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Deion Sanders Fires Back at Paul Finebaum Criticism
Last week, the Colorado football program announced it would no longer permit questions from Denver Post reporter Sean Keeler. Asked for further explanation, the program referenced several arguably derogatory nicknames Keeler used to refer to Sanders. There is a clause in Sanders's contract that permits such an arrangement between Sanders, the school, and media.
ESPN's college football pundit Paul Finebaum commented on the news, calling it a disgrace on Monday. In a newly-released podcast with Robert Griffin III, Sanders referred to Finebaum's comments briefly.
"He talking 'bout us. How can we be irrelevant and you talking about me? Everytime I turn around somebody's sending me a quote that you talkin' 'bout me," Sanders said after co-host Grete Griffin brought the topic of Finebaum up.
"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 gon' 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 gon' help you come up."
The fireworks have already been lit on the Buffaloes season, and it has yet to officially start. They open against North Dakota State Thursday night.
Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.