Richard Sherman surprised some NFL fans in his post-game interview with Erin Andrews after batting down a last-minute pass in the end zone to deny the San Francisco 49ners a game-winner and sending his team, the Seattle Seahawks, to the Super Bowl. (I thought it was basically funny, and chalked it up to him being in trash-talk war with his opponent and helping deliver his team to the Super Bowl.
Today he gave a press conference to tell his side of the controversy that's gone viral, making a good point about the [use of the word "thug" in modern parlance][1]. As quoted in Business Insider:
"The only reason it bothers me is that it seems like it’s the accepted way of calling people the n-word nowadays. … What’s the definition of a thug, really? Can a guy on the football field, just talking to people — maybe I’m talking loudly, or doing something I’m not supposed to be. But there was a hockey game where they didn’t even play hockey, they just threw the puck aside and started fighting. I saw that and I thought, 'Oh man, I’m a thug?' So I’m really disappointed in being called a thug."
Sherman's personal story has been in the news this week -- he was a good student as a youngster who overcame his Compton background to play football and get a degree form Stanford -- and he makes a point that folks who slide a little too easily into calling him a "thug" may be doing it out of a habit that they need to break. Food for thought.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-sherman-thug-2014-1#ixzz2rGQ4a1EX">http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-sherman-thug-2014-1#ixzz2rGQ4a1EX
Comments
jc 10 years, 2 months ago
Maybe he is not a thug. But if you don't want to be perceived as a thug don't act like a thug.....
tstauffer 10 years, 2 months ago
I think you just made his point for him.
goldeneagle97 10 years, 2 months ago
Trash talking isn't a pre-requisite for being a thug. What Sherman did was idiotic, but at least, he didn't throw a punch at someone. There were hockey players who brawled two seconds into a game the day before, but there were no angry tweets calling them thugs. As I heard someone say, thug is just a replacement for the n-word.