Paul Finebaum Blasts 'Spineless' Deion Sanders Over Sports Journalism Criticism

Finebaum laid into Sanders on ESPN, and not for the first time this season.

Sanders ranted about "jealous" reporters attacking his players on Tuesday. / Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

On Tuesday, Deion Sanders once again managed to shoehorn his name into the news cycle for reasons that have nothing to do with football. He ripped journalists for criticizing college football players because they are "jealous" that the players in question now make more money than media members. On Wednesday, Paul Finebaum responded on ESPN.

Finebaum has taken it upon himself to publicly fire back at Sanders this season and did it again while appearing on First Take with Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. He slammed Sanders and called him "spineless" while taking issue with his attack of journalism.

"Deion, right there, was purely gaslighting. Really unbecoming of his stature and status. He knows that's not true. The people that cover college football have been arguing vociferously for years to get more autonomy for players. So they can make more money, so they can't be treated the same way they've always have. For him to say that is just really specious. It's baseless, and quite frankly it looks to me like he's living in an alternative universe. Because that is simply not true.

"And to use the word 'slander'? That is so far beyond the pale because the majority of the media lift these players up. They don't tear them down... I frankly don't have any earthly idea where he came up with it. I think it's desperation and it's entirely spineless of him to attack the media who has not even attacked his players."

Paul Finebaum accuses Deion Sanders of "gaslighting."

"It's entirely spineless of him to attack the media who has not even attacked his players." pic.twitter.com/xfMZpYhFGL

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 18, 2024

The back-and-forth between Sanders and Finebaum rages on.

Sanders's Buffaloes are 2–1 on the season and rank 11th in the Big 12 entering play this weekend. They are set to take on Baylor on Saturday.

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