GET UP | Paul Finebaum reacts to Colorado bans Denver Post reporter from questioning Deion Sanders

I wanted to also get a perspective from you guys on this huge story out of Colorado and I saw so much written about it while I was away a d Sean Keeler has been banned by Colorado football from asking questions of Deion Sanders a university meia a media relations staffer told the newspaper it took issue with keeler's references to Sanders as quote deposition Dion the Bruce Lee of BS and a false prophet and his use of phrases such as Planet Prime the Dion Kool-Aid and the circus so the uh the reporter in this case the columnist has taken a lot of shots at Dion Sanders in the program this is the statement from the University after a series of sustained personal attacks on the football program and specifically on Coach Prime the athletic department in conjunction with the football program have decided not to take questions from columnist Sean Keeler at football related events meanwhile Dion then had this exchange with another member of the media on Saturday if I ask a negative question will you not answer them anymore that's being negative right now like you Tak an approach that I'm going to be negative I'm I'm not negative to anybody in here I will challenge you and ask you why or where is this coming from so I'm not I'm not built like that I'm not built to hate I'm not a hateful guy I'm not a I I come with love I think any if anybody in here has had encounters with me I don't come with the bull junk I come with the peace in the joy now when you show me where you stand I might have to change that a little bit so I'm not going to match your ignorance for that exchange on Saturday it is worth pointing out that Dion has unique language in his contract that says he is required to speak only with quote mutually agreed upon media I happened to be in the in the in Colorado while I was on my vacation so this was all there was a lot of conversation about this Paul what was your reaction to it all coach Prime is showing he is not ready for prime time greeny uh I find this whole thing to be disgraceful Dion maybe want to talk about love and joy and that's been the the Cornerstone of what he seems to be spewing out but treating reporters like this seems like we're in some autocratic country this is this is not America and the fact that it's in in his contract is really even more absurd but don't forget he did this at Jackson State this is a trait of Dion Sanders he wants to have it his way and I find him to to be a bully and a hypocrite and quite frankly as someone who has been a fan of his throughout his entire career e even at Colorado I I am I am mortified by his actions Dan orlovski and and shefy wants to get in and dwood wants to get in and I'm worried about time there's a part of me that wants to say let's hold this over um and continue the conversation Ash can we do that let's take a quick break everyone wants to get in on this and I think it is worth making sure we have the time so let me take a quick come back to get up and rejoining the conversation for those of you who were not with us the big story over the weekend Deion Sanders who of course has made such a splash at the University at Colorado the football program last year winning the four games but starting so quickly and everyone in the world paying attention they have now banned he and the football program have banned a columnist from The Denver Post named Sean Keeler from asking questions after what the university deems as a series of sustained personal attacks and we ran through this for you moments ago and we heard a little bit of an exchange from Dion with another reporter on Saturday and Paul Fine bam who's good enough to stay with us here had a very strong reaction and I could see that everyone really wanted to get in on the conversation and so I appreciate everyone sitting tight through a break Dan orlovski let me come to you next we hear Dion essentially Banning this one particular columnist from asking questions and coming out on Saturday as he did somewhat strongly again what's your reaction yeah I mean for Paul respectfully to call him a bully and a hypocrite is ridiculous in my opinion so one I don't necessarily mind that Dion's trying to control a little bit of the narrative he's obviously been somebody that's been in the focal point for the basically the majority of his life and it's we don't know exactly everything that's being said maybe some of it is public and we don't know if anything is done behind the scenes but I don't mind the fact that he's trying to control a little bit of the narrative both him and and the institution we can sit here and say because of the seat that you have you just have to sit there and take it but we also do live in a time where at some point some of these people are allowed to stand up for themselves and not just constantly get dragged and I don't think he's being a bully he's just saying hey if this is going to be mainly what you do or only what you do in relation to me or the program then we're we're not going to have any type of interaction and you're not going to be allowed because not everybody should get a seat when it comes to having the opportunity to cover a program and or their head coach um Dion's not going to be able to run from all of it I think he's aware of that at some point the the criticism is a background noise to success you're not going