When a team reaches the Super Bowl, they will experience an abundant amount of attention from the media. Deservingly so, as these two teams have earned a trip to play for the most coveted championship in America. It’s a time where the general public will get to know the teams in depth and fully consume certain players’ personalities.
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman did not waste any time taking the limelight Sunday, as he participated in two post-game interviews, one with Erin Andrews and another with Ed Werder. After making a game-winning tip on a pass to the end-zone to Michael Crabtree, Sherman let America know how he felt about the 49ers’ star receiver. These two have had bad blood for some time now, so this outbursts directed towards Crabtree isn’t fueled by just this one game.
I don’t want this to be another blog post about how Sherman is a jerk. It’s not going to defend Sherman’s actions because “he is smart, he went to Stanford”. Wonderful. To me it’s obvious this man is smart. The GPA and the ability to get into Stanford after coming out of Compton is no cinch. But to use his academic success to defend his antics is foolish. The only thing you can use this defense on would be the even more absurd statements that Sherman is a “thug”.
Richard Sherman is simply portraying a personality that greatly helps a player at his position to succeed. Sure, you have to have the athletic skills along with the body to play cornerback in the NFL, but to be the best and to go out every night and shut down the best wide receivers in the NFL takes a sort of mindset. You have to be confident, perhaps cocky, and you have to be chippy.
All Sherman is doing is establishing a mindset, along with an abundant amount of confidence, to be able to go out and take away a team’s best receiver. In today’s NFL, the wide receiver is greatly favored with all of the new rules protecting them from big hits. To go with that, the defensive pass interference call has become all too frequent.
Richard Sherman’s perceived personality is an overconfident jerk that thinks he is better than everyone in the game. This is no shot at where he came from, his intelligence, or even his actual self. The problem is, and in fact it isn’t even a problem, is that opposing fans are not going to like him. That comes with taking the role as the cocky jerk. Don’t take it personally. It’s what makes him the best in the business.
You mad, bro?
