I also tell them that your education can take you way farther than a football, baseball, track, or basketball will - that’s just the bottom line.

In this remark, Bo Jackson—famous for excelling in both the NFL and MLB—frames athletic success as comparatively fragile and time-limited, while education offers durable, transferable value. The line functions as advice to young athletes who may be tempted to treat sports as their sole pathway to security or status. By contrasting “education” with specific sports, he underscores that even elite athletic careers can be derailed by injury, age, or circumstance, whereas learning and credentials can open opportunities long after playing days end. The blunt “bottom line” phrasing signals practical realism rather than sentimentality: he is urging a long-term investment in oneself beyond performance on the field.