It has never been a good idea to provoke Deion Sanders. Whether it’s in football, baseball, or life, he has always been the king of the clap back. Now that his Colorado Buffaloes are the biggest story in college sports, some people—Sanders is fond of calling them “non-believers”—are still taking shots. Inevitably this leads to more smiles, sales, and positive press (as well as vibes) from Neon Deion.
The latest saga started earlier this week. Jay Norvell—head coach of Colorado State, this weekend’s Buffaloes opponent—said, “When I talk to grownups, I take my hat and glasses off,” referencing Sanders’ penchant for wearing stunna shades and a Colorado hat during his press conferences. Well, what do you know! Before the week was out, Coach Prime had capitalized on that, as well.
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You see, Sanders has his own line of sunglasses with Blenders. After hearing the potshot from Colorado State—who, uh, have lost each of their last five meetings with the Buffs—Coach Prime sprung into action. He outfitted all of his players with his signature shades, noting, “They don’t realize, not only are we gonna kick they butts…they just helped me with business.”
This is infinitely cool. While Norvell was just trying the age-old coach tactic of motivating his team, it appears as if this will backfire on him. It already has, in many ways—the internet has overwhelmingly sided with Coach Prime in this interstate rivalry—but unless Colorado State pulls a massive upset, this looks like the biggest blunder of the young college football season. In Sanders’ words, they made it personal.
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Sanders’ ability to create revenue, hype, and viral moments (shout out Colorado’s social media efforts, as well—led by Deion’s son Deion Jr.) should be studied. Last week, it was the custom suits from Michael Strahan and Men’s Wearhouse that the team wore for their beatdown of Nebraska. As the Buffaloes keep charging through the season—and rise in the rankings—the drip quotient will increase. We’re not privy to the numbers, but we have to imagine the Blenders glasses are selling quite well now, too. We are privy to the numbers that will hit the scoreboard on Saturday, and it’s a safe bet to say those will also be in Prime’s favor. (The Buffs are currently three-touchdown favorites.) He is clearly a master motivator—and is utilizing this new era of the NCAA perfectly—but the thing is, Sanders can pull magic out of his hat, no matter what people are saying about him.