HE’S NOT THE CAPTAIN, HE’S A DAWG

Here’s an excerpt from my latest TribLive.com column: 

• New Colorado coach Deion Sanders wasted no time making his program a monument to his narcissism. (He also wasted no time putting up a big win, 45-42 over last year’s national runner-up, Texas Christian.) Sanders has been braying non-stop, inventing violations of the respect card. He has two sons on his team, both very good. He’s a Little League dad run amok. He ran off all but 10 of Colorado’s scholarship players from last year. Instead of “C” for captain, Colorado has two players wearing “L” for leader, two wearing “D” for dawg. The “D” should stand for dumb. It’s all about “Coach Prime.” Until Colorado loses. 

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

Maybe it’s too loud because I’m too old. 

But the captaincy of a sports team is an honor. A position of leadership and trust. 

Now, instead, the captain is a “dawg.” 

Maybe Sidney Crosby should ditch the “C” and become the Penguins’ “D”. 

Times change. Different things become cool. 

But this isn’t cool. This is immature and stupid. Just like “Coach Prime.” 

But what do you expect from a man who, as a player, flew back and forth between football and baseball, putting team on the backburner to indulge his personal platform, then got mad when everybody didn’t buy in? (Namely Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, who didn’t let Sanders jump right off an airplane after playing football and into the lineup for that night’s game in the 1992 National League Championship Series. Sanders would have been the first athlete to play two professional sports in one day.) 

Colorado’s concept of “L” and “D” is designed to get people talking about Sanders. It’s his sole motivation.