Who was unsportsmanlike here? Where is the criticism of Crabtree? --------Crickets-----------chirp---chirp
Richard “Dick” Sherman did not display good sportsmanship, either in his interview immediately after the game or in his comments later on. Good sportsmanship is “old school,” but it is foreign to many players these days. It does not include taunting, trash-talking, hot-dogging, showboating, gyrating, or excessive celebrations.
Those words were painted across the wall of our fieldhouse, back when I played on a basketball team. That attitude is basic to good sportsmanship. I don't see it as much anymore among athletes. You don't call attention to yourself over your team, you don't demean an opponent, etc. Old school.
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...on Wednesday, Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” aired previously unheard audio of the Sherman-Crabtree altercation.
“Hell of a game,” Sherman told Crabtree before getting shoved. “Hell of a game.”
Furthermore, it is being widely reported that Michael "Dick" Crabtree tried to start a fight with Sherman at a pre-season charity event.
Did Sherman behave like a perfect "gentleman" immediately following that game? No. He would have clearly shown himself to be the better man if he had simply said nothing about Crabtree at all in his interview.
But I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I understand that there ARE limits to exactly how much crap one person can put up with from another person - and those limits differ from person to person - and excitement & adrenaline can affect those limits even within the same person.
1. Part of the problem was the reporter.
From my perspective, I had to view the interview several times to realize what was being said and not said. At first I thought Sherman was nutty.
Instead, he was simply answering the question like a good defensive back views the endzone.
He considered that territory as his. It is. The line of scrimage defines who owns which part of the ball field. He’s playing defense, defending his endzone.
He was pumped up and influenced by glandular emotion, but his thinking on the defense made good sense in a physical struggle.
The reporter didn’t understand that. She thinks the offense owns whatever they want as equally as the defense. To her, its just a challenge of throwing the ball into the endzone. The players are just jocks, and the pageantry is just salesmanship and revenue streams.
With all of that said, old school football also had players with virtue, where courage isn’t associated with glands, or being “in your face”, but is instead a simple response with natural force in the face of any adversity.
IMHO, if Aherman was weak, it was for speaking with his glands more than a simple dogmatic response.
Who was unsportsmanlike here? Where is the criticism of Crabtree? --------Crickets-----------chirp---chirp