Backlash Against Richard Sherman is Unwarranted

Written by Warren Schorr
*Disclaimer – The author wrote this article from his/her point of view. The opinion presented does not necessarily reflect the stance of KTSW 89.9.

People want athletes to show emotion in press conferences, but when they do they get criticized. Seattle Seahawks corner back, Richard Sherman, is the latest athlete to fall into scrutiny after his epic post-game interview with Fox’s Erin Andrews after the Seahawks clinched a spot in the Super Bowl.

If you haven’t heard by now, Sherman called out San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, Michael Crabtree, for being mediocre. When you throw “sorry receivers” at him, as Sherman claims, bad things happen.

Crabtree and Sherman have a history, as Sherman stated in his MMQB article, in which he said that Crabtree said something to him at a charity event hosted by Larry Fitzgerald over the summer. This feud has carried over in the two previous meetings between Sherman and Crabtree this year that culminated in that rant.

To give some background on Sherman, he is from Compton, California, went to Stanford University and was a fifth-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft so his upfront personality hasn’t hindered his progress in life to say the least.

When the Sherman interview happened, social media went insane and people were claiming that Richard Sherman turned “heel”, in reference to a pro wrestling term used to depict the antagonist in storylines.

They called Sherman a classless winner and, inexcusably, worse phrases that cannot be said on here.  At first, when I heard Sherman, I was stunned and thought, “Wow how classless is that”. But I listened to it again and realized what the scene was like on the field and now have no problem with what was said.

He was emotional after the making the biggest play of his life, in the biggest game of his life and was being honest when a microphone was shoved in his face. He was being what we want our athletes to be, honest. It’s hard to slander a guy for his honesty if you don’t agree with what he said.

Was Sherman’s rant classless? That’s up to you, but his actions on the field after he ran over to Crabtree to; allegedly, say “good game” looked more classless than the rant itself.

For us to rush to the conclusion that Sherman is a “thug”, or “classless”, is ridiculous. We don’t see how he acts in his day-to-day life. Why do we even care if Sherman or athletes in general are classy? Is it because we have this thought in our mind of how we want athletes to act? If a player wins games for our team and brings the ultimate goal home, then why do we care? We get the emotional satisfaction as fans, and as players they get the satisfaction of achieving a lifelong dream. I doubt Seahawks fans are complaining about Sherman today.

The only thing we see is the way he acts on the football field when emotions are running high and Sherman is more public with his trash talk than any other player in the NFL.

Today, Sherman apologized for his postgame outburst, saying it took away from the team win. He’s probably right. It took the focus off of a phenomenal game, which nobody is talking about.

Should he have apologized? Probably not, but was he told to apologize by the Seahawks? Possibly, but that’s what those type of organizations have to do. Will this incident stop Sherman from talking? Not at all, and he will continue to back up his talk with his play on the field.

Hopefully when athletes speak their mind in the future and we don’t rush to conclusions about their class or upbringing, because who really cares? We as fans only care about wins, and if a classless player brings championships, we will be happy.

We all are looking forward to next Tuesday when Sherman takes the podium at Super Bowl Media Day. Get your popcorn ready.