Richard Sherman Flies Under Radar Upon Arriving In Super Bowl City
Football fans hoping for an epic Richard Sherman story when the controversial cornerback landed in New Jersey to prepare for the Big Game will be disappointed and have to continue to wait with anticipation.
But don’t get your hopes up. Regardless of whether or not he ever intended to do so, Richard Sherman made his splash already; as a consummate professional, don’t expect Richard to find a way to make it all about him.
That’s really not the player or person Sherman is. Super Bowl XLVIII is about two teams—Sherman’s Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos—and if that’s lost on anyone, his name won’t be “Richard Sherman.” The sole focus of the standout in Seattle’s secondary will be making sure you’re talking about his team in the “Super Bowl winners” conversation this time next week.
The SportsXchange reports Sherman “offered no headline quotes” during the press conference at the team hotel in Jersey City after arriving with his teammates Sunday evening in East Rutherford, NJ. He smiled and politely answered questions for the assembled media at a table thronged by so many reporters, “you would have thought [Russell] Wilson was Seattle’s backup punter, not its starting quarterback” by comparison, ESPN’s Ian O’Connor said.
“I’m enjoying it,” Sherman said of the media attention, via SportsXchange. “I think in order for us to achieve all our blessings, you have to enjoy it. If you treat it as just a job, if you treat it as just a moment, you’re not accepting it.”
Sherman thinks all the media attention his postgame sideline rant about San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree has helped prepare his teammates for the massive spike in media attention they were due to experience in the days leading up to the Big Game, attention he didn’t really anticipate.
“I was surprised by it. Because we’re talking about football here and a lot of people took it a little bit further than football.” Sherman told the Associated Press. “I guess some people showed how far we have really come in this day and age and it was kind of profound what happened and people’s opinions of that nature, because I was on a football field showing passion. Maybe it was misdirected, maybe things may have been immature, maybe things could have been worded better but this is on a football field. I didn’t commit any crimes, I wasn’t doing anything illegal. I was showing passion after a football game.”
What do you think of Richard Sherman, on or off the football field? Is Richard Sherman too big of a distraction for Seattle, heading into Super Bowl XLVIII?
