Deion Sanders Explains The Difference Between Prime & Deion | Taylor Rooks X

So you have said that you save the prime persona for football. Who is prime? Who is Dion? Dion is kind of recluse, calm, very introverted, really, really very introverted, country boy with a city swag, love the fish, loves anonymity, if you could believe it. I want to pause there because I think there will likely be a lot of people that don't believe that, that you like anonymity and being introverted. Yeah, very recluse. I don't like crowds. I know how to show out in the crowd, but I don't really like crowds. I really function well in crowds and you don't catch me in crowds most, unless I'm in a game, but you won't never see me in that realm. Prime is totally different. Prime is that alter ego that we all have that I've just have had an opportunity to enact, to really put some legs on and make him work. Because I told my mother when I was seven, I was going to make a lot of money, she was going to never have the work. And I saw way back then, defensive backs, they weren't slotted to do that. So I had to create something that I know would. And I created this character in my dormitory room in Florida State. And I just fed him and fed him and fed him and fed him and perfected him. And it is what it is. So now I'm probably a blend of both right now, because I went from prime time to just prime now coach prime is like I'm in the third quarter and I'm winning and I'm high stepping. So in some ways was prime sort of a persona that you had to adopt to be able to be different from? No, it's something I had to adopt to command the resources that I promised my mother, cornerbacks and defensive backs at that time didn't even make a meal. Prime made us a meal. The first ever in the history of the NFL than the first two million in the first four million then it just kept going crazy. So I'm thankful and I'm appreciative. But you got to understand, you can't get caught up in trick or treat 365 days a year. You can't do that because you sooner or later, you got to take your cusks, throw them in your mask off and be who you are. But see, that's the thing. I know who I am. Like at this age and stage, probably for the last 20 years, I found my location and I know who I am, what I am, how I am, where I'm going and I know how to get there. So going off that way back, I think 1989 is when you said, they don't pay me to be humble. Now it feels like there are people that are almost calling for you to be that. Why is this idea of knowing who you are, not necessarily being humble, one of the things that propels you? When I said that, that was because I was a grown dog out there on that field. I'm not going to be humble about what I got and the gifts that I have. I ain't never seen nobody open a present on Christmas and say, oh, that was so sweet. No. Oh, you see what I got? Yeah. I got a gift that I've opened and I'm thankful and proud of it. You don't think I'm going to shout and rejoice and do my thing because of this gift that God has given me? No, that's what I meant by that. I got a tremendous gift and I know it, gift, and I perfected it by hard work, focus, and dedication. I also think when you're good at something and you know you're good at that thing, for whatever reason, it makes people uncomfortable if you vocalize that you're good at something. And that speaks to that insecurity that maybe people feel when they're talking to you because you're like, well, wait a minute, he's supposed to not be all of this because I don't feel like I'm all of this. True. There lies the quote, don't allow my confidence to offend your insecurity. There lies the quote. That's where that quote derived from. And I can't, I can't, I ain't got nothing to do with that, whatever you're going through. Because I'm going to be me and I'm mandated to be me. I'm pleasing God, not man. Now, if I'm pleasing God and God is having you tripping, that's a problem with you. That ain't me. Because all I want to hear God say is, well done, my faithful servant, and I've heard him say that a multiplicity of times. So you got a problem and that ain't on me. That's on you. It ain't on me. That's on you. Yeah. So you did this article in the 80s and I want to read the quote to you because it's a great quote that applies to you right now, which is why I loved reading it so much. So this is in a Sports Illustrated article. You said, all my life, I've been the man. I've been in the spotlight at every level. It's just a bigger spotlight. I learned the system in college. How do you think defensive backs get attention? How do you think Jim McMahon made so many millions? They don't pay anybody to be humble. Some people will come out to see me do well. Some people will come out to see me get run over, but love me or hate me, they're going to come out. I'm a businessman now and the product is me, primetime. God, that's good. Can you put some hand claps in the edit? Absolutely. Give it up. God, that was a young prime. But I say this to illustrate that this person you are now is in so many ways who you have always been. True. What comes to your mind hearing that over 30 years later? Wisdom. I didn't know I had that type of wisdom at that age because what people wanted to see was prime. I remember, and I'm not going to call the gentleman's name, a very popular television personality interviewed me in San Francisco. I'm a defense player of the year. We went and we Super Bowl bowed. He wanted the interview prime and I gave him Dion. The interview never aired because I didn't give him what he wanted. I gave him Dion. But he didn't want that. You should have just told me you want that and not just come to interview me and it never aired. So I looked at him sideways from then on. Yes. So you just wanted the puppet show. So you want it. You don't want to get to know me because I'm trying to get you meet, but you don't want me. You want prime. You should have said that. You wanted the persona instead of the thing that was real. Genuine. Right.