USA Today: Colorado is still Black America's football team

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As Deion Sanders continues to capture the fascination of college football, even when his team gets blown out, something else is happening. It may not make headlines, but it's happening all across the country. In Black homes. In Black businesses. Black fathers and sons, Black moms and daughters, Black friends and workmates – so many in the Black community are talking about Sanders.They are saying that Colorado is Black America's team.

Yes, they still are, despite being obliterated by Oregon on Saturday. No one thought Colorado was going undefeated or that there wouldn't be brutal patches. Sanders is rebuilding a broken program and it was always going to take time. The bandwagon is still full. Of Black fans.

"Not since the Los Angeles Raiders of the 1980s or Michigan's men's basketball team The Fab Five of the 1990s has a team captivated Black America and hip-hop culture like the Buffs have so far," wrote Axios.

There have been stories written like the one by Axios over the past month. They all remain viable. That's because I think Black fans are going to stick with this program through all of its ups and downs as long as Sanders is the coach.

The idea of Colorado as Black America's team may seem absurd, and this is a topic that is certain to infuriate some. The idea that an historically white football program like Colorado's is suddenly a Black team, on the surface, seems goofy. Yet Georgetown was a white program until John Thompson turned them into Black America's basketball team. The Fab Five transformed the image of the University of Michigan. Decades before Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to start in a Super Bowl, the Washington Commanders were owned by a notorious racist. Williams became Black America's quarterback. Years later, Colin Kaepernick became the same.

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