College Football's First Awesome Upset Immediately Ruined by Jemele Hill
Leave it to noted race-baiter and alleged college football fan Jemele Hill to ruin what was an otherwise impeccable beginning to the NCAA football season.
If you haven’t heard yet, the first major and notable upset of the year is in the books: The unranked University of Colorado Boulder Buffaloes walked into Fort Worth, Texas, and stunned the 17th-ranked team in the nation, the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs.
It wasn’t just an incredible upset — it was an incredible game.
TRAVIS HUNTER
A STAR IS BORN FOR @CUBuffsFootball 🔥🦬 pic.twitter.com/vz8vhUVrJ4
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 2, 2023
THIS GAME 🤯@TCUFootball takes their lead back! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PFFz5Bl2YK
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 2, 2023
DYLAN EDWARDS DOES IT AGAIN 😱
COLORADO TAKES BACK THE LEAD @CUBuffsFootball pic.twitter.com/bbjwLCLWwp
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 2, 2023
TCU put up 42 points in an electric back-and-forth affair, even scoring the go-ahead touchdown with about seven minutes left in the game.
It was all for naught, as Colorado’s father-son/coach-quarterback combo of Deion Sanders (yes, the NFL legend) and Shedeur Sanders were able to take the lead back late and prevailed 45-42.
Besides crazy action, there were also a number of tantalizing storylines to follow before, during, and after this game, which was the de facto main event of this opening college football weekend.
How would TCU respond after getting utterly embarrassed (to the tune of a 65-7 final score) in the national championship game last year? How would Coach Sanders respond in his new digs after leading Jackson State to a 12-1 record last year? Is Colorado player Travis Hunter, who finished with 11 catches, 119 receiving yards, and an interception (Yes, an interception), officially going to be a part of the Heisman debate this year? How will TCU respond to giving up over a 100 points in its last two games now?
Nowhere, in any of the storylines going into or out of the game, does race play a factor.
Well, unless you’re Jemele Hill.
No, Hill insisted on being the fly in the soup, as she often does, by making this genuinely exciting sporting event about race:
Really interesting listening to some of the commentary around this Colorado-TCU game. Lot of coded stuff. 👀🤔
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 2, 2023
“Really interesting listening to some of the commentary around this Colorado-TCU game,” Hill posted to X, formerly called Twitter. To be fair to her, there’s nothing wrong with that sentiment. It wasn’t until her next quip where it became clear she was making this about race.
“Lot of coded stuff,” she posted, along with the eyes and thinking face emojis.
Oh, brother. Excuse this writer while he searches for an ocular surgeon because he rolled his eyes too hard.
“Coded” language, for those who are unaware, is a term used by people who really like to try and find racism in things that are not inherently racist. It’s the bastardization of “reading between the lines.”
Hill is clearly suggesting that there was some racism going on in the announcer booth (which, of note, prominently features Gus Johnson, a wildly popular sports announcer who happens to be a black man) though she did not elaborate on what exactly she was implying.
The most educated guess is that her remarks had to do with the team in the announcer booth (alongside Johnson is Joel Klatt) discussing the controversy surrounding Coach Sanders’ unconventional decision to leave Jackson State.
“They said Deion Sanders didn’t know what he was doing… His critics- coaches all over the country- saying that ‘this was not the right way'”
Gus Johnson explains @DeionSanders journey perfectly as he earns his first win with @CUBuffsFootball ❤️🎤 pic.twitter.com/NRScSUmvEp
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 2, 2023
Johnson addressed some of those controversies, which stemmed from the way Sanders left Jackson State and immediately began bringing in his preferred players and jettisoning the ones he wasn’t particularly enamored with. Of particular note, his standout quarterback of a son basically left Jackson State with his father.
In short, Sanders actually handled his big move to Colorado more like an NFL coach than a college coach, given that most college coaches need a few years to bring in “their” recruiting class. That obviously bothered swathes of college football traditionalists — both black and white.
And it’s fair to criticize him for that. That doesn’t make you racist!
That’s not to say that there aren’t racists condemning Sanders moves solely because of his skin color; nobody should be that naive.
But to conflate a couple egregious critics as some racist movement against Sanders? That’s a bit rich, even for Hill.
Besides, Sanders, of all people, certainly doesn’t need Hill sticking up for him — the man is no stranger to tackling controversies head on.
Case in point: When Sanders took his talents to Boulder, Colorado, there was an uproar over a different issue, though similarly stupid like Hill’s complaint.
Sanders was attacked for daring to bring Jesus Christ into his locker room by all manner of atheist groups. Sanders handled the controversy exactly the way he should have. He ignored it and steadfastly continued to pray.
He didn’t make it about race. He didn’t try to divide people. And that’s a lesson that Hill desperately needs to learn.
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