Before we go any further, I want to make something plain: the Seahawks won the NFC Championship Game fair and square. They deserve to advance to the Super Bowl. That fact, however disconcerting it may be, is undeniable. Let's avoid getting that twisted.
Another difficult fact to reconcile...Richard Sherman is the best corner in the NFL right now. He's fast. He's got great instincts. A great work ethic. An impressive (if relatively short) football resume. He is the leader of a defensive backfield that is known by the moniker "Legion of Boom."
He is also an insufferable douchebag. Diaperstain. Blowhard. Putz. Assclown. Pick your descriptor. The guy has the personality of a professional wrestling heel and the mouth of a coked up circus barker with ADD...and that is a tragedy.
Why? It's pretty simple really. I love professional football. The league in which the best professional football is played, the NFL, is in transition. Its rules are changing. Safety is paramount. Big hits are on the way out...and pass happy offense is on the way in. Its popularity is at an all time high...but very real concerns are arising about whether young men should play the game at all. Some of its most identifiable stars (the old guard, if you will) are getting long in the tooth...which means that younger players need to step up to populate the league's "top tier" of talent. This league...this sport...needs talented, intelligent, well spoken ambassadors. It needs young men that will expand on the legacy left to them by players like Joe Montana. Johnny Unitas. Steve Young. Jerry Rice. Steve Largent. Tim Brown. Ronnie Lott. Walter Payton. Barry Sanders. Emmitt Smith. Franco Harris. Lynn Swann. Troy Aikman. Terry Bradshaw. To carry it into the future, the league needs new legends. Instead, it is getting young men like Richard Sherman. Douchebags. Diaperstains. Putzes. Assclowns. And again, that is a tragedy.
I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking, "AJ, aren't you being a little harsh here? The guy's a loudmouth...but sheesh, cut him some slack."
I can't. I won't. And you shouldn't, either.
I can't cut him any slack here...because he hasn't earned it yet. Don't get me wrong...he's a good player. Great, even. By the time he's done, he could be one of the best ever. But he isn't done yet. Hell, he hasn't really even gotten started yet. So in the words of Winston Wolfe, "let's not start sucking each other's d*#%s quite yet." Sherman has a way to go before he's a legend...and everybody (except Sherman apparently) knows it.
I love the game of football. Odds are that if you're reading this, you love football as much as I do. I was raised on the legends of past greats. I have been fortunate enough to see some of the best players in the history of the game get drafted, work their asses off and become legends themselves. No matter which team you cheer for...if you love this game, hope that Sherman's antics don't inspire a generation of youngsters to prance about like WWE superstars, acting out scripts designed to draw attention away from a semi-exciting but ultimately fake product. Hope that the greatness of this sport's past inspires its future stars to honor the game instead of degrade it. Hope that they make it better...not worse.
Last Sunday night, Richard Sherman punctuated his post game rant with "L.O.B.", the acronym for his secondary's moniker, the "Legion of Boom." But he got it twisted. Because for as long as he chooses to put himself before his teammates...as long as he opts to forgo sportsmanship for the benefit of sensationalism...he's nothing more than the spokesman for the Legion of Douche...and that is a tragedy.
