Deion Sanders: The Not-So-Outdoorsman.
Deion Sanders has a knack for going to a football team and instantly making them more competitive. Whether it was his playing days in NFL and MLB, his time at the HBCU Jackson State, or his current coaching gig with the Colorado Buffaloes, he’s always taken pride in taking an organization to new heights.
Believe it or not, Deion Sanders is embarking on his third season as the Colorado head coach (time flies, eh?). Coach Prime and his Buffaloes team are currently 3-4, and have a 1-3 record in the Big 12. So they aren’t having as successful of a season as last year, when Colorado went 9-4 season and boasted a 7-2 Big 12 record in their first year in the conference.
But all of that could change after Colorado’s bye, which they just had this past week. Now the Buffaloes are healthy and fresh and ready to tackle the rest of the season. And Deion Sanders? He really enjoyed the team’s bye week, and used the opportunity to visit nearby Estes Park, Colorado – just an hour north of Boulder, where the University of Colorado is located.
In Coach Prime’s time with the media, he explained that he did a lot of wildlife sightseeing while visiting the place that’s known to be the “base camp” for Rocky Mountain National Park. That being said… it doesn’t sound like he knew exactly what he was seeing:
“What do you call those big things? A moose? Elk? What’s a moose? They’re bigger? You gotta (know), I’m black, okay? I don’t know elk, moose or deer.
They all like family to me. But I saw a lot of big animals around Estes Park and I’m not used to that. So it was great… it’s a great area. I want to go back.”
Hey, at least Deion Sanders was honest.
And to be clear, moose, elk and deer are all known to roam around the Estes Park area and the natural habitat of Rocky Mountain National Park. So he likely saw all three types of deer, though the most prominent animal in Estes Park is undoubtedly the elk. Over 280,000 elk live in Colorado, and a whole lot of them can be found in Estes Park, which is also often called the “Elk Capital of the World.”
Good to hear that Coach Prime had a great time visiting the wonderful area of Colorado (I was just there in Estes not too long ago and it was beautiful). It wasn’t all sunshine and worry-free fun though… Deion says he and whoever he was there with almost hit a deer:
“Some deer tried to cut across the front of the car and I definitely wasn’t gonna hit them. That’s all I need, a brother hitting a deer in Estes Park. No, not gonna happen.”
Glad that Deion avoided the close call with the deer, and that he seems to be more informed now on the differences between moose, elk and deer. But I do like that he said “they’re all family to me.” That’s a good way of admitting you don’t know all that much about wildlife, and he’s ultimately right… moose, deer and elk are all in the Cervidae family.
