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Awful Announcing
Stephen A. Smith shares stunning Deion Sanders scoop
By Sam Neumann,
10 hours ago
Stephen A. Smith knows the real reason why CBS has drawn Deion Sanders’ ire.
The Colorado Buffaloes head coach recently snubbed a local CBS reporter, calling the outlet’s actions “foul.” CBS Colorado’s Eric Christensen was stopped in his tracks as soon as he said the words “CBS.” Christensen offered that he’s a local reporter, not a national one, but Sanders wasn’t swayed.
Until recently, the reason for Sanders’ anger remained unclear.
However, On3’s Phillip Dukes, a close friend of Sanders, suggested in a YouTube video that a failed business deal or partnership with CBS is at the heart of the issue. Sanders seemingly confirmed this theory by sharing Dukes’ video and adding his own comments.
After Dukes shared his video on X, Sanders reshared the post and added some further context of his own.
But, according to Smith, there’s more than meets the eye here.
“A reporter, who happened to be a brother, had a story that they were working on, and the story was about to come out,” said Smith. “And when the information was accumulated, the brother was taken off the story, according to people close to Deion Sanders. And in return, it was given to somebody who was White. ‘Prime Time’ Deion Sanders had a problem with that. He may not tell you. Most other folks may not know; I’m telling you. According to folks close to Deion Sanders, that’s what happened — that’s precisely what happened.
“A young brother that was working on a story, had the story taken from them and given to somebody White. Deion Sanders took issue with that. And that’s why he reacted the way he reacted toward CBS.”
For full disclosure, Smith initially believed this tension with CBS might have originated from Sanders’ time as an NFL analyst with the network between 2002-04. During that period, Sanders worked alongside other former players, including Dan Marino, who was reportedly earning more than he was. This led to a contractual dispute with CBS, as Sanders wanted to be the highest-paid analyst.
“Obviously, I’m here thinking CBS is CBS; that must be the reason why,” said Smith, “because Deion Sanders was working with (Marino), and I think Boomer Esiason and his mentality was, ‘Wait a minute now, I’m the one with two Super Bowl Championships. I’m the one recognized as the greatest cornerback in the history of football. I’m the one that’s a champion, and I’m working alongside people that weren’t, and how are they getting paid more than me?’ I remember that story from years ago.
“But when I reached out, I found out that wasn’t the case at all. Now, when you think about CBS and what Deion Sanders is talking about and what people close to him are talking about, let’s get one thing out of the way right now — because it needs to be said. It’s important for brothers to look out for one another. Now, that ain’t always apropos because let me tell you something right now, some brothers, some sisters don’t deserve to be looked out for. If you ain’t getting the job done, you’re a liability, and nobody needs to apologize for that. But if you’re getting the job done, particularly in this day and age in the kind of culture we’re living in, if you have an opportunity to look out for people, you look out for people.
“And that’s not to say you don’t look out for others; look out for everybody. Look out for good people — White, Black and beyond. Latino, Asian, American, it doesn’t matter — look out for good people. But, especially when you know that there’s a scarcity of individuals in the business and you have an opportunity to help them if they are worthy and deserve it, and you can help them, you should.
“Deion Sanders, for all of their struggles over the last 7-8 weeks of the season after starting out 3-0 and having a rough patch the rest of the way, he’s still one of the preeminent faces in college football. He has cache. He matters to the University of Colorado. Whether you like it or not, he matters to college football. And so because of that, if you see a situation where you can help out a brother, they find themselves in a precarious situation and their network bosses confiscating stories from them. If indeed that is the case, then somebody like Deion Sanders is going to speak up.”
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