The Crystal Ball 2013 The Sherman Offensive

Since the conclusion of the NFC Championship game, the dominating story in the NFL has been Richard Sherman and the response to his post game comments about Michael Crabtree.

In case you’ve been under a rock, Sherman used a post game interview segment to explode on 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree, with whom he’s had a growing feud, to Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews and the world effectively lost their collective minds. It’s almost 48 hours later, and the story is still dominating headlines and talking head shows.

Personally, I thought Sherman exploding in the interview was hilarious, captivating and downright good entertainment. I didn’t find him dangerous, threatening or even all that controversial. Sure, it was childish, boorish and even a bit unsportsmanlike. But it was also genuine, honest, raw emotion expressed after he made the play that sent his team to the Super Bowl. We always ask for honestly from athletes all the time, and rarely do we get it. And while sometimes getting the honest reaction can be a mixed bag, this time I absolutely loved it. And Erin Andrews would agree, and she stated as such to Dan Patrick on “The Dan Patrick Show”:

“How much have you and I wanted a moment like that where an athlete didn’t say, ‘We’re playing Seahawks ball,’ ‘We’re taking it play-by-play, game-by-game, this is what we wanted.’ He lost his mind, and it was awesome for once, you know?”

That quote from Erin alone allows me to forgive her for those incessant Cintas commercials. Well, Sherman provided us what we have all wanted, both reporters and spectators, an athlete speaking his mind. Except this time, the populace freaked.

Perhaps sensibilities have changed. But I don’t understand when we stopped enjoying, rooting for, and against, a brash, loud, trash talking, hard hitting player. In the past, we’ve reveled in these men, labeled them characters and rose them to mythological status. Art Donovan, with the help of David Letterman, made a second career of reliving his playing days and loudmouth ways. Conrad Dobler played the villain beside Dan Dierdorf’s hero his entire career. Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders rode their penchant for talking the talk and walking the walk to the Hall of Fame. And I must point out, to any Steeler fan out there deriding Sherman, you are being ridiculously hypocritical. Sherman is a younger, smarter, savvier version of Joey Porter, one of the all-time great smack talkers and hard hitters.

But something about Sherman’s post game performance really tripped the collective breaker, as evidenced by social media. My theory is Sherman’s tirade was seemingly directed at Erin Andrews and this is where people took exception. Sherman took the post game interview opportunity to further deride and humiliate Michael Crabtree, after doing such on the field of play. Sherman was loud, boisterous, self serving and aggressive, seemingly coming out of your television and right at Crabtree. But what people saw, initially interpreted and reacted to, was a big, seemingly scary, angry African American male yelling and looking threatening at a smaller Caucasian woman.

Many people have already tried to debunk the race issue of Sherman’s comments and the subsequent public reaction. But it would seem Sherman’s outburst, and the reaction to it, played on some deep, still existing racial fears, whether consciously or otherwise. Think:

Last season, when Sherman barked at Tom Brady after the Seahawks defeated the Patriots in Seattle, everyone laughed. Why? Because Brady’s a prima donna and a snob, and it was good to see him taken down a peg or two.

Last May, when Sherman destroyed Skip Bayless on ESPN’s First Take, everyone laughed. Bayless is a clueless idiot who speaks just to be heard and it was about time someone put him in his place. Sherman was a hero not afraid to speak his mind.

Last summer, when Sherman initially ripped apart Michael Crabtree after their initial feud started at a charity event, everyone was fine with it. Crabtree gets so much attention as a receiver, what HAS he actually done to deserve such recognition?

But when Sherman went on a rant about Crabtree, a rival he showed up in the biggest moment of his career, to Erin Andrews, that went too far. Why did that go too far?

It wasn’t anything different than he’s said in the past. And let’s be honest, Sherman didn't say anything different from any other loud, brash professional athlete has said through the years? Nothing, nothing at all. He promoted himself as the best player at his position. Man, give me a penny for every athlete who’s ever said that, I’d be ready to retire. He talked badly about an opponent. Again, just a penny and I can retire twice. He stated that when you match someone against a superior opponent, the results will be the inferior opponent will be vanquished. Yeesh, forget sports, I’ll take 1/10^th of 1 penny for every time something of the same has been uttered by a human being. I’d make so much from that alone; Bill Gates would call me to borrow a few bucks.

And what Sherman said is certainly no worse than anything Crabtree himself said or did about and to Sherman. Crabtree showed poor sportsmanship himself on the field by shoving Sherman in the face and walking away in an angry huff, then blasted Sherman in the post game comments and on Twitter, and he’s given a free pass. I’d like to know why no one is saying anything about that.

When you break it down, the key variable is gender and color. As a society, we have come a very long way in race relations. But every once in a while, we get a reminder that there's still work ahead of us. I believe this is one of those times. Personally, I wonder if the reaction had been different if Tony Siragusa had conducted the interview, or even if it had been Pam Oliver.

The vitriol and negative comments directed at Sherman since Sunday night have been aimed at denigrating and destroying a man the purveyors of these opinions obviously do not know at all. Many of the descriptions I’ve heard and read to describe Sherman and his actions follow a similar pattern; “out of line” “inappropriate” “over the top” “rude” “ignorant” “irresponsible”, “ruthless thug”, “moron”, ”stupid”, “classless”, “jerk”, “fool”, and on and on it goes. But and while Sherman may have been rude, he certainly is not stupid, ignorant or a thug.

Sherman hails from Compton California, where his parents, a garbage truck driver and a nurse, pushed their children to excel in academics and kept them busy with activities, one of which for Richard was obviously football. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Communications, a school he chose for its academic prowess. He is working on a Masters degree and writes a regular column for The MMQB of Sports Illustrated.

If anything, Sherman should be held up as a success story and a positive role model for kids everywhere. Through hard work and dedication, as well as a commitment to education, Sherman has managed to rise to the top of his profession. He is what we claim to want as a society for our children. We, as a society, always tell kids if you work hard, study and do your best, you too can be successful at anything. Well, he did just that. He worked hard, he studied even harder and he put in the effort to become a well rounded, intelligent, successful young man. And again, people are heaping hate upon him because he busted the chops of some guy on national TV? Haven’t Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsay made successful careers doing just that?

Listen to Sherman’s speech again. He seems wild, loud and crazy, but he never swears, never uses improper English and never uses slang. Do you think, perhaps, the whole trash talking act may be a calculated move to increase visibility, potential endorsements and income and potentially lead to a post football career in the media by a Stanford COMMUNICATIONS graduate?

Oh wait, it totally is.

"Things I do probably look like madness, like I'm totally out of control, but there's always a plan. It's part of a greater scheme to get some eyes, to grow the market, to grow Seattle."

Sherman has used his media pulpit on The MMQB to apologize and explain what led up to Sunday night’s blowup with Crabtree. He has also spoken with head coach Pete Carroll and apologized to Crabtree and his teammates for being a distraction. Obviously, his tiff with Crabtree became something much larger than he ever anticipated, and far larger than it ever should have been.

I believe the negative reaction to Sherman stems from either (A) people do not know him and are assuming the worst based on one impression; or (B) or people are assuming Sherman is just another angry, rude and ignorant athlete.

If the answer is (A), the solution is simple. Look into the man and find out a few things about him. Here’s a few links, to get you started and on your way.

If the answer is (B), then perhaps you need to look inside yourself, ask yourself truthfully why you have come to such a firm, instant judgment of the man, why you seem to be unwilling to change your opinion of said man in the face of contrary evidence, and what that means about yourself.