By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Editor
I spent most of last Sunday afternoon watching the greatest quarterback of my lifetime (and my personal favorite) carve up the New England Patriots to the tune of 400 passing yards while earning his third Super Bowl trip.
Later, I watched Seattle hold on to defeat San Francisco in an ultra-competitive NFC Championship game when cornerback Richard Sherman deflected a last-second touchdown attempt from wide receiver Michael Crabtree. Then I watched Sherman’s post-game interview.
It made me think about the earlier game and Peyton Manning and how athletes are perceived.
I don’t need to spend too much space extolling Manning’s virtues here. He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and he’s widely regarded as a charming, caring and intelligent person.
He’s at the top of his field despite his age and was voted an all-pro again this season.
He’s regarded by nearly anyone he has extended contact with as a remarkably thoughtful individual.
He’s a self-described nerd who spends an inordinate amount of time watching game film. Teammates laud his work ethic.
He finished near the top of his major in college despite a rigorous football schedule.
He makes a difference in the community he grew up in and every community he’s played in through charity work and various outreach programs.
Now change the part of the above statement that says “greatest quarterback in NFL history” to “greatest current cornerback” and change “Peyton Manning” to “Richard Sherman.” The rest remains true.
Manning and Sherman lead far more similar lives than many football fans would like to admit. After all, how could the life of the NFL’s current golden boy bear any resemblance to an arrogant thug like Sherman?
Perhaps this is because Sherman has been grossly mischaracterized by his critics. He graduated from Stanford in 2009 but returned to earn his Master’s Degree the following year.
He’s never been in any trouble with the law (he was accused of failing a drug test but won an appeal with the league) despite growing up in one of Los Angeles’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
So, what’s his crime? He’s a trash-talker. That’s right. The good people of Twitter (and beyond, we’re just exposed to more people through Twitter) have characterized Sherman as a “thug” and a lesser human being because he doesn’t always play nice with the other kids.
And that post-game interview with Fox’s Erin Andrews Sunday was just the most prominent example of this.
Forget for a second that the interview occurred moments after one of the most brutal games in recent memory of a sport that’s consistently linked to brain trauma in a league that actively worked to ensure its former players wouldn’t receive compensation after suffering said brain trauma. Just forget that. What did Sherman say that was so unforgivably awful?
He staked claim as the game’s best cornerback, he insinuated an opponent wasn’t as good as many considered him to be and, more than anything, he gave Fox a damn good interview.
Sherman came off as arrogant and overly-aggressive. But his claims weren’t unfounded.
And there are certainly bigger issues at hand, starting with those who arrogantly asserted their racial superiority over Sherman while insulting his arrogance.
Of course, we can’t forget those who watched three hours of brutal football in the midst of an era where it’s known almost to a certainty that the game almost unavoidably causes brain trauma over a large enough sample and were appalled by 30 seconds of profanity-free shouting.
You don’t have to cheer for Sherman, support him or even like him. But before you criticize him, consider everything he’s gone though, what he’s really done wrong and the sins of those around him.
And then go criticize someone else.
Taylor Nigrelli is the sports editor of the Bona Venture. His email is nigreltn11@bonaventure.edu.
