Is Race Playing Factor in Who People Are Rooting for in Super Bowl?

I believe this is going to be the most controversial thing I’ve ever written on sports, and it might not even be close, and that’s probably saying something. And, I want to preface it by saying that this is just a theory I have. I do not have stone cold hard facts to back it up. I don’t have evidence to support it. It’s just my opinion of what I’m seeing.

The Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the defending champion Seattle Seahawks is just a few days away and I’ve been asking people all week who they want to win the big game – not who they think will win – but who they want to win. The majority of these people have been saying the Patriots and have followed it up with reasons why they don’t like the Seahawks and those reasons always start with Richard Sherman, whom they never seem to mention by his full name, to these fans he’s just “Sherman” like some nefarious Marvel villain. 

The fact that these people are overwhelmingly rooting for the Patriots is interesting to me, because for the last decade-plus the Patriots have largely been the most hated team in the NFL, and one I’ve had to defend multiple times. Part of the reason the Patriots have seemingly been the most hated team in the NFL is they have this aura of cheating that surrounds them, and that has reared its ugly head recently with “Deflate-gate.” I’ve found that the Pats aren’t necessarily a team many of these people rooting for them to win the Super Bowl are wanting to root for – many have said they’re merely rooting for the lesser of two evils. That makes me wonder how a team that has multiple times been accused of cheating and people have largely despised for running roughshod over the AFC for more than a decade is the “lesser of two evils” over a Seahawks team, that I personally find the most enjoyable team in the NFL to watch and the only knock you could possibly find against them is they are the defending champs and some people don’t like to see the same team win in multiple seasons, for whatever reason that might be. 

They bring up Sherman, but is his brashness really any different than the arrogance exhibited by Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski or really the Pats team overall? You’d have to ask yourself if black brashness (or arrogance if you’d prefer) is viewed differently than white brashness and I think it is. 

It then occurred to me why some of these people might be rooting for the Pats over the Seahawks. The Patriots biggest stars are Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and arguably Julian Edelman. The Seahawks biggest stars are Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch. The Patriots are a largely white football team. I don’t know what percentage of the team is white, and frankly it doesn’t really matter, but they seem like the whitest team in the league. Whereas the Seahawks, you could argue, seem like the blackest team in the league. Can you even name one white star on the team?

Again, this doesn’t really matter or at least it shouldn’t, but I think it’s why a lot of people are rooting for the Patriots to beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Now, I’m not accusing these people of racism. No, I don’t believe they are racist at all. In fact, I believe that they don’t even realize this is playing a factor in their decision of which team to root for. I believe subconsciously they are choosing to root for the guys that look like them, without really thinking about it. We’ve seen recently in this country that there are racial issues, whether we want to believe it or not they exist, and frequently people will agree with or go with those who look like they do or believe the way they do.  

It’s controversial I know. Most people are likely going to think it asinine, I know. But, I think race is playing a certain role in who people are choosing to root for in this year’s Super Bowl. How else can you explain why so many are hoping America’s most hated team beats the Seahawks on Sunday?

In Defense of Richard Sherman

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.