So I just got done with one of the worst bus routes that I’ve
ever had to drive…the roads were simply terrible, I just got home and poured
myself a nice Jamie Jump-Up and tomorrow I’m going to go and plow some roads!
Who am I talking about?! Crabtree! Don’t you ever talk about me; I’m the best
driver in the game! Thus begins my rant about sportsmanship and setting a good
example for our ute…or youth.
One of these days
I’m actually going to get to that customer service blog I keep saying I’m going
to write but life keeps throwing these other very important lessons my way that
I feel need to be addressed. The customer service blog will come from me some
day, it’s pretty much what I got a degree in so it may actually be the one
thing I have something to say about that would actually be along my lines of “expertise”
if you will…but I like to try new things, like being good at writing about
sportsmanship, so let’s give it a go!
If you are
unaware of Richard Sherman, the unbelievably talented cornerback for the
Seattle Seahawks, then here is a clip for you of the amazing post-game
interview he gave after breaking up a pass in the NFC Title game which sent his
team into the Super Bowl. The receiver he was defending was another amazing
player named Michael Crabtree:
This spurred a
whole world of backlash (including this blog), most of which was negative but
Yahoo Sports put together an article claiming that Sherman’s antics were right
up there with what Tim Tebow was always doing, which was talking about his
faith. The sad fact is that this is kind of the message that a lot of the
professional athletes are sending. Trash talking is apparently part of the
game. All of the good players are supposed to be confident individuals and are supposed
to not only let everybody know how good they are, they’re also supposed to
break down the guy in the other uniform…isn’t there some sort of anti-bullying
thing we’re trying to accomplish these days? What kind of message do players
like Richard Sherman send to our youth? Here’s a video of our youth, reenacting
the video.
We can’t put all
the blame on Richard Sherman, though. I spent some time this week attending
some high school ball games and jotting down some incidences that occurred and
how sportsmanship was handled. The first game that I went to was a boys
basketball game where there were some extremely crazy parents in the stands who
were not only yelling at the referees but also the players, coaches and anyone
really that would listen. I’m kind of old school in the thought that sports can
teach us a lot of things about team work, helping others, and how hard work can
pay off, so I guess I don’t quite understand where bitching about everything
that doesn’t go your way came into play? As far as I’m concerned these crazy
parents are what turns kids into individuals such as Richard Sherman.
Now I keep
attacking Sherman here and a lot of you that maybe saw some of the other
coverage of him may think that I’m going overboard here. You may say that the
guy has a lot of good qualities too, you may even buy into the bull crap that
he’s been spouting since about how he was caught in the heat of the moment and
that’s not really who he is…well here’s another video for you from before this
incident:
And a Facebook
meme about his Stanford achievements:
What a lot of
people seem to forget is that professional athletes sometimes have a tendency
to cheat at high school and college. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but
another thing that a lot of people may not be aware of is that Stanford allows a
lot of individuals that are not the “smartest in the nation” into their school.
They make exceptions for people who are really good at other things, such as
sports, so that the average really smart individual doesn’t get so discouraged
when they realize that they are not stacking up to the upper echelon of
Stanford. That’s a fun fact I learned from reading the book, David and Goliath. It also proves to be
a great way for the NFL and other professional sports teams to say that they
have athletes that appear to be smarter than they really might be, such as
Richard Sherman.
Regardless of
this “Catch 22” Richard Sherman did still graduate from Stanford with a Master’s
degree, an amazing accomplishment no matter who you are, but having an
education doesn’t necessarily make you educated. Some of the smartest people I
know share a common trait with Richard Sherman…they’re assholes. Sherman can
be, and might be, the best player at his position in the entire NFL. He can be
a Stanford Graduate. He can donate to charity and help out his old school. But,
put the guy in front of a camera and let him show you who he really is, and every
time I’ve seen him he comes across the same…as a jerk who I would be ashamed to
have any kid aspire to be like. All the talent in the world doesn’t make you a
better person. I’m not a religious guy by any means, but if one day I have to
sit at the pearly gates and await judgment I’d like to think that the way I’ve
lived my life, and how I treated others would be of far greater importance than
where I went to school and how good I was at a game.
I love sports. If
I can stop biting through my lip while playing basketball, I’d like to think
that I’ll keep playing them as long as I possibly can. I currently play in a
city league basketball league where we run across guys from time to time who
think they might be the world’s greatest athlete. Someone needs to tell these
guys that they’re playing in Grand Forks, ND at a City League. But they run
their mouths, talk about how good they are and try to bring down the other guys
that are out there playing. Guys who are still playing mostly because they like
the camaraderie of playing. Who want to get out of the house at least one night
a week and spend some time sweating up against some other dudes…wait, that came
out wrong…guys who want to get their heart rate pumping and shed some baby fat…totally
saved it. The last thing I want to have to put up with is some jackass who gets
off on being a dick.
I will certainly
get cocky when we’re playing against a team that we know, especially if I’m
playing absolutely terrible. I do it in jest because I think most people think
that to truly be cocky like that is absolutely ridiculous and makes you look
like a complete fool. One of my favorite scenes from any sports movie is from
Coach Carter. After his team starts to get good, they start to get cocky on the
court. They run their mouths and are degrading the other team, so in practice
the coach has them run a play and when they score an easy shot off of it he has
this response:
There’s no place
for this crap in sports, from the players or the fans. The sad thing is the
same people on the court/field/etc. who are obviously a bunch of jerks are
someday going to reproduce and what do you think the result of that will be? I
know it’s a classic chicken and egg scenario but when you have players such as
Richard Sherman promoting this way of playing on top of everything else…everybody
loses.
The sad thing is,
until that game…I really had no clue who Richard Sherman was. I guess he was
voted into the Pro Bowl the year before, but if they’re not a Viking I could
really care less who become an All-Pro. I’m sure he’s really big in Seattle,
but he’s obviously done more than me in his 24 years on this planet so I guess
I should just try to be more like him…or I could try to be more like someone
who plays the same game with much more class, Peyton Manning. I’m sure
somewhere along the line he’s done several things that he has regretted but you
put this man in front of a camera and you think, role model. He has so much
respect for the game that he actually writes hand written letters to guys
retiring that he really respects. Now Richard Sherman is young and his legacy
is still building, but as Peyton Manning gets closer and closer to putting a
cap on his career it’s pretty safe to say that he will go down as one of the
greatest to ever play his position. EVER. Not one year, or two…but ever. It’s a
point that’s hard to argue when you look at his whole body of work, and the man
did it with class…he also graduated from Tennessee, which isn’t as prestigious
as Stanford, but I think he’s doing alright for himself.
So in summary I
guess you could conclude that the life lesson we should learn from Richard
Sherman is that anyone can be an asshole. You can be well educated, an
unbelievable athlete, and even a charitable person…but asshole is still
asshole. What really gets me is that the NFL season started by suspending a
player who was bullying another player on his own team (Incognito), now it ends
with another bully headed to the Super Bowl as a representative of this proud
sport.
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