'Around the Horn' slams Deion Sanders

As the topic of Deion Sanders banning a columnist from asking questions went round and round on ESPN’s airwaves Monday, it certainly made for good fodder. Just because it lasted until Around the Horn and likely Pardon the Interruption before hitting Tuesday’s new cycle doesn’t mean it lost its luster.

The show, which has become entrenched in the fabric of sports media over the past two decades, has led to some of the better discourse in the current space—no matter the topic. While Stephen A. Smith and Paul Finebaum have journalistic backgrounds themselves, it’s fair to say that those at Around the Horn would offer a different perspective.

And that’s what the host of Sirius XM’s The Starting Lineup and veteran sportswriter Frank Isola did, as did his colleagues. But he also came to the same conclusion, the one that paints the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes wrong for what he and his program did to Sean Keeler and the Denver Post .

Tim Cowlishaw and David Dennis Jr. came swinging before Isola could express his thoughts. All four of the panel members, in addition to host Courtney Cronin, offered some good thoughts, but Isola’s quotes were perhaps the most damning.

“The school I attended as a freshman that gave me such a springboard into this marvelous career I’ve carved out really disappointed me here,” Cowlishaw said. “It’s one thing for Deion to have a battle with a columnist. Coaches get into it with reporters and columnists all the time. When the whole University, when the whole Athletic Department says, ‘He can’t talk to anybody here with our program,’ what they’ve done is taken a local story and made it national. And make the school look completely foolish and as childish as Deion tends to be at times.”

“This is inexcusable and another example of dictatorial policy from Deion Sanders when it comes to journalists,” added Dennis. “You got to remember, at Jackson State, he banned a reporter for reporting on a domestic violence issue with one of the players. And now, you have a situation where the school is backing him and banning somebody for writing columns about Deion Sanders as a coach. Colorado has a journalism department — it’s been there for 100 years. How do you look at those dudes and explain to them that you’re teaching journalism when that same institution is banning reporters for doing their job.”

Isola quipped about Cowlishaw being part of Colorado’s first graduating class before going in on Sanders.

“I think what it tells you is Deion’s gonna have a really difficult time repeating as Sportsman of the Year; that’s for sure,” said Isola. “It’s so weak on the school; it’s weak on him. Here’s the guy that filmed talking to those leftover players, humiliating them publicly. Yet, when a columnist comes after him, his reaction is to try to censor them and cut them off.

“I love Deion as a player — both football and baseball — but as a coach, he needs to grow up a little bit.”

“That statement that was put out by Boulder look, they called him ‘Coach Prime’ in the statement,” Lindsey Thiry later added. “His name is not ‘Coach Prime,’ it’s Deion Sanders…Let’s just start right there. They right there are illustrating the entire issue that the world revolves around ‘Coach Prime.’ But, again, that’s not professional on their part. It is Deion Sanders, and he is the head coach of the University of the football team, and he should be open to the same criticism as everybody else.”

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