Richard Sherman was Mice'd vs Crabtree

[wilt the stilt]

Source: huffington Post

It may have been sportsmanship that got Richard Sherman into trouble rather than a lack of it. The Seattle Seahawks' All-Pro cornerback was fitted with a microphone for the NFC Championship Game and audio released by the NFL on Wednesday night sheds light on the heated moments before he delivered the boastful and rancorous postgame interview that stole the spotlight from his team's victory.

Sherman helped seal his team's spot in Super Bowl XLVIII by deflecting a pass intended for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree with just 22 seconds remaining in the NFC title tilt. After the victory-securing deflection, Sherman got to his feet and again chased down Crabtree. As the wide receiver was walking back toward the 49ers' sideline, Sherman slapped him on the butt and said "Hell of a game!" Sherman repeated those words and extended his hand to Crabtree. Rather than accepting the handshake, Crabtree shoved Sherman. He pushed his left hand into Sherman's facemask.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/richard-sherman-micd--up-michael-crabtree_n_4640849.html

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Now all you Sherman bashers, How about an apology to us defenders. He was the good guy. I heard this last night on "Inside the NFL" and I said why hasn't anybody reported this.

[GP6971]

1. Thanks for posting

I live in the Seattle area (which is going nuts right now) and will disseminate to everyone I know

[nolabear]

2. We in Seattle are loving him. Yes, a rude trash talk, but he's firing people up like mad.

I don't even watch football and I'm caught up in it. He's had his moments but he's such a great guy in so many ways, and he deserves to crow. Crabtree (the silent, silent Crabtree) appears, on the other hand, to be an ass. Even so I'll give that football players get amped up and get into "Kill! Kill!" mode. But off the field I'd take Sherman any bloody day.

GO HAWKS!

[ReRe]

3. It was my first question...

... what the heck was Sherman ranting about? I hadn't seen the end of the game and seen what happened with Crabtree. Looks like Crabtree was the crab in that whole kerfuffle. I give Sherman a pass. He is young and hasn't learned what not to do in front of the camera yet, evidently. Had he not come on like that, Crabtree would have won the bad sportsman award. My advice to everyone everywhere is to not let the assholes drag you down in the mud with them. Now the pressure on Sherman is going to be that much greater in the Super Bowl.

[grasswire]

4. yes, and why wasn't there a penalty for that unsportsmanlike conduct..

.....from Crabtree?

Or was there? It was a mess there at the end.

[pangaia]

5. What about Sherman's 'choke' thing?

Was that a reaction to Crabtree's 'being a crab?

[AgingAmerican]

7. That was to Kaepernick

nt

[pangaia]

9. Then did Kaepernick ALSO push Sherman in the mask?

Because the video I saw right after the game..showed Sherman doing the choke thing and then a player pushing him in the face.

Just curious--..either way I want Denver to win...

[LibGranny]

10. +1

[AgingAmerican]

12. No

He choked when it was clutch time, hence the gesture.

Go Hawks!!

[brush]

19. The choke thing came after . . .

the whole thing with Crabtree.

And Kapernick did kinda choke. There was enough time left for at least two other plays. No need to go to the endzone then into double coverage.

[pangaia]

35. That explains my confusion. Thanks.

[wilt the stilt]

15. I bet you were the first complaining

about Larry Bird taking trash.

[pangaia]

36. Huh?

I'll take that bet. How much?

[wilt the stilt]

39. Larry Bird is hands down

the greatest trash talker of all time. No one ever complained about him. Kevin McHale clotheslined Kurt rambis and no one called him a thug. Were you one of the people shouting how bad their sportsmanship was?

[brush]

40. Yep! Larry Bird was one of the biggest trash . . .

talkers ever. But he backed it up, as does Richard Sherman, the best db in the league.

What a lot of the negative commenters don't know is that trash talking in sports is part of the mind games athletes play to get an advantage on their opponent. It's almost an art form and most likely evolved from the black community's old "playing the dozens" game.

[pangaia]

42. I am not sure of your point.

You said.. "I bet you were the first complaining about Larry Bird talking trash."

