The only thing the kids in the Grading The Week offices love more than barkin’ up trees is barkin’ up the trees we “ain’t gonna get up,” as Deion Sanders said this past Tuesday in his most contentious exchange with Denver media yet.

But some of those same kids, Coach Prime, ya know, they’ve been hanging with college coaches since you were shagging flyballs for the Reds.

So when we heard your comments on the CU football coach’s show earlier in the week about not just encouraging intrasquad fights among the Buffs, but “keeping records” as to who won or lost, we had to ask some longtime college coaches we know and trust:

Is this … normal talk?

Is this normal “coach” behavior?

Is this just Deion Sanders saying the “quiet parts” out loud again, and we’re just late to the party?

Their responses were unanimous.

Nope. Nope. And heck, nope.

Sanders’ “fights are good” take — D-

“No, it’s not normal.”

“Umm, no! Not at all (normal).”

“Blows me away that he’s saying that.”

So, yeah, pretty much a thumbs-down all-around on that one, Prime.

But you do you.

Look, football’s a collision sport, not just a contact one. Practices get long. Tempers get short.

If a lineman doesn’t get cheesed off enough to throw a jab at a teammate in frustration or after a cheap shot, he probably gave up caring weeks ago. And we’re in lockstep with Deion on that one. Can’t have that.

But timing is everything, too. Fights during the preseason or in training camp, when the ramped-up, amped-up desire to hit somebody spills over into the nearest target available, are perfectly normal, if occasionally unhealthy.

But fights in the second week of November, a fortnight ahead of Thanksgiving?

That’s a red flag from Boulder to Long Beach.

That’s a chemistry problem.

That’s guys who aren’t just sick of hitting each other.

That’s guys who are, after a 3-0 start turned into 4-5, sick to death of being around one another.

In fact, the whole thing reminded one of our GTW newbies about a JV football game he played in once, many decades ago. Our newbie was playing against a team with a ton of speed and talent but zero discipline. After our newbie’s team went up a couple touchdowns, the speed/talent team imploded.

He said guys on the losing sideline started pointing fingers, then began swinging their helmets at one another, totally losing it in front of everybody. A full-fledged mini-brawl erupted on the sidelines that had to be broken up by the coaching staff before it rippled onto the field.

“See?” one of the newbie’s coaches said to his guys on the other sideline while the donnybrook was going on across the way. “That’s why (school X) always loses.”

The Buffs head into Saturday’s home finale with Arizona (6-3) last in the Pac-12 in penalty flags per game (9.3) and next-to-last in penalty yardage per game (73.6). In a league this deep, where the margins — hello, Stanford game — are that thin, those are the kind of stats that help to separate the distance between, say, 4-8 and 7-5.

Also, Lord help the Buffs and their legal eagles if one of the “losers” in those fights winds up getting hurt in the process and comes back at the school for it. Here’s the thing, Deion: Lawyers keep receipts, too.