The circus returned to Boulder on Friday.

Hopefully this time for Colorado football fans, the bright lights, big personalities and constant drama incited by the head coach actually leads to a palatable win total.

Deion Sanders took center stage at CU’s annual fall sports media day on Friday, and it was a banner day for the unofficial kickoff to Sanders’ second season as the lead Buffalo. Coach Prime turned 57. He became a grandfather. And he once again offered a sermon that balanced unbridled, unproven optimism with an airing of grievances worthy of a particularly bitter Festivus.

The actual football talk took a back seat to Sanders’ bruised ego, as his most passionate responses were reserved not for the questions about the progress of his team, but for those who neglected to pay fealty to his 4-8 throne.

“CBS? I’m not doing nothin’ with CBS. I got love for you. I appreciate, respect you,” said Sanders to a longtime local reporter, who also is a CU alum, as he completely disrespected him by not taking his question. “You are who you are. CBS is CBS.”

This neither began, nor ended, the terse exchanges.

Granted, some recent headlines have to have been frustrating for Sanders and his team. The recent Athlon report describing an off-the-rails culture was irresponsible. As was the report earlier this year that safety Shilo Sanders would miss the bulk of the season due to an injury. If it was my son’s health being referenced incorrectly, or my team’s collective character being questioned, I’d be fuming, too.

But — and I can’t stress this enough — this is the inevitable fallout of the spotlight Sanders packs in the luggage he takes everywhere. Every head coach at every big-time program deals with criticism. But for a program that has won all of two conference games over the past two seasons, Sanders’ talk only puts more pressure on his players, already trying to prove themselves, to back up the bluster.

Just prior to dismissing the local outlet that hosted his local coaches show last year (and, also, the network on which the venerable national news show “60 Minutes” showcased Sanders in puff pieces each of the last two seasons), Sanders waved off an innocent question from the Associated Press. Then came the already-viral exchange with a columnist from the Denver Post. After that, Sanders pivoted to a question from Shilo about birthday plans. Suddenly his mood brightened.

See the pattern? It was the AP, Denver Post and CBS who drew Sanders’ ire. It’s not a coincidence they’re among the few at these gatherings who might actually ask critical questions, some more than others. Admittedly, several columns from Sean Keeler at the Post have been pointedly critical. But he has every right to write them, and I still find it boggling that Sanders, a brash Hall of Famer who often says he doesn’t care what people say and think about him, actually takes very personally what people say and think about him.

Everything is a conspiracy. Everything is a grievance. Even in trivial matters, like Sanders’ comments regarding running back Charlie Offerdahl at the Big 12 media days in Las Vegas when he said, “just because Charlie Offerdahl had the title of a walk-on, you guys underestimate him, you look past him.”

Now, I’m sure if you comb through every lonely corner of the internet, you’ll find some grump somewhere who’s not impressed with Offerdahl’s rise to prominence. But a quick Charlie Offerdahl search reveals one glowing feature after another, including from this publication, describing the affable Offerdahl’s grit and persistence. People freakin’ love Charlie Offerdahl. But in the us-against-the-world delusion maintained by Sanders, everything is a slight, even if you have the audacity to mention the former walk-on is a former walk-on. (This underestimated back got all of two carries for a woeful run game last year. Who exactly is doing the underestimating?)

There is a faction of Deion disciples who applaud the us-against-everyone mentality and the combative stance with any media member who utters anything remotely critical. That’s fine. There’s also a thought that folks should defend the critical pieces they write. And that’s fine, too. But that’s not what happened on Friday.

Sanders attacked the character of the Post writer. He dismissed a question about the new-look offensive line from the AP because he claimed to not know what “bolstered” means (I’m happy to help. According to Merriam-Webster, “bolstered” means “to give a boost to.”). Sanders waved off the local CBS reporter due to an unspecified grievance against the national CBS. The parent company of the Daily Camera owns and operates dozens of media outlets from coast to coast (including the Post). By that logic, am I now required to answer for anything written at any of them? If CBS is CBS, then I guess the MediaNews Group is the MediaNews Group. All that said, I’m not in the camp that it was a poor look for a campus leader. Certainly it probably wasn’t what Rick George prefers, but it’s nothing new. Sanders did it to national football reporter Ed Werder following last year’s win at TCU. He did it to this reporter at CU’s media day last year. This was just Deion being Deion. It’s what CU signed up for, and the Buffs’ brass will gladly trade a few cringe-y moments in exchange for the announcement of another sellout, as happened Friday afternoon in regard to the Baylor date.

Yet the thing about circuses and carnivals, be it the media sort or the traditional kind, is that they’re entertaining as long as everyone goes home happy. When people start feeling ripped off — either when the rings at the ring toss invariably go awry or, in this case, if the losses keep mounting — the bombast no longer resonates. The bright lights no longer blind patrons to the mediocre operation.

Sanders is an all-timer at talking the talk. As a player, he also was an all-timer at backing it up. As a coach, however, that burden is on his players. And Sanders’ confrontational tone only adds pressure to a group already tasked with trying to live up to the Prime spotlight.