I am not sure why you thought I was complaining about Larry Bird.
I wasn't complaining about anybody, Sherman included.
I was just trying to find out what happened right after the game.

Edit: added'''
I don't know anything about Bird being a trash talker so how could I complain about him? I'm not even a big basketball fan.

[Upton]

43. That's crazy..

Bird never did anything remotely resembling Sherman's post game ranting and raving. And plenty of people were referring to McHale in negative ways, including calling him a thug, after the Rambis incident. In fact, the whole Boston team was called a lot of names by disgruntled Laker fans after the Celtics physical play turned that series around..

[warrant46]

6. Michael Crabtree is a piece of work, a real Prima Donna

Crabtree's agent Eugene Parker stated that he denied threatening the 49ers with having Crabtree sit out the season and reenter the draft.
On August 30, 2009, Crabtree became the very last holdout and unsigned draft pick from the 2009 NFL draft when Andre Smith, the 6th overall pick, signed with the Bengals. That day was also the 32nd day of Crabtree's holdout, and only 10 days short of the all time long holdout for any 49er rookie in the franchise's history. Beat reporter Matt Maiocco had reported rumors that the signing could have happened around Labor Day, but that did not occur as the sides remained at a complete impasse. Over Labor Day weekend Deion Sanders, an NFL reporter and Crabtree counselor, stated on the NFL Total Access show that Crabtree was indeed willing to sit out the entire season.Sanders also claimed that the rookie receiver was not in "dire need" of money at that time.

On September 21, 2009, the 49ers filed charges against the New York Jets for attempting to tamper with their negotiations with Crabtree. The 49ers may believe the Jets contacted Crabtree's agent to let him know they'd be interested in trading for his rights, or in drafting him in 2010 with a better salary than the 49ers were offering. The 49ers had until November 17 to sign Crabtree or he wouldn't be allowed to play in the 2009 season along with it being considered a non-accrued season for contract purposes.

On October 7, 2009, ESPN reported that Crabtree and the 49ers had agreed to a six-year contract. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the deal would be worth $32 million, with $17 million guaranteed, $8 million more than offered by the team in August 2009, but also a year longer. The contract can void to five years based on Pro Bowl and playing time triggers.

He could go to the 2014 Super Bowl if he ponies up $1,000.00 for a ticket.

[KT2000]

8. Loving Sherman and

don't know a thing about football but he is fun!

[immoderate]

11. I thought he was doing an imitation of Eddie Murphy, doing an imitation of Mohammed Ali.

People took that seriously?

--imm

[Ken Burch]

13. Crabtree SHOULD have just shaken Sherman's hand.

Sherman hadn't done anything dirty or illegal on the play...it was a clean deflection with no real contact with Crabtree(who clearly lived up to his last name on this one)at all.

Crabtree was just being a pissy loser, and Sherman had every right to be torqued about it.

I think most white folks who freaked about Sherman's postgame thing(let's face it...anti-Sherman feeling was almost exclusively a white, male thing) did so because they thought he was screaming at Erin Andrews-the "that n----r is scaring a white woman" thing kicked in with them...even though Andrews herself knew from the get-go that she wasn't Sherman's target.

[Proud Veteran]

14. Sherman Tank(ed)

Shermans rant was uncalled for and it was also "misdirected and immature" as he said. He should have showed some class and not been in Crabtrees face on the play that decided the game. It's the wrong time for congrats on a game defining play. It was a borderline taunt, not unlike the follow-up choke sign. Give your team credit Mr. Sherman as this game wasn't all about you.

[AgingAmerican]

18. It wasn't a taunt at all

He was being cordial about it. He was being a gentleman. Crabtree was the asshat.

Go Hawks!

[Proud Veteran]

44. To taunt or not to taunt

This trash talking out of control cordial gentleman got what he deserved.
I'll stand by my statements made prior to NFL ruling.

[AgingAmerican]

45. He is now making money from it

Agent: Sherman up for millions in post-rant endorsements

[Cha]

46. Found this out from you link... thank you, AA

"The son of a garbage truck driver and a social worker, the blossoming 25-year-old star is active in community service, and has a charity, Blanket Coverage, that has raised approximately $100,000 for inner-city schools since it launched in April."

