must have proven himself worthy as a citizen. However, O.J. Simpson, who was accused of killing his wife, is in the hall. Players who came decades before Bosworth, like Orlando Pace, have gotten in before Bosworth.
Brian Bosworth, who has done nothingn egregious, is being punished for acting like every other college student, a goofball. This is a glaring omission from the College Football Hall of Fame, and only time will tell when the hall will swallow their indifference and disdain for Bosworth and finally put him in.
Brian Bosworth was just a college kid. He created the Boz, the single most hated “character” in sport’s history, and thus created a short-lived superstardom. Instead of looking at his career as a glass half-empty, look at it again and again and realize how full it is.
Watch highlights of his play on YouTube, his days at Oklahoma. The man propelled himself into stardom overnight with his ferocity and on-field talent, and the Boz turned him into a legend.
