If you’re like a lot of Longwood students, your eyes and ears have been geared toward the NFL playoffs in recent weeks, whether your team is having a great run or was done in Week 10 like my beloved Redskins.
That being said, one of the dominant sports stories of the past couple days has been the actions of Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman after deflecting what ended up being the gamesealing interception away from San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree. The two create an attractive rivalry-within-arivalry in the competitive NFC West, and those rivalries both came to a head on Sunday night.
In short, Sherman exploded in a mix of exuberance, selfpride, ignorance and a bit of rage to Fox’s Erin Andrews’ asking him to take the nation and part of the world through that final play. “I’m the best corner in the game! When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you [sic] going to get! Don’t you ever talk about me!” he shouted.
After possibly the most awkward two seconds of deadair in the seven-plus decade history of TV sports, Andrews, who looked as if she’d had the fear of God put into her, asked who was talking about him.
“Crabtree,” Sherman continued, “don’t open your mouth about the best or I’m going to shut it for you real quick! L-O-B!” Andrews then stuttered the postgame show back to the press box. LOB, by the way, stands for the Seattle defense’s nickname, “Legion of Boom.”
Sherman has a history of not-so-private dust-ups and controversies, like when he got into it with the Redskins’ Trent Williams after last year’s Redskins-Seahawks playoff game. The initial reaction on social media was mostly one of shock and a little bit of humor.
Early on and often, though, he was deemed a “classless thug.” At the end of the day, Sherman really didn’t say anything all that bad. He didn’t swear, advocate violence or do anything horribly out of line for a professional athlete. Unbecoming, yes, but nothing egregious.
Think about it. His content and delivery were the textbook definition of exuberant, and he really deserved to blow his own horn a little bit; it was the biggest play of his life and one of the best moments in his franchise’s history. Where he went wrong was when he called Crabtree, a former collegiate superstar who caught nine touchdown passes this year, a sorry excuse for a wideout. Anyone who claims to know football and says something like that would be called “ignorant” in most crowds, and deservedly so. Rage tinted the second part of the rant and helped bring home the overall message that Sherman didn’t take kindly to Crabtree’s trash talk.
Aside from Sherman’s ludicrous description of Crabtree’s football skills, which kind of invalidated everything else he said, I have no problem with what he said. What I have a problem with is that he turned a postgame football field into something out of a late 1990s wrestling backstage. The issue is that he went berserk in front of millions after making a routine play. Granted, it was a hugely important routine play, but it didn’t even win his team a real championship. No need to act like the late Randy Savage when you had two tackles and one pass deflection.
Even worse than his explosion on national TV was what he did beforehand. I’m cool with 90 percent of what he said, but is it really that necessary to give the universal sign for “choking” to the 49ers’ sideline right after franchise quarterback Colin Kaepernick threw his third interception of the quarter?
Let the team go back to their heartbroken sideline in peace. Not to mention he gave Crabtree a “good play” slap on the rear end after the play, something even more uncalled for than the gesture to the sideline because Crabtree was in position on the play and the pick was not his fault. The guy already feels bad enough as it is. Just go celebrate with your teammates and get ready for the next biggest game of your life.
As bitter as I may be about the Redskins’ recent playoff losses to them, their talent as a team can’t be denied, and there’s a reason they were tabbed as one of three or four Super Bowl favorites at the start of the year. After so much hype at the start of the year, they backed it up and now they’re bound for New Jersey for a date with Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos.
This story perfectly coincides with tonight’s men’s basketball game against Liberty at 7 p.m. in Willett Hall. No matter what happens tonight, be it a blowout win for Liberty or another nail biting win for Longwood, react accordingly. Rushing the court is fine if the situation warrants it, but ignorance never helped anybody. Applaud for your team, don’t be physically hostile toward the other and enjoy those two hours experiencing one of the Big South Conference’s greatest rivalries.
