There has been a huge discussion recently of the rant from Richard Sherman’s post game interview with Fox’s journalist Erin Andrews. The post-game interview followed Sherman making an incredible game-saving acrobatic tip on the second to-last play of the NFC championship game. After coming off an emotional rollercoaster of a game that was played for the super bowl, Sherman was obviously exuberant. Known as arguably the most talented Defensive Back in the NFL, Sherman is also the top trash-talker. Sherman was the first post-game interview for Erin Andrews who looked more confused than afraid of Sherman’s verbal behavior.
Sherman was quoted saying, “I was making sure everybody knew Crabtree was a mediocre receiver,” and followed that by saying, “When you try the best corner in the game with a mediocre receiver that’s what happens.”
That entire statement did not display one curse or vulgar word that other pro athletes have used so blatantly before. The problem with our society today is the narrow-minded people that witnessed this interview and negatively judged Sherman by his vocabulary and color of his skin. Many individuals noticed Sherman as any other kid from Compton because of his language and not as the former Stanford graduate with a major in communication.
In the year 2014 and with the recent honoring of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, sports fans took to twitter to negatively represent themselves and bash Sherman. Some of the tweets were downright appalling but unfortunately, this is a society that we still live in. Sherman responded to the verbal abuse on his own twitter account (@RSherman_25) and said, “Last night shows that racism is still alive and well…and that’s so sad…At least some people respect MLKs dream.”
While reading his other tweets that he sent out, you can tell Sherman was remorseful about how he came off and was portrayed by the media. The problem is what the media lives for is athletes’ verbal and emotional behavior’s following a big game. Many pro leagues have athletes sign in their contracts that they must conduct a post-game interview with the media. Controversially, fellow teammate Marshawn Lynch was fined $50,000 from the NFL for not speaking a word to the media. Where is the line drawn? Lynch gets away with being fined because he told the media “not today” too many times; but Sherman gets ridiculed and racist remarks across the country because he showed his passion and was moments away from losing the biggest game of his life.
There is a narrow line that is being crossed here with the media and its fans. By all the negative cruel racist remarks that individuals lashed out onto Sherman, they are displaying that progress has actually regressed. Don’t judge the player for his emotions but who and what he/she does off the field. That’s what makes the real difference in any athlete’s career. It is not what he/she does with a talent but instead what they can give back with that talent. This past summer, Sherman organized a softball game by his charity called Blanket Coverage that raised $40,000. Sherman spoke at the charity saying, “We shouldn’t ever leave a kid behind. But it’s hard for them to take the SATs when the textbooks they’re using were made in 2000. How can they compete?”
