(via worldstarhiphop.com)
By now you’ve all seen it. When outspoken Seahawks CB Richard Sherman went ballistic on Erin Andrews (video below), just moments after sealing a trip to the Super Bowl for his team, he became the central focus of an entire nation. Sherman went Muhammad Ali on everyone, declaring himself the “best corner in the game”, and calling out 49ers WR Michael Crabtree as “sorry” and “mediocre”. It’s been all over the internet, television and radio since last night, and seems to be almost the only thing anyone seems to want to talk about from last night’s NFC Championship game.
The reaction on Twitter was swift, and quick to judge Sherman as a “thug” or worse, as middle America clearly still isn’t comfortable with the living, breathing personification of a talented, arrogant and black athlete. Forbes published a thoughtful article outlining 22 things to keep in mind about Sherman’s display, which is definitely worth the read, and Sherman provided his own defense this morning on MMQB, saying that his beef with Crabtree stems from an off-season incident at a charity event, where reportedly Crabtree refused to shake Sherman’s hand and tried to fight him.
It goes back to something he said to me this offseason in Arizona, but you’d have to ask him about that. A lot of what I said to Andrews was adrenaline talking, and some of that was Crabtree. I just don’t like him.
It was loud, it was in the moment, and it was just a small part of the person I am. I don’t want to be a villain, because I’m not a villainous person.
[...]
But people find it easy to take shots on Twitter, and to use racial slurs and bullying language far worse than what you’ll see from me. It’s sad and somewhat unbelievable to me that the world is still this way, but it is. I can handle it.
But this display should have come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Sherman’s career, and knows he plays with his heart on his sleeve, is wildly confident in his abilities, and has never shied away from speaking his mind. Remember when he destroyed Skip Bayless on First Take, much to the delight of sports fans everywhere? Heck, NFL Films even did a feature on Sherman back in October entitled, “The trash-talking cornerback”, which provides tremendous insight into the man, and what motivates him. You should watch it. And furthermore, if there’s ever going to be a time for an athlete to talk this kind of trash, last night was most certainly that moment for Sherman, who had literally just moments prior delivered the play that sent Seattle to football’s biggest stage.
(via nextimpulsesports)
Putting a microphone in Sherman’s face with his adrenaline pumping like that, and you know you were going to get unfiltered, raw emotion … and that’s just what we got, to the point that it almost seemed like Sherman was being interviewed by Mean Gene Okerlund after a WWF match. Well, thanks to the magic of the interwebz, we can see exactly what that would look like:
WWF MASH-UP VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
