Deion Sanders fires back at ESPN host

Colorado has its first game of the college football season this week, but Deion Sanders seems more intent on battling Paul Finebaum and the media.

Last week, the University of Colorado football program banned Sean Keeler of The Denver Post from asking Sanders questions, citing a “series of sustained, personal attacks.” In the wake of Keeler’s banning, Finebaum went on ESPN this week and slammed Sanders , labeling him a hypocrite and claiming his treatment of reporters is representative of an “autocratic country.”

Predictably, it didn’t take Sanders long to respond. Sanders joined the latest episode of Robert Griffin III’s Outta Pocket podcast and fired back at Finebaum’s criticism.

“He talking ’bout us. How can we be irrelevant and you talking about me?” Sanders asked. “Every time I turn around somebody’s sending me a quote that you talkin’ ’bout me.”

“A fan only blows when you hot, so we must be hot,” Sanders continued. “I know what he’s doing, and I’m proud of him that he’s smart enough to understand that this generation and this thought process and the way we communicate on sports it’s different. And he’s a dying breed.

“So, what does he have to do to stay and keep up with this change? ‘Oh I got to go find that big bad wolf and talk about it, so now I keep my relevancy.’ And I’m saying, ‘Cool,’ but I’m not gonna help you. I’m not going to add to you, I’m not even gonna respond. Because that’s what you want. Yeah, you just want me to respond. I don’t do that. I’m not gonna help you come up.”

Sanders might not think he’s responding to Finebaum, but he already responded. And Sanders responded enough to warrant another response from Finebaum. Wednesday morning, Finebaum responded after being asked about his continued back and forth with Sanders on Stephen A. Smith’s First Take . For what it’s worth, Smith considers himself a media ally for Sanders.

“He did say something that I agree with,” Finebaum said of Sanders. “He called me a ‘dying breed’ in the profession, which I’m proud of. Because I really do believe that the media should be treated with respect and not have selective persecution like he is using out there.”

Equally, the media should be respectful of the teams and people they’re covering. And it’s fair to question whether Keeler crossed that line at times. But Sanders battling the media is nothing new and if he truly wants to avoid being used for headlines, attempting to play dictator by choosing who can and can’t ask questions isn’t going to help.

[ Outta Pocket , First Take ]

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