CU football coach Deion Sanders is 100% deserving of being named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year. Coach Prime took a team that was all but dead nationally and put the Buffs back on the map. He made them relevant. The record wasn’t great, but Deion said he knew the Buffs weren’t close to where they needed to be.
Dan-O, duly impressed
Kiz: Well, there’s no doubting Prime is a sportsperson of our time, where clicks count more than touchdowns and it’s not whether you win or lose, but how many eyeballs watch on television. With the same self-aggrandizing approach Sanders celebrates, I’m proud to be among the first journalists to emphasize the social change he could foster in Boulder was far more important than where the Buffs finished in the Pac-12 standings. So I have a fine appreciation for Prime being a sportsperson whose impact extends beyond the field of play. But if we’re keeping score that way, Sanders can’t touch Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King or Arthur Ashe, all distinguished past winners of this recognition from Sports Illustrated.
How can Sports Illustrated not give sportsperson of the year to a football coach who improved his team by a whopping three victories, lost six in a row to end the season and finished dead last in the Pac-12? With all these accomplishments, Prime was the clear choice.
Nash, kinda snarky
Kiz: Sports Illustrated will have to live with its choice. But would you kindly take a minute to chew on this fact? Everyone in Colorado that cares about championship-level performance and character knows the one athlete in Colorado that reminded us what true sportsmanship is in 2023. He put team over fame and realized it’s more about the journey than the victory parade. Sorry, Deion. The Colorado sportsperson on the year? By unanimous vote of the fine staff here’s at Kickin’ It Headquarters, it’s Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
Being named sportsperson of the year is not really a big thing anymore. It’s much like Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
Terrance, Littleton
Kiz: You might have a point. Back in 1930, Time celebrated Mahatma Gandhi. In 2021, the winner was Elon Musk.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the biggest threat to Jokic winning the MVP. If the second-youngest team in the NBA continues to exceed expectations, it would be hard not to consider the Thunder’s leader, who’s averaging 30 points, six assists and six rebounds per game.
X.C., proud Oklahoman
Kiz: Only a knucklehead would take my gambling advice. While SGA is amazing, I’d be tempted by the +850 odds currently being offered for Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
And today’s parting shot is a fond farewell to the Pac-12, a conference that dared to champion all sports at a time when the term “student-athlete” no longer matters.
The demise of the Pac-12 is a shame. Iconic brand with iconic universities in premier campus destinations. Sad it ended the way it did, for the reasons it did, by the idiots who called the shots.
J.W., X’s and dough
