Ever since Deion Sanders stepped foot in the NFL, he has been making headlines. Decades ago, it was for his exploits as a player, but today, it’s about his coaching career, which mostly has been polarizing. The Colorado head coach has done nothing but uplift the program in the past two years, yet the media remains overly critical of him, while the same cannot be said about other coaches. And Shannon Sharpe knows exactly why.
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In the latest episode of “Get Got Pod with Marshawn Lynch and Mike Robinson,” Shannon was asked how he felt about the media’s bias against Deion. In reply, the Nightcap host argued that the bias stems from Coach Prime acting against the stereotype.
Shannon noted that, as per the general stereotype, Black people are supposed to express humility and gratefulness for the opportunity they have. Au contraire, Deion Sanders is anything but humble in the traditional sense.
“The crux of the argument is black people are supposed to be humble… be thankful you’re coaching, be thankful you’re in the NFL, be thankful you’re in the NBA, be thankful you’re the heavyweight champion of the world… just be thankful that you have a job,” Sharpe said.
Coach Prime has always been a flamboyant and confident personality who has never shied away from speaking his mind. This is why the former tight end believed that it is this outspoken nature of Deion that has gotten him on the receiving end of the national media broadcasters.
“Who are you to boast and brag and tell us how great you are? You should just be thankful that you’re here. That’s the expectation for us and when you don’t do that, now I need to put you in your place.”
Veteran journalist Paul Finebaum recently stirred up controversy when he called the Buffs “irrelevant in the big picture of college football.” While it’s debatable if Paul is right or not, it has to be acknowledged that a remark like this, in the midst of a tight qualification race, adds no constructive value to Sanders & Co.
Shannon argued that it’s remarks like this and countless others about Coach Prime’s religious nature that are irksome to many. The Club Shay Shay host believes that analysts are well within their rights to criticize Deion for his coaching, recruitment, or anything constructive. The problem arises when it’s about anything unrelated to sports.
“If you want to say his team hadn’t gotten better, if you want to say his defense hadn’t gotten better, he had done a poor job of assembling a Staff… that’s well within your right. You’re an analyst or whatever, that’s your job to critique but when you start talking about his religion and about how he doesn’t live a [certain way], No! You miss me with that.”
All that said, the irony is Deion Sanders is a victim of his own success. Like countless celebrities, Coach Prime will be making headlines as long as he is relevant.
