Bizarre, Free Speech, Media, Society

Should Sherman Be Disciplined For Post-Game Rant?

Richard-sherman-618x400I enjoyed the game with the kids last night between the San Francisco 49ers that sent the Seattle Seahawks. That amazing game however was marred by a bizarre rave from cornerback Richard Sherman. Sherman immediately followed the win with a screaming and unhinged rant. The question is whether the Seahawks should be able to discipline Sherman for such a disgraceful performance — just after an equally disgraceful taunting of the 49ers. I would be the first to defend the free speech rights of Sherman to act like a street thug and even diss opposing players like San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree. However, the Seahawks drew well-deserved praise on this blog for moving against thugs in the stadium in the prior game with the 49ers. How about the thugs on the field? This is not an attack on free speech by the government. The question is whether a company can discipline an employee at work for behaving like a thug. UPDATE: Sherman has been fined by the NFL for his taunting shortly before his outburst on television.

Sherman followed the interception against the 49ers by engaging in raw unsportsmanlike conduct, including a choke taunt to rub salt in the wound of the opposing team. He then was called over by a friendly Erin Andrews who cheerfully asked him for his reaction. Andrews was virtually speechless as Sherman started screaming: “Well, I’m the best corner in the game! When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you’re going to get! Don’t you ever talk about me!” I realize that Sherman and Crabtree were trash talking in the game, but this is still a game watched by millions of families. It is bad enough, as we have previously discussed, that families have to content with drunken, foul-mouthed fans in stadiums. Now, the players are demonstrating the worst type of conduct and values on television. I am a big supporter of unsportsmanshiplike conduct penalties. However, this was after the game. Should the Seahawks be allowed to fine players for this type of rude and uncivil conduct while wearing a Seahawks uniform on the field?

Crabtree strikes me as showing the same idiocy in this game and should be reprimanded for his own lack of sportsmanship. I understand Sherman’s excuse that he was pumped up and mad but I am tired to just shrugging off the notion that sports celebrities should not be required to be role models. Movie celebrities are often immature toddlers. However, they do not represent a team and represents a city. We have a race to the bottom in both stadiums and on the field as we dismiss this type of conduct as irrelevant or expected. It is part of a society that seems to be losing basic notions of control and civility. I think that people paid millions should be expected to show a modicum of maturity and self-control. If this were a Chicago Bear, I would feel the same way. Indeed, I would be even more disgusted. Between the thugs in the stands and the thugs on the field, we are losing this game to the lowest common denominator.

What is interesting is that a fan can be fired and banned for life for acting like an ass at a stadium, but a player (particularly a good one) seem immune from such responsibility (or the most minimal requirements of society) in appearing on television at a football game.

Later, Sherman only slightly toned down his message, which he must have thought brought him within the limits of civilized society. In an interview, he trashed Crabtree again and said “I was making sure everybody knew Crabtree was a mediocre receiver. Mediocre. And when you try the best corner in the game with a mediocre receiver, that’s what happens.” Thanks for that clarification.

By the way, Sherman is a Stanford graduate with a degree in communications.

UPDATE: There is a rather bizarre notion raised that suggesting that Sherman could be disciplined for this conduct is an attack on free speech. Free speech allows you to speak without government censorship or punishment. It does not mean that adults can say anything without any personal repercussions, particularly while at work. This blog is committed to free speech. Indeed, we have often been accused of being too extreme in our defense of free speech. However, this is not a question of free speech. It is a question of civility and professionalism. If an employee screams profanities at customers or co-workers, it is not a free speech issue. It is a question of the code for employees. If an employee shows contempt for customers or co-workers, it is not a free speech issue. Free speech means that no one can force you not to be an idiot. However, in society, being an idiot comes at a cost with people who do not want to appear idiots. The fact that this would not seem “so bad,” only shows how far our society has diverged from basic expectations of conduct from adults. This is precisely why professional sports is being a beacon for those who want to get drunk and act like juveniles. Call it prissy or prudish if you want. However, I do worry about how this type of conduct is being treated as just harmless trash talk. It is not the content but the conduct that it being raised by some of us. If we cannot agree that this type of conduct is improper for a professional athlete in a game, we have surrendered far too much in our expectations for a civil society.

308 thoughts on “Should Sherman Be Disciplined For Post-Game Rant?”

  1. AY,

    Yes, I’m still a weekend blogger. We now have our own accounts so we don’t have to sign in under Jonathan’s name any longer.

  4. ap,

    I’m no longer able to retrieve comments from the spam filter. I haven’t even been able to dig my own comments out since I signed onto a new Turley blog WordPress account yesterday.

