Yesterday's events at the end of the NFC Championship are a microcosm of why I, personally, am not a fan of his. But allow me to step outside of my personal bias about his personality. It's been well documented, the thoughts of many on Sherman's antics after the game, whether watchers agreed or disagreed with it.
Here's my thing. I have no problem with flashy/flamboyant players. In fact, I LOVED watching Chad (Johnson) OchoCinco play the game. He had FUN. He was entertaining. But his having fun didn't take away from the product on the field. It didn't take away from the success of his team. It also didn't perpetuate the myth in America that black men are aggressive, angry, and intimidating.
Richard Sherman's tirade yesterday perpetuated that myth.
I used to hear a joke when I was younger that blacks are great at math, since we always have to multiply by two. We have to be twice as smart, twice as fast, twice as good in order to be seen equal with our counterparts. Sherman is twice as fast, and twice as good, but I hesitate to say he was really thinking about how his actions yesterday not only affected the public view of his team, and himself as a player, but how it perpetuates the myth that I stated above about black men. It wasn't smart.
I understand Sherman's background: he comes from Compton. He's VERY well educated. And he's an outstanding football player, one of the best in the league. I understand also the gravity of the situation: this game was for a ticket to the Super Bowl against a hated rival team. But when it comes down to it, you still have to think about how your personal actions affect others. On a nationally televised stage, Richard Sherman was an angry black man.
Although the Seahawks have been a top NFL team for two seasons now, I would venture to say that most in this country aren't knowledgeable about the team. This isn't Sherman's fault, it's the fault of the media. They focus on major sports arenas like New York, and major figures like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. After putting on a HELL of a show for the nation in an outstanding football game, fans aren't talking about how the Seattle Seahawks played. They're talking about Richard Sherman. A lot of America's first exposure to the Seattle Seahawks was an angry black man yelling at a female, white interviewer. What happened to the no one man is bigger than the team mantra?
Ironically, Richard Sherman is in a recent Beats By Dre campaign entitled "Hear What You Want To Hear." In the commercial, he turns the other cheek when a reporter asks him about being a thug. Instead of doing this in a commercial, he should follow the message in his commercial. Yes you made an amazing play. One that will be replayed for the next 10 years in NFL Playoff commercials. Let THAT be how fans remember you. Not yelling hysterically into the camera.
Sherman talks the talk, and backs that up by walking the walk. The issue is his talking usually ends up hurting the team. And as the old mantra says:
No one player is bigger than the team.
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