Grading The Week: No, Jay Norvell did not call Deion Sanders out to help Coach Prime sell sunglasses

05We get it, we get it. Everything is stupid now. I mean, some of the new kids from the Grading The Week staff decided to zip up to Boulder Friday morning, getting their new Nikes all muddy in the process, just to land a fleeting, up-close look at Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. (GTW insider tip: The Rock was a heck of a lot taller, and meaner-looking, than all the bodyguards who were flanking him outside the CU Events Center.)

Hey, if the Buffs could land one of the hottest actors in Hollywood for 0-1 CSU … what kind of star power is comin’ to town for that showdown with Caleb Williams, Lincoln Riley and USC at Folsom Field in two weeks? Brad Pitt? Beyonce? Tom Cruise? Taylor Swift?

But in a Buffs world where suddenly everything and anything is possible, the GTW gang can think of at least one thing that isn’t right now.

Jay Norvell unintentionally intentionally pushing Deion Sanders sunglasses sales โ€” F.

Full disclosure: Our tin-foil hats are custom made, size 7 3/4. We love an air-tight conspiracy theory as much as the next peanut gallery.

But if you really think CSU’s Jay Norvell made a dig about unbeaten CU football coach and Hall of Fame pitch man Deion Sanders wearing sunglasses in order to help Coach Prime hawk more of his new shades … we can’t help you.

Now, we can see where you’ve got the yarn and the pins lined up on the board there. Norvell, who’s been extremely reverential to Coach Prime in public despite the Buffs sucking up all the oxygen in the state over the last nine months, fires a shot in the direction of Boulder during his radio show seemingly from out of nowhere. Then, less than 40 hours after the Rams’ football coach throws shade about taking his sunglasses and hat off when talking to adults, a real shades company, Blenders, announces a new limited-edition set of shades, for $67 a pair, in partnership with โ€” and endorsed by โ€” CU’s football coach.

Couple things.

First, no.

Second, no. Just. No.

Third, Norvell most likely said what he said for many of the same reasons Nuggets coach Michael Malone said what he said during (and after) the Western Conference finals against the Lakers.

If you want to point fingers, point ’em at Disney. We’ll betcha ESPN showed up to FoCo with a narrative โ€” LeBron, LeBron, LeBron then; Deion, Deion, Deion now โ€” already in hand, asked about 35 straight questions to Norvell and his players about said narrative (“Deion, Deion, Deion”) and finally made a good man crack. Which he did.

Rapids fans calling for Kroenke accountability โ€” A.

Meanwhile, south of the turnpike, not everything Stan and Josh touch turns to gold. The long, simmering feud between KSE and the metro’s Rapids faithful, as passionate as their burgundy Avs peers but with much less silverware, came to a head a few days back.

The supporters’ group Centennial 38 penned an open letter that read KSE the riot act on investment, infrastructure, a decaying home park and giving a rat’s patootie relative to the high-profile parties thrown for the Avs in 2022 and Nuggets in 2023. And they’re dead on. A club with a cumulative negative goal difference of minus-34 over the last two seasons has kept attendance at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park at 83.3% capacity since February 2022. The footie-heads on the GTW staff agree: C38’s passion, and that badge, deserve a heck of a lot better.

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