ESPN analyst: Deion Sanders behaving like a 'bully'

The dust has seemed to settle in the controversy surrounding Deion Sanders and Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler.

Just about everyone at the Worldwide Leader, from Stephen A. Smith to Frank Isola on Around the Horn to Paul Finebaum to Rece Davis , had something to say about Sanders and he and Colorado’s decision to prevent Keeler from asking questions this season and potentially beyond.

From what Sanders and the University described as personal attacks, Colorado had barred Keeler from asking questions in press conferences this season. The columnist had previously referred to Sanders as a “false prophet,” “Deposition Deion,” “Planet Prime,” and the “Bruce Lee of B.S.,” and according to Mark Jones , Sanders said that (Keeler) attacked his faith and crossed the line.

Sanders then used his postgame press conference — after Colorado barely eked out a win over North Dakota State — to take aim at the doubters, haters and non-believers. It was tame for Sanders but further proof that he can’t let sleeping dogs lie.

Sanders didn’t get the last word here, or at least not yet. During the first episode of ESPN’s new iteration of The Sports Reporters , Jeremy Schaap used his parting shot to share some words for the Colorado Buffaloes head coach.

“There are more egregious crimes than what’s going on at the University of Colorado,” Schaap began. “There are worse things than refusing to allow a reporter to ask questions. There are greater injustices all around us, but make no mistake, what Colorado and its coach, Deion Sanders, have done is wrong; simply wrong. To refuse to allow a journalist to do his job, to even attempt to do his job, that’s the kind of thing a bully does. It is a sign not of strength but weakness.

“When Sanders took the job, he said he would make the players he inherited quit. He said he would replace them with his own luggage. But now, suddenly, he’s figured out that words can hurt when they’re aimed at him. We’re living in a world in which journalism is under attack; when legitimate sources of news and information are drying up. Deion Sanders is sending the wrong message at the wrong time.

“If you don’t like a question, Coach Prime, it’s your prerogative not to answer it. If you think the question’s unfair or intellectually dishonest, that is your right. But censorship, which is what this amounts to, is not the answer. In fact, it’s disgraceful.”

[ The Sports Reporters ]

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