On Sunday night Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman, who as he
tells us is the best cornerback in the NFL, made a game-saving deflection of a
pass from San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to receiver Michael
Crabtree, who as Sherman tells us is merely mediocre and Kaepernick should’ve
known better than to throw to in the first place. Anyway, Sherman’s huge
deflection was intercepted by Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith, which sealed
the win and a Super Bowl berth for the Seahawks.
Then just seconds after his game-winning play Sherman was
asked to do an interview with Fox Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews. The
result was THIS.
Immediately Sherman went from game-saver to the most hated
man in the NFL and over 24 hours later people still can’t get enough of bashing
Sherman and besmirching his character.
My only question is … Why?
Was what Sherman did appropriate or sportsmanlike?
No. I’m not sure anybody could defend his response as being
such. Even he later realized it wasn’t appropriate and has since apologized.
However, was his response worthy of such vitriolic responses
from fans calling him a “thug” or a “punk” or even worse?
Absolutely not.
ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd hit the nail right on the head
when he said about the situation on his daily radio show “You put a mic in his
face three seconds later don’t expect composed athlete speak. Richard Sherman
made the play of the day in the NFL, he was all jacked up.”
What Sherman did was essentially not a big deal, even if I
do admit to it not being ideal for an athlete to do. When it comes right down
to it all he really did was trash talk an opponent in a loud manner.
It was made into a big deal by people for a few reasons. 1)
it was aggressive 2) he’s a black athlete 3) his interviewer was a female (and
not only that but an attractive one that much of America is too in love with).
I know some people are going to roll their eyes at the
implication of race being the issue here, but if that had been a white athlete
giving the interview you can be assured the response wouldn’t have been as
negative, you can be assured nobody is tweeting a white athlete racial slurs
and you can be sure that nobody is throwing around the word “thug” today. In
fact, have you ever heard a white athlete referred to as a “thug?”
NASCAR drivers Kurt and Kyle Busch are about the most vile
things I’ve ever seen in the world of sports and I’ve never heard the word “thug”
bandied about when speaking of them.
Richard Sherman gives a passionate, emotional postgame
interview and he’s automatically a thug. It doesn’t matter that he was a Salutatorian (ranked second in his entire
class) in high school. It doesn’t matter that he’s a Stanford graduate
in communications and actually returned to college for his final year of
eligibility just so he could begin a Masters degree. It doesn’t matter that
judging by his column for Monday Morning Quarterback that he’s an intelligent
and well-written writer. It doesn’t matter that he’s involved with multiple
charities. All that matters to the ignorant sports fan is that he came off as
an angry black man on television and therefore he’s a “thug.” Yet, white athlete
Ben Roethlisberger has more than likely sexually assaulted multiple women and
he’s not a “thug.”
All Sherman’s interview amounted too was one-upping
Crabtree, who he has a longstanding rivalry, if not feud with. The two have
gone back and forth many times and Crabtree has reportedly even tried to fight
Sherman previously at a charity event hosted by Arizona Cardinals receiver
Larry Fitzgerald. Crabtree has taken numerous chances in the media to diss
Sherman, as well. Sherman was merely getting the last (and biggest laugh) on
Sunday.
Next time you have a problem with what you perceive to be an
outburst from a professional athlete try taking into account the emotions that
run high during these incredibly high stakes games, take into account the
history between athletes and take into account the athlete’s personality and
character. Don’t simply write them off as a “thug” because they are black and
screaming on television.
