Positive Sherman article

[dude82]

Terry Blount wrote an article on Richard Sherman for ESPN.com NFL Nation that talks about the side of him that people outside of the PNW don't get/want to see. It's a good piece and he even goes out of his way to say that his own perception of Sherman before taking the NFL Nation job was the same as the perception of him that you're seeing from fans around the country in the last couple of days, but now that he's been able to interact with Sherman on a regular basis for an entire season, he sees that it was a false perception driven by others in the national media.

Sherman is a better man than what you see - Seattle Seahawks Blog - ESPN

 

[RegentDenali]

National media wants to paint him as a heel.

The thing about Sherman is when he rants, he always backs it up with facts. It's not like he's just pulling stats out if his ass or making this stuff up. Brady, Crabs, all these guys he responds to, it's because they ran their mouths off and drew first blood. Something the press downplays, while trying to paint Sherman as some lunatic.

The guy is getting his masters from Stanford university. Yet they paint him like some ignorant thug who grew up gang banging.

 

[SonnyCID]

Sherman is a good guy. I think the lesson that we have learned from these outbursts is that you dont want to disrespect him before or during a game, because he will crank it up to 11 on that ass. He acts out because he can take the pressure that it invites, he thrives on it. The next two weeks, all we're going to hear about is Sherman rather than the Seahawks and that is a good thing. Takes a little pressure off the team and puts a ton on his willing-to-carry-it shoulders. He will step up his game for the SB, and the rest of the team will follow suit.

 

[blstoker]

From the Huffington Post

I'm the best corner[back] in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you going to get."
--Richard Sherman

That's the quote that got America talking.

The man behind it was Seattle Seahawks all-pro defensive back Richard Sherman, a guy whose mouth is about the only thing louder than his game.

In the moments after Sherman's post-game interview, Twitter exploded. People called him everything from a "thug" to a "disgrace," and even Justin Verlander - a professional pitcher for the Detroit Tigers - suggested that Sherman would get "high and tight" fastballs if he were in the MLB. On top of that, tweets and memes like the one below spread like wildfire.

But from my perspective, the heat Sherman is getting is not just misguided but ludicrous. This is a guy who represents one of the best kinds of sports stories there is in the world: the rise from the bottom, the profound destruction of obstacles, the honest success story built by a foundation of hard work and loving parents. If anyone with a brain took the time to learn about Richard Sherman, and then put him in the context of the rest of the National Football League, he'd be a pretty hard guy to bash.

Firstly, we're talking about a 25-year-old who came out of the streets of Compton, California. Sherman graduated from one of the worst school districts in the United States, one that boasts a high-school graduation rate of 57 percent. In a country where 68 percent of all federal and state inmates are lacking a high school diploma, you could say Sherman avoided a horrifying fate. But to say he "got lucky" or "escaped" would be foolhardy. He didn't "just graduate," either. He finished with a 4.2 GPA, second in his class, and went on to Stanford University, one of the most prestigious places to get an education in the entire world. He busted out in a rocket ship. He went from a world of gang violence and drugs to everything that Palo Alto and Stanford University represent.

And where did Mr. Sherman get the work ethic to put up those grades and make it to a school that offers that kind of education? Probably from his father, Kevin, who has worked in the sanitation department for Los Angeles for more than thirty years. But you won't see that on Sherman's stat sheet, and you definitely won't hear about it when ESPN analysts comment on his post-game interview today. Most interesting, though, is that Sherman's story isn't a big secret. NFL Films has even done a short documentary on "the trash-talking cornerback."

So now, America, let's talk about Richard Sherman in the NFL. Let's talk about the Stanford graduate from Compton who has never been arrested, never cursed in a post-game interview, never been accused of being a dirty player, started his own charitable non-profit, and won an appeal in the only thing close to a smudge on his record.

This past off-season, 31 NFL players were arrested for everything from gun charges and driving under the Influence to murder.

Last year, Kansas City Chiefs player Javon Belcher killed Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and the mother of his own child, before taking his own life.

Week in and week out, we sit down in front of our televisions and cheer for these freak athletes to destroy each other's bodies in one of the most brutal games known to man. Most of us probably do it with a beer in our hand, screaming and cursing at our TVs in a desperate hope to change the outcome of the game. We ignore how the NFL's owners use our tax money so freely, and we don't seem to care much about the brain damage retired players suffer from every year.

Yet, when one kid who has overcome everything, one kid who was doubted by the very player he overcame on Sunday, decides to emphatically claim he is the best (by the way: he is), this is what upsets us? Man, could you imagine if this generation had to deal with Muhammad Ali?

Last night, when Richard Sherman went on his rant to Erin Andrews, most of America thought they were learning about the arrogance of another NFL player. But in reality, what Richard Sherman did was teach us about ourselves. He taught us that we're still a country that isn't ready for lower-class Americans from neighborhoods like Compton to succeed. We're still a country that can't decipher a person's character. But most of all, he taught us that no matter what you overcome in your life, we're still a country that can't accept someone if they're a little louder, a little prouder, or a little different from the people we surround ourselves with.

In the words of the great Richard Sherman, there is only one question: You mad, bro?

 

[STBR 27]

Nothing the Seahawks can do about it now, this SB will be a classic Good (Broncos and Manning) vs Evil (Seahawks and Sherman). We just need to embrace it and go with it, most hate us anyway, right?

 

[Judge Fudge]

Nothing the Seahawks can do about it now, this SB will be a classic Good (Broncos and Manning) vs Evil (Seahawks and Sherman). We just need to embrace it and go with it, most hate us anyway, right?

