Monday, January 20, 2014

My take on Richard Sherman

We live in a world where it's outside the norm to be something other than politically correct.

At times, that's very disappointing.

Then there are moments like yesterday's NFC title game, in which Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman was very...candid...in his postgame interview with Fox reporter Erin Andrews.

I didn't have a problem with the way it went down. Sherman had, just minutes ago, one of the biggest moments of his professional life. An incredibly athletic play helped his team clinch a spot in the Super Bowl for the first time in his career. Can you say adrenaline rush?



At that level, football is a raw emotional game that is unlike you or I have ever experienced. And Sherman is very confident in his abilities to play said game at a very high level. In fact, he's one of the few players in sports today capable of both talking the talk AND backing it up by walking the walk.

The only person that should possibly be offended by what he said was Michael Crabtree. (Colin Kaepernick too, to an extent, as Sherman probably shouldn't have given him the "choke" sign, but Kaep did throw the pick there.) There was a bit of gloating (with a hint of sarcastic sportsmanship?) when he went to go "shake" Crabtree's hand, which unsurprisingly, Crabtree refused. The wide receiver isn't blameless here, as he had apparently run his mouth a bit too, but I don't think what Sherman did was malicious. Crabtree gave Sherman an inch of motivation and Sherman stretched it into a mile.

As someone who does cover sports, having someone give an un-Belichickian interview was good to see. Some actual material to use in a story? Amazing! And the two weeks between yesterday and the Super Bowl can be a loooooong time. Having something to spice it up? Fine by me.

NFL players pour their heart and soul into their work, with the goal being to get to (and ultimately win) the Super Bowl. So a guy is a little excited to get there and lets his emotions show? And DOESN'T CURSE on live TV? It's refreshing.

And those throwing around terms like "classless" and "thug" should really do their homework.

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