Maybe I’m wrong with this take but I feel compelled to give it. The players at Colorado and Colorado State are victims or at the very least impressionable pawns in what adults are trying to promote.
Hear me out. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders takes everything personally and inspires his team to do so as well. That’s a great leadership tactic and motivational tool and there’s not wrong with it. His team has taken to it well. The problem? Deion is a flamboyant personality who could always back up his brash talking because he was supremely gifted with athletic skills seen only in a few players over the last 100 years. Deion was special. His players at Colorado are not. Some are very good but none are rare and special. And as a result, they can’t back up the brashness they have been taught. But they love their coach and want to do their best for him. Heck, they emulate and impersonate him. And it’s led to Colorado being one of the best stories in college football but also a vastly over hyped team. They act like The U in the 1980s — and they are far from it.
On the other side is CSU head coach Jay Norvell, who was looking for his 15 seconds of fame by calling out Deion’s hat and shades and subliminally questioning the way Deion was raised. That led to this game becoming “personal” to Deion and his players. In turn, it clearly became personal to Norvell as well as he clearly told his team to play aggressively and perhaps even a little dirty in this in-state battle. Suddenly, a game between two teams that were a combined 4-20 a season ago. This was the Rams Super Bowl, and it can be assumed they were told to go all out, rules or not.
And the media, myself included, bought into the hype of a game that should never have been appointment television. As did the multitude of sports celebrities tweeting and commenting on the game itself. More adults feeding the frenzy.
So what happens? Colorado star Travis Hunter talks smack on TV before the game, the two teams exchange pre-game hatred, and CSU defensive leader Henry Blackburn illegally hits and injures Hunter, sending him to the hospital. The next thing we know, adults – again, adults, not kids – are calling for Blackburn’s suspension or the end of his career as we find out Hunter is out at least three weeks. Taking heads, this site included, speak of this illegal hit, and it becomes the biggest college football topic of the week. And now Hunter is hurt, and Blackburn’s life is essentially changed forever. All for what?
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College football is a violent sport. Kids get hurt, and players go too far. But isn’t it too much for Blackburn to be getting death threats? What about the adults’ responsibility for this game? Where’s Deion saying I took things too far and made too many things personal? Where’s Norvell saying he amped his team up too much, and things got out of hand? And where’s the media, and where are the celebs admitting they got too worked up about an overall meaningless game and admitting they are now overreacting to an illegal hit?
Deion Sanders is great for college football, and the story of Colorado football is fun and something we will write about over and over again on my website. But it certainly feels like everyone gains from this newfound toy in college football except for the players. Yes, the hype is fun and great, but has it gone too far? And has a player’s life been ruined all in the name of selling hype (and shades)? Let’s not blame the fans – they are sheep. Let’s blame the adults.
