Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders spoke in a recent press conference about his players being “attacked” by the media. Sanders said the media used to not attack college players, but “Now, they’re making more money than y’all and some of y’all are envious and jealous about that, so you’re on the attack.” Sanders said the players “are still sensitive to slander…they haven’t gone through what I’ve been going through with [the media] for years.” Paul Finebaum strongly disagreed with what Coach Prime said and spoke about it on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith.

“That’s gaslighting,” Finebaum said. “And it’s really unbecoming of somebody of his stature and status. He knows that’s not true. The people that cover college football have been arguing vociferously for years to get more autonomy for players so they can make more money, so they can be treated the same way that they always have. And for him to say that is just really specious. It’s baseless.”

“Finebaum said, “It looks to me like he is living in an alternative universe, because that is simply not true. And to use the word slander, I mean, that is so far beyond the pale, because most people, the majority of the media lifts these players up. They don’t tear them down.

“And quite frankly, the only player on his team that has even come under scrutiny is his son. And right here on this program 24 hours ago, the entire panel, Stephen A., myself, and Shannon, defended him for not shaking hands with a player who was trash-talking him. So, I frankly don’t have any earthly idea where he came up with it. I think it’s desperation. And it’s entirely spineless of him to attack the media who has not even attacked his players.”

Finebaum and Stephen A. Smith would go on to disagree on whether or not certain people, including Smith, are giving Sanders the benefit of the doubt because they are friendly with him. “You choose to not give him the benefit of the doubt, I choose to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Smith said.