I agree. Bring it on.

Someone should post his on the 49ers board to show that Sherman was "just caught up" in the game

 

[dude82]

I'm the best corner[back] in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you going to get."
--Richard Sherman

That's the quote that got America talking.

The man behind it was Seattle Seahawks all-pro defensive back Richard Sherman, a guy whose mouth is about the only thing louder than his game.

In the moments after Sherman's post-game interview, Twitter exploded. People called him everything from a "thug" to a "disgrace," and even Justin Verlander - a professional pitcher for the Detroit Tigers - suggested that Sherman would get "high and tight" fastballs if he were in the MLB. On top of that, tweets and memes like the one below spread like wildfire.

But from my perspective, the heat Sherman is getting is not just misguided but ludicrous. This is a guy who represents one of the best kinds of sports stories there is in the world: the rise from the bottom, the profound destruction of obstacles, the honest success story built by a foundation of hard work and loving parents. If anyone with a brain took the time to learn about Richard Sherman, and then put him in the context of the rest of the National Football League, he'd be a pretty hard guy to bash.

Firstly, we're talking about a 25-year-old who came out of the streets of Compton, California. Sherman graduated from one of the worst school districts in the United States, one that boasts a high-school graduation rate of 57 percent. In a country where 68 percent of all federal and state inmates are lacking a high school diploma, you could say Sherman avoided a horrifying fate. But to say he "got lucky" or "escaped" would be foolhardy. He didn't "just graduate," either. He finished with a 4.2 GPA, second in his class, and went on to Stanford University, one of the most prestigious places to get an education in the entire world. He busted out in a rocket ship. He went from a world of gang violence and drugs to everything that Palo Alto and Stanford University represent.

And where did Mr. Sherman get the work ethic to put up those grades and make it to a school that offers that kind of education? Probably from his father, Kevin, who has worked in the sanitation department for Los Angeles for more than thirty years. But you won't see that on Sherman's stat sheet, and you definitely won't hear about it when ESPN analysts comment on his post-game interview today. Most interesting, though, is that Sherman's story isn't a big secret. NFL Films has even done a short documentary on "the trash-talking cornerback."

So now, America, let's talk about Richard Sherman in the NFL. Let's talk about the Stanford graduate from Compton who has never been arrested, never cursed in a post-game interview, never been accused of being a dirty player, started his own charitable non-profit, and won an appeal in the only thing close to a smudge on his record.

This past off-season, 31 NFL players were arrested for everything from gun charges and driving under the Influence to murder.

Last year, Kansas City Chiefs player Javon Belcher killed Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and the mother of his own child, before taking his own life.

Week in and week out, we sit down in front of our televisions and cheer for these freak athletes to destroy each other's bodies in one of the most brutal games known to man. Most of us probably do it with a beer in our hand, screaming and cursing at our TVs in a desperate hope to change the outcome of the game. We ignore how the NFL's owners use our tax money so freely, and we don't seem to care much about the brain damage retired players suffer from every year.

Yet, when one kid who has overcome everything, one kid who was doubted by the very player he overcame on Sunday, decides to emphatically claim he is the best (by the way: he is), this is what upsets us? Man, could you imagine if this generation had to deal with Muhammad Ali?

Last night, when Richard Sherman went on his rant to Erin Andrews, most of America thought they were learning about the arrogance of another NFL player. But in reality, what Richard Sherman did was teach us about ourselves. He taught us that we're still a country that isn't ready for lower-class Americans from neighborhoods like Compton to succeed. We're still a country that can't decipher a person's character. But most of all, he taught us that no matter what you overcome in your life, we're still a country that can't accept someone if they're a little louder, a little prouder, or a little different from the people we surround ourselves with.

In the words of the great Richard Sherman, there is only one question: You mad, bro?

I've seen a few pro-Sherman pieces today and this is by far the best one. It's unlikely to win over those that already hate him, but for those on the fence about him after Sunday night's comments, it's a must-read.

 

[blstoker]

I've seen a few pro-Sherman pieces today and this is by far the best one. It's unlikely to win over those that already hate him, but for those on the fence about him after Sunday night's comments, it's a must-read.

My favorite line of the article was about how Muhammed Ali would be received in today's sports world.

 

[SonnyCID]

My favorite line of the article was about how Muhammed Ali would be received in today's sports world.

Yeah, I got in to it with a Rams fan a few weeks ago because he was going on and on about how classless Sherman is with his trash talk and dirty play. Normally I wouldn't care but this guy had Deacon Jones as his avatar, so I had to call him out. He obviously went on to romanticize the history of Jones and act like Sherman is so much different. Truth is he's not. Deacon Jones is one of the greatest players of all time, but if he played now he would be the most hated player in sports, and make "bad guys" like Sherman and Suh blush.

 

[TheDman875]

You know what's ironic about all this.

Analysts (some of them former football players) give harsh criticism of players every day. I believe one called our receivers pedestrian and no one blinked an eye.

Sherman does the same about Crabtree in an emotional interview and gets blasted for it.

 

[kcden]

Richard Sherman perfect as the face of Super Bowl XLVIII - NFL.com

Another good article about Sherm... the most interesting part (that I heard earlier on KJR) is the NFL SoundFX audio (video/audio in the middle of the article): Why is Sherman taking heat over a full week and no one is jumping down Crabtree's throat for being a sore-loser douche and setting him off in the first place?