Deion Sanders vs. local columnists, a fact about Eagles QBs, and other thoughts ...

First and final thoughts …

I rise today in defense of a dying breed, of a role that supposedly is no longer relevant: the local sports columnist. We’ve been taking it in the teeth out there lately, thanks to this quasi-controversy between Deion Sanders and the Denver Post’s Sean Keeler.

Sanders and his players in the University of Colorado football program announced last week, in a statement to the Post, that they would no longer answer questions from Keeler. Their justification for shutting Keeler out was that he had engaged in a “series of sustained, personal attacks” against Sanders, and those “personal attacks” included these descriptions of Sanders in Keeler’s columns: a “false prophet,” “Deposition Deion,” “Planet Prime,” and the “Bruce Lee of B.S.”

Now, around here, those turns of phrase would be considered tame compared to what some of us have written about Ben Simmons, Carson Wentz, James Harden, and Craig Kimbrel, just to name a few recent targets. So yeah, either Coach Prime has thinner skin than a grape or he’s using Keeler’s criticism as a typical us-vs.-them coaching tactic … or both. That’s not the interesting aspect of this story. What was interesting was the manner in which ESPN — which just so happened to be televising Colorado’s season opener Thursday night against North Dakota State — treated and framed the dustup.

The network got three days’ worth of content out of the episode on its two centerpiece morning shows: Get Up and First Take. And the criticism levied against Sanders from the panelists on those shows — with the exception of Stephen A. Smith, a former Inquirer columnist himself — boiled down to this: Sanders shouldn’t do this because he’s punching down. Keeler isn’t a national figure. He’s a local columnist. Therefore, he doesn’t matter, and Sanders shouldn’t bother.

“We’re talking about a guy who writes for the Denver Post,” said college football analyst and talk-show host Paul Finebaum. “This isn’t 1985 or ‘95. … This is 2024. Nobody reads these publications anymore. This is not even an important entity. I doubt that more than 3,000 people in Denver even read those columns. [Sanders] is picking on some little guy for no reason at all, and therefore he’s coming off as a big bully.”

Some little guy? Not to be totally self-serving, but this will not stand, this aggression against columnists. Do we have the influence we used to have? Of course we don’t. Once, sports columnists were among the select groups of people who had vast enough public forums to have their opinions on sports resonate and matter. Now, talk radio and the internet and social media can amplify anyone’s voice.

That said, few of the people who use those voices have the responsibility and role that the local sports columnist, when someone is doing the job right, has. The local sports columnist can’t hide, can’t remain anonymous, shouldn’t duck the locker-room availability or the head coach’s news conference the day after writing a biting and critical piece. The local sports columnist is close to the ground, which means that, if and when a franchise or coach or athlete fouls up, he or she understands what happened and why and can hold the proper people accountable — and do so in an entertaining, informative, intelligent way.

» READ MORE: Penn’s Ray Priore and Villanova’s Mark Ferrante still find the joy in coaching in Year 38 at their schools

If you think Mike Vaccaro is a little guy in New York, or Dan Shaughnessy is a little guy in Boston, or Sally Jenkins and Jerry Brewer and Candace Buckner don’t move the needle in D.C., you’re crazy. I don’t think Deion Sanders is crazy. I think he knows exactly how important Sean Keeler and his columns are in Denver. I think that’s why he’s going after him.

Interesting note: For all the resources the Eagles spend and importance they place on the quarterback position, Jalen Hurts — assuming he’s under center this Friday against the Packers — will be the first Eagles QB to start four straight season openers since Donovan McNabb did it from 2006-09.

If you’re of a particular generation, you can only look at the Phillies’ decision to send Taijuan Walker to the bullpen and snicker at the memories of other highly paid, deeply disappointing starting pitchers of the past, such as Freddy Garcia. And Adam Eaton. And A.J. Burnett. And Andy Ashby. And …

» READ MORE: The Taijuan Walker mistake must be recognized by the Phillies — and eliminated