Similarities between Deion Sanders & Donald Trump are eerie, endless with 1 difference

Deion Sanders has taken over college football much the same way Donald Trump once took over America’s political scene.

WRITER’S NOTE: This is NOT, not, NOT a political rant about the current Iowa Hawkeye/Iowa State Cyclone football fan, and former President.

Seven years after Trump hijacked the Presidential campaign cycle unlike any candidate ever has, the Colorado Buffaloes are doing the same thing to college football.

Because of Deion.

One name. One man.

Personalities born when a hurricane mates with an earthquake.

Colorado has won two football games this fall, including the season-opener at TCU, and already the Buffaloes have won the 2023 national title because of Head Coach Deion Sanders.

The “Deion Effect” exists much in the same way the “Trump Effect” did/does.

It effects crowds. Cameras. Social media. Coverage.

We love them. We hate them. We love to hate them. We love to love them. We cannot turn them off. Unless we unplug every device, we can’t avoid them.

No matter how apathetic, jaded or defeated a person may be, we will all react when we see or hear Deion Sanders much in the same way we will respond to Donald J. Trump. They seep into our subconscious.

How we react depends on whether you’re a “Trumper,” or with “Coach Prime.”

One wears a red tie and a suit while the other wears a hoodie, shades and gold chains, but these are the same guy with one glaring exception.

Coach Deion Trump

In front of a microphone and camera, both Trump and Deion are at the top of an exclusive pyramid. These are Rush Limbaugh-level talkers whose brashness, arrogance, and bravado can captivate a room, and screens, like few people ever have.

In today’s flooded media landscape, it is hard to not only draw an audience but to keep them engaged and engrossed but for more than a few minutes. These guys can do it for days, without needing food or water.

They market their respective abilities, and intentions, as if they are Biblical figures who have been sent here from another time to do good for our society when they don’t have to.

They market their respective achievements as if what they have done has never been done before.

Each has a firm grasp of the current media landscape, and how to adequately manipulate it for their own benefit. They fearlessly monetize anything they do.

Rhetorically, both men are alphas dogs who rely on bragging, bullying and belittling anyone who may be so bold as to cross them. Their respective list of “receipts” against those who dare question, or wrong, them is longer than a CVS sales slip.

Even though their respective resumes are loaded with examples of human error, they would both rather eat old shoes than admit being wrong.

They project tough, machismo masculinity and yet they often display sensitivities encased by the skin befitting a 105-year-old man. These are deeply sensitive men.

Their respective press conferences, or interviews, can be are infuriating, captivating, inspiring, and sickening. They are also always entertaining.

The impact Trump has on ratings and news organizations is similar to the influence Deion is making in Boulder, and on sports media.

On Nov. 9, 2016, the day after the Presidential election, Reuters wrote, “The 2016 election cycle had been a ratings boon for U.S. cable news networks.”

Trump coverage was the cruel gift for news platforms that loathed him while it fed a hungry-audience that devoured everything he did, which in turn boosted profits.

Since Deion arrived in Boulder this offseason, everything the man says and does commands the attention of news coverage from all over the U.S.

For Colorado’s home game on Saturday against Colorado State, ESPN is hosting its Game Day from Boulder. The same for Fox Sports’ “Big Noon Kickoff.”

CBS’ 60 Minutes is airing another Deion segment on Sunday, it’s second different piece on him in less than a year.

Colorado’s home opener against Nebraska drew 53,241, its largest crowd since 2008. TV ratings were the second-highest among college games that day, just barely behind Texas at Alabama.

These two both boldly claim, or claimed, to “shake up the establishment” by doing things that have never been done before. The packaging and presentation is different, but the results are mostly the same.

The sports, and political, machines keep purring.

Credit both as masters of marketing who understand that their respective fans will believe anything that comes out of their mouths.

Whatever they do, or say, we watch, listen and react.

The difference between Trump and Deion

Although they share so many common traits, one is a head football coach while the other was, and aspires to be again, the President of the United States.

As evidenced by his time with the infamous charter school Prime Prep Academy, Deion’s talents are better served not as a school administrator but either as a commentator, or a coach.

Between his time at Jackson State, and now Colorado, Deion is establishing himself as a successful college coach.

Deion is harmless; he’s got a big mouth, wears jewelry, sunglasses and he is paid to win football games. He may make you mad, but he’s not a criminal. He is perfectly suited for sports, and sports entertainment.

Deion’s sphere of influence is significant, and it’s also a decimal point compared to that of leader of the free world.

Now, because this is not a political rant, we will just end this right here.