Colorado lost their football game last night to Oregon.  As a matter of fact, they got blown out, 42-6. Colorado is now 3-1 on the season, not a bad record, but the toughest part of their schedule is still ahead of them.  

But I truly don't understand the hatred and contempt I'm seeing all over the internets against Colorado and their flamboyant coach, "Prime Time" Neon Deion Sanders.

On the face of it, it's a great sports story.  A struggling football program, one of the worst if not THE worst in the country, hires an outspoken and colorful head coach whose only prior coaching experience has been at the prep school and HBCU level. Never mind that said coach was a college football and NFL standout, as well as an accomplished baseball player.  

What's more, Coach Prime brought his two sons along, starting one as the team's quarterback and the other as a defender.  Butt as it turns out, they're both good.  Even after yesterday's shellacking, Shedeur Sanders has the second most number of yards among QBs in the FBS, and Shilo Sanders leads the team in tackles. It might be nepotism, but it's nepotism that works.

This inexperienced but outspoken team then won its first game against TCU, the team that was in the National Championship Game just last January.  Granted, TCU's QB graduated last spring and they aren't what they were back then, but it's still a good win nonetheless.  Then they beat Nebraska, who's glory days are far behind but are still a college football legend, and then they beat their instate rival, Colorado State.

3-0 is not a bad start for a team that was 1-11 the year before.  But Colorado is in the short-lived and ill-fated PAC-12 Conference, and until last night hadn't played any PAC-12 opponents. 

Sports fans love their Cinderella stories, and Colorado's turnaround has all the earmarks of a classic Cinderella.  But many sports fans, especially those inclined to post comments on Facebook and the ESPN and other sports websites, had an almost violent level of contempt and anger over Colorado.  They were downright gleeful in their joy of seeing the team beaten and were contemptuous of anyone who so much as suggests that the team might improve as a result of yesterday's drubbing. 

I don't get it. Sports fans don't react this way when some random basketball team unexpectedly makes it to the Final Four.  Or when a baseball or hockey team has a "worst-to-first" turnaround season.

Why this hated then for Coach Prime and the Sanders brothers?  Race couldn't possibly have anything to do with it, could it?