  5. Elaine,

    Now that’s funny…. It has already been suggested that I am….. Racism knows no color boundary….. I suppose in a sense when my mom was growing up catholic in a midsize town in Kentucky…. She was from what she says forbidden to talk to those that were not catholic…. So I guess when she got to the real world she discovered many forms of racism…. Color of skin, religion or not…. She taught us to be tolerant and play nice with everyone…. Regardless of difference…..

  9. We can think what Sherman did after the game on Sunday was inappropriate, boorish, reprehensible. That doesn’t mean we can’t also think that many people are making a mountain out of a molehill. We can also be troubled by the fact that some sick individuals even made it into a racial issue. So…Sherman did some trash talking. That makes him a thug? Tom Brady dropped the F-bomb on national TV while chasing a referee after a game. Nobody called that reprehensible or suggested that Brady acted like a thug.

  11. “Erin Andrews and Richard Sherman pick up where they left off”

    By Laken Litman 4 hours ago

    http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/erin-andrews-richard-sherman-interview-twitter-picture/

    “In case you missed it, Erin Andrews had the interview of the year with Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman following the Seahawks NFC Championship win Sunday. Sherman set up the interception that sent his team to the Super Bowl and following the play, mocked San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree.

    Despite many people thinking Andrews was uncomfortable with the situation, the Fox sideline reporter told For The Win she loved the interview. She also said she immediately reached out to Sherman and the Seahawks following the Twitter blow up to make sure they knew all was well.

    “That was awesome,” she said. “That was so awesome. And I loved it.”

    Thursday, just four days after the interview, Andrews was back in Seattle interviewing Sherman again. This time for a Super Bowl pregame feature.”

  12. Elaine,

    Just because someone is educated does not mean that they possess wisdom….. There are racist of many different races…. Privileged or not….

  13. rafflaw,

    It was what people said about Sherman after the game that made it a racial issue. Did you read some of the comments about Sherman that people Tweeted? Many of those comments were truly reprehensible.

  14. I don’t see the discourse between the two players as a racial issue. I only see what Sherman said on TV after the event. As I suggested early on, I consider his actions reprehensible. As he was doing the whole game, say what you think of the guy to his face, not to a TV sports reporter after the game.

  15. Terence Moore, a black sports columnist, wrote a good piece for CNN. The more and more I read watch and talk w/ black guys I know, it is liberal white folk abiding Sherman’s unprofessional and hostile rant. You gotta laugh.

  16. Changes nothing in my book. There was bad blood between the 2 regarding a handshake @ a prior event, not football related. To go up to a guy, w/ whom you have been trash talking to the entire game, and after a heart crushing loss, STICK you hand out and say, “Good game.” Well, that doesn’t pass the smell test to me.

    There’s a rule about heart recipients. The program allows some time to elapse before allowing the recipients to contact the donor family. The reason being it is the extreme of emotions. The recipient family is jubilant, the donor family heartbroken. Now, there’s obviously no bad blood between the donor and recipient families, but they’re in 2 different worlds.

    Mr. Neal threw down the gauntlet believing I never played. Well, he was wrong. Let me pose a question to all the people who have allegedly competed. You are playing an entire game. A guy is trash talking and taunting you[that’s Sherman’s schtick]. You just miss a game winning touchdown by a couple inches. The entire season from those July 2 a days, to playing a long season, abruptly ends. Then, this trash talking guy comes over and shoves his hand out. Mind you, there is bad blood between the 2. Hell, there is bad blood between Sherman and every receiver he covers. That alleged sportsmanlike action is really passive aggressive trash talking. Anyone who can’t understand this hasn’t competed. Your team beat the other team. The scoreboard says all that needs to be said. You don’t rub it in. I saw the footage of the hand out. It looked in your face to me. Nothing happens in a vacuum. There’s always context. There’s always a backstory. Believe me, that was my biz.

  19. Well, it looks like there was a rush to judgment here, making accusations without knowing the full story. Will there be apologies forthcoming? I doubt it.

    Spencer Neal

  20. Richard Sherman Was Mic’d Up vs. Michael Crabtree So You Can Hear His Sportsmanship (VIDEO)
    The Huffington Post
    By Chris Greenberg
    Posted: 01/23/2014
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/richard-sherman-micd–up-michael-crabtree_n_4640849.html

    Excerpt:
    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.

    The audio and video released by the NFL on Wednesday fits with Sherman’s account of events from his column about the incident and ensuing criticism for “The Monday Morning Quarterback.”

    “I ran over to Crabtree to shake his hand but he ignored me,” wrote Sherman in a piece published on Monday. “I patted him, stuck out my hand and said, ‘Good game, good game.’ That’s when he shoved my face, and that’s when I went off.”

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