[Raine1967]

21. Welcome to DU. eom.

[nolabear]

23. Props for the subject line but I think you're wrong.

Trash talk is part of the game. It can certainly go too far. As for that post game rant it didn't deserve more than a hearty laugh and a "Back to you, Skipper," and until recently that's what it would have gotten. Sherman's a good and capable and intelligent man who was in the throes of the kind of passion he's been trained to have.

As for the team, to step back and really think about it, I think the ability to get outraged will do them some good in the game. Welcome to DU!

[ForgoTheConsequence]

26. It's football.

Trash talk has been around since the beginning. If you think that's bad you should see what happens under a pile of guys going after a loose ball. Eye gouging, testicle twisting, punching, etc.

[russspeakeasy]

16. Go Denver !

[gopiscrap]

17. First of all Go Seattle

Secondly these folks are paid to play football, not be polite. If I was an owner or coach if my player took me to the Super Bowl, I wouldn't give a fuck how he acted, just so he'd be eligible to play the game.

[olddad56]

27. Seattle can't win the Super Bowl. They won't be playing at home.

They are a good team, but they won't beat Denver in any place but Seattle.

[SkyDaddy7]

32. WRONG!!

Peyton is half the player in the cold...And it could very well be not only COLD but raining/snowing which would favor the HAWKS in a HUGE way!!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

48. Care to make a metaphorical DU wager?

I believe Seattle will win this game by more than 10 points......

[marew]

38. Quite a comment!

"If I was an owner or coach if my player took me to the Super Bowl, I wouldn't give a fuck how he acted, just so he'd be eligible to play the game."

Really? Wow!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

20. The Corporate Media is so busy painting the guy as a thuggish black guy that it didn't have time

to educate the American public on how smart and amazingly gentleman-like this guy is.

[olddad56]

28. I think most people who follow football are aware that he was an honor student at Stanford.

He is just setting the stage for his post playing career as an analyst.

[mackerel]

22. i see more like Crabtree just wanted to

Get away. Sherman undoubtedly was very excited but you have to realize Crabtree essentially lost a major opportunity and that's very depressing. I say cut them both some slack very tense situation for Crabtree.

[rhett o rick]

24. I see Seattle as the Rodney Dangerfield of football. They dont have high paid players that

the media loves to drool over. And Seattle has never been in the favor of the NFL. The City was told they would never host a Super Bowl because the weather was too bad. While they were trying to clear the snow and ice in New Jersey, the sun shone bright in Seattle today. This was a great year for the team. A lot of the credit comes from the enthusiasm of the young team. Of course with that enthusiasm comes excesses and they paid the price of being penalized more than any other NFL team. I hope for a good game and hoping a Seattle victory will gain the City some respect. And in any case, joints all around.

[olddad56]

29. Whining is not winning. They will get beat in any big game that isn't played in Seattle.

[SkyDaddy7]

33. WRONG!!!

If it is cold & raining/snowing (Which is very possible) then Seattle will dictate the entire game!! Denver does not have a good run defense & when the HAWKS release THE BEAST & he goes all BEAST MODE in the rain/snow Denver will be screwed!!

[AgingAmerican]

41. They have proven that wrong all year

nt

[ForgoTheConsequence]

25. Nearly every hockey game has two white guys fighting.

But a black guy gets pumped right after a win and white people get offended

[olddad56]

30. yeah, lets make it a racial thing.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

31. It is a racial thing.

Twitter and social media were full of racist posts after. Not to mention the whole "thug" dog whistle...... Don't give me that colorblind republican bullshit.

[Cha]

47. +1

[FSogol]

34. File under: It's not poor sportsmanship if my favorite team/player does it.

[marew]

37. Kindergarten behavior...

"Hell of a game!" Sherman repeated those words and extended his hand to Crabtree. Rather than accepting the handshake, Crabtree shoved Sherman. He pushed his left hand into Sherman's facemask.

Crabtree was wrong, childish, etc. -absolutely- but blaming your inappropriate behavior on someone else's inappropriate behavior is also immature and childish and shows no class. I've heard too many little kids use the excuse, "but he started it!"

"Good guys" know better than to get sucked into this type of behavior!