Even the most seasoned and trusted reporters can get caught up in hype sometimes. Dan Patrick has seen it before. He even admits that it has happened to him. Right now, he says that Boulder, Colorado is the center of the hype universe.
On his FOX Sports Radio show on Thursday, Patrick called the coverage of the Colorado Buffaloes and their new coach Deion Sanders “wishful reporting.”
Sanders certainly knows how to get media attention. Before he even played a game, videos of him addressing his team flooded social media. 42,000 people attended the team’s spring game. Colorado football is being talked about on local radio again.
It’s all great, but Dan Patrick said the people that talk about sports for a living should proceed with caution and remember that this was a 2-10 team last year.
“We’re caught up with ‘Oh my gosh! Deion Sanders! How long before he competes for a national title?’” he said. “We’ve run with this and instead of having somebody that has logic go ‘Okay, how good can Colorado be? They were terrible last year. They’re not gonna be good this year.’”
Las Vegas isn’t caught up in the hype. Sportsbooks have set the over/under for Colorado’s win total at just 3. The team is a 20.5-point underdog in its opening game, which is against TCU, who played in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game last year.
Patrick did single out one media colleague that is approaching the Buffs with a clear head. ESPN’s Rece Davis appeared on SportsCenter and Patrick thought he answered questions about the team the way anyone paying attention to college football should.
“Rece is not a hot take guy. He’s very measured. He was asked about ‘Colorado, what are they gonna do’ and he’s like ‘Look, if they’re 2-4 after six games, that will be great. They might be 1-5. They could be 0-6.’ All of a sudden the anchors are crestfallen.”
Dan Patrick said that sometimes reporters and pundits get carried away with what the more fun narrative is. Last football season, Odell Beckham Jr. called him a “football outsider” for criticizing reporters for asking where the injured receiver was going to play rather than if he were healthy enough to play.
He added that when it comes to Sanders, no one wants to be the one to say that the Buffaloes may win just two games again this year.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years. I’ve made these mistakes before. You get caught up in the hype,” he said. “If you give something that’s real, then it feels like you don’t like them, or you’re a hater. And that’s not always the case. I want to caution people who do this for a living, because we get excited. What if Deion starts 0-5? And he might! But that doesn’t mean he won’t be successful, just be realistic about the expectations.”
