It’s almost September, which means it’s time to start talking about Deion Sanders again. And while this time around, Sanders and Colorado are the ones bringing attention on themselves by going to war with CBS and banning a local columnist from asking the coach questions, Dan Patrick believes the whole situation is simply a byproduct of all the hype Sanders got this time last year.
In a segment on his radio show Monday, Patrick explained why the negativity Sanders faced from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler and others this summer stems from not living up to expectations.
“I think what happens is the attention that Colorado has received doesn’t match the end result,” Patrick said. “I don’t know if this Denver Post columnist thinks Deion’s getting too much attention. Now, would I have given him Sportsman of the Year? No. That was embarrassing. But it wasn’t his call.”
Patrick noted that last fall, both ESPN and Fox flocked to Boulder for shows and interviews with Sanders. He was profiled by 60 Minutes before Sports Illlustrated gave him their annual SMOTY award.
Already this year, Patrick pointed to sports personalities like Paul Finebaum and Mike Greenberg who have drummed up attention around Sanders potentially jumping to a major college football program or even the Dallas Cowboys.
It’s all baloney, Patrick said, considering Sanders himself insisted he would not leave Colorado after last season. But it leads to backlash among local media and fans.
“The attention, that’s what should be blamed, not the person receiving the attention,” Patrick added. “All they’re doing is trying to take some of this spotlight that Deion has and get some clicks. That’s all that is. It’s silly.”
Still, Patrick relayed that Sanders isn’t free of blame. Like every coach, he creates high expectations to motivate his players and boost his program.
It’s up to media, Patrick said, to understand the reality of those claims and report on the team accordingly.
“Deion, it feels like he’s being a bully here. He wants to set the tone of, ‘We’re not going to take that negativity.’ But it goes along with this,” Patrick said. “If he’s creating great expectations, if he’s saying, ‘Hey, I think we’re one of the top 15 teams in America,’ then OK, you can hold him accountable with those words. But it feels like, is Deion a false prophet if he’s saying they’re going to be in the College Football Playoff? Do we take every coach at his word for what they say?”
Like most people covering this situation, Patrick appeared to come down on the side that heightened scrutiny simply comes with the territory — for both Sanders and Keeler.
“The columnist is trying to make a name for himself, I get it,” Patrick said. “I’m trying to understand both sides of this. Columnist, you want people to read your columns. You want clicks. You want eyeballs. Deion wants that on his program. Both are receiving it. Deion, it feels like is empowering this columnist by, all of a sudden, what he’s saying, it hurts.”
If Sanders is going to continually be in the center of the college football universe and not fully block out media attention, he will inevitably face negative coverage. And if Keeler wants to be a combative columnist and hold Sanders to account for setting expectations high with his words and actions, he has to be ready for the heat from the brash coach he covers.
But Patrick is highlighting something that has been lost in media reactions to this saga, which is that it dates back to last year (at least) and the way Sanders’ arrival in Boulder was covered.