to be able to run from all of it to all of it but to say he's being a bully and hypocritical that's extreme when it comes to this situation that those were what Paul said a moment ago and Paul to some degree big time college coaches have always controlled the narrative and and and have you have have dished out access and used those means to do it the difference here it feels to me is that he's just publicly announcing that they're doing it in this way go ahead Paul I'll let you respond before I get the guys in well there are a couple things to remember here uh the University of Colorado is a public institution this is not a private entity where you can put a wall up at the door as far as Dion Sanders first of all he doesn't have to announce that there's a a reason why I think he's announcing at greeny he's trying to intimidate anyone from going down the same dark Road by the way I I have been to a million press conferences where a coach would not call on me because the coach did not like me I'm sure you've been in the same spot greeny that's all you have to do but but the reason why Dion is going public is he wants total control and things have not gone his way that that's really what this is all about if things were going swimmingly he wouldn't really have to worry about this guy at the Denver Post and by the way the Denver Post is is an important tool in that state it's the most important uh public media entity and outlet and and why you decide to declare war is beyond me but then again uh there are a lot of things about Dion that I simply do not understand I happen to have a former employee of the Denver Post sitting to my right cheffy what is your take on all this well having worked there having worked with Dion in the past I too am a fan and a friend of his and I like this I don't understand why he would Elevate the columnist Shan Keeler and shine a light on him Shan Keeler is trying to get notice with what he does with his job as being a columnist and now Dion by announcing that he's not going to answer his questions has elevated this columnist and giving him more relevance and so here's somebody that he doesn't like the way he's being treated and yet he's done a huge favor for Shan keler by announcing this publicly when all he had to do was stop answering this guy's questions privately without making any proclamations I don't understand why it was handled in this way where it had to become something that had the exact opposite effect of what I think he intended to do in this particular case what do you think of it all dwood yeah listen the first thing I the first thing I asked when this when this topic was broached in our in our production meeting was like was this guy person did he attack his family like what's going on where you get to the point where you're literally publicly Banning a rep and and the thing the thing that came to my mind was you've made this guy a Marty think about that you when you when you come out in public announce that listen your Bann like cheffy said you've elevated his Pro profile 1,000% so are you really winning the battle here between you and the media because listen I always say at the end of the day with all the things that come with Dion and I love Dion Sanders I've always been a fan of Deion Sanders for a long time at the end of the day bro you still got to win like we like we can't forget like the the real substance of this whole thing all the Bluster and everything that's great and it's entertaining but until you start winning none of this type of stuff is going to go away but by the way again he's still one of the more iconic figures in college football he's still an athletic Legend and here you are bringing this guy up on your level to a certain extent and giving him the attention that he wouldn't have got I just don't understand why he would Paul I'll give you a final word here and I'd love you to explain because you know it better than than everybody and then and you know we're going to do this in the second hour because Dan has more to say and and and I'm just going to run out of time but Paul just most big-time College uh coaches operate in much smaller markets right they're not covered as much by The Denver Post they're covered by little newspapers in little markets and the access to those coaches is so valuable to reporters that's usually how coaches control the narrative and they do it without announcing it right and and sadly today because of the the media Market on on these levels reporters have to play along or or they won't get access and they won't have jobs uh this columus decided to go after Dion and I agree with uh with shefy and dwood uh I've been that guy before who the coach called out I promise you Shawn is celebrating today I mean he is a national figure as opposed to a local columnist in Denver which is fine but but he's not on the national scene and all he did was give an opinion uh d d what you you're right he he didn't personalize it he he didn't go after the family he just talked about Dion the coach and and the path that he has taken which is a terrible one in this case all right there's a lot I can see Danny wants to jump in him up against the end of an hour we're going to come back and do this again in hour number two I promise in the meantime you're going to [Music] seeo fore go there for what you in more for know am might know got [Music] [Music] h foree for for go get not for on