A Prime Time Bassing Reading List
Deion Sanders excelled in two sports at both the college and pro level and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame – and despite all of that he may be getting more press now than ever during his meteoric rise to the top of the NCAA coaching ranks. First he made HBCU Jackson State into a powerhouse, and then he moved to Colorado where his strong debut has likewise befuddled many critics.
Even after his team got shellacked by Oregon on Saturday night, you can be sure that at least as much of the coverage was a referendum on what Deion means, as opposed to what happened on the field. Anything he does seems to be “must watch” entertainment. I’ll leave the pontificating and hot takes about what all of this means to sports fans and sportswriters more educated in such matters, but as with everything in my life, there’s a fishing angle.
Coach Prime has repeatedly talked about how he’d like to fish professionally. It’s not necessarily a complete joke – for a brief period of time he even hosted an ESPN television show about outdoor pursuits:
Even before that, in an anecdote that likely makes most of our readers like him more, he got arrested for fishing in an off-limits lake. We’ve all been there in some capacity, going a little bit beyond what is socially acceptable to get on or stay on a solid bite. The press seemed at the time to revel in his misdeed, but now it’s mostly relayed as a sign of youthful exuberance.
He also fished in a Bassmaster Celebrity Pro-Am sponsored by Academy in 2021, and his team led by Greg Hackney took top honors.
If that’s not enough to inform you that the shutdown corner is also a serious bass angler, check out any of the following. Publications from Esquire to Sports Illustrated and beyond have made the connection pretty regularly:
