Recently, the Colorado Buffaloes football program has been under intense scrutiny from media pundits and disillusioned fans. The team currently sits at 3-0 after going 1-11 in 2022, and it all starts with the man at the helm.
Deion Sanders, the star athlete-turned star head coach, has been instrumental in the team’s success. The coach is a renaissance man who says what’s on his mind and puts 100% effort into all his endeavors. With a star quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, Sanders’s own son, and two-way star Travis Hunter, Colorado has been the talk of college football. So, where does all of the hatred come from?
I believe that sports purists have once again reared their ugly heads. Everything about Coach Prime’s program breaks tradition: a roster built through the transfer portal and NIL, a coach hostile towards the media, and a fan base that stormed the field after being heavy favorites against in-state rival Colorado State. Consider these purists in their proper form: old men and women yelling at clouds.
Sports are never perfect, so we must stop expecting them to be so. There is beauty in the chaos of a firebrand coach, two dynamite players, and a rabid fanbase. There is beauty in goalposts being torn down after a victory. There is beauty in a good bench-clearing brawl in baseball. There is beauty in drunken Browns fans willing their mediocre franchise to win despite the overwhelming odds.
So, my plea to pundits and fans criticizing Colorado for shifting tradition: take a step back and realize what you are doing. You are holding back the new in favor of the old. Embrace the chaos. These pundits and disillusioned fans are looking to sports for stability even though sports are constantly changing. Rather than trying to freeze the wave of change, it is time for the old heads to ride it.
Sports Editor