Richard Sherman’s post-game rant after Sunday’s NFC championship game has been the talk of the NFL and with the Super Bowl next week I’m sure the opinions on it and him will keep rolling in.
The latest person to weigh in on the interview is the legendary John Madden, who called it embarrassing and a distraction from what’s really important about that game.
H/T: Larry Brown Sports
“I think it’s too much,” Madden said. “To me, it was kind of embarrassing. . . . Kids are watching this, and kids copy the players. I have grandkids and I know that they do because I see them. If a player is wearing a certain color gloves, they have to have that color gloves. A player two weeks ago wore red shoes, I had a grandson came to the game and he had to wear red shoes. The jerseys — they wear the jerseys and they copy everything those guys do. And to be a great one, they don’t know which things they should copy, and they think that’s how they have to play. I think if any apologies ought to be made, it ought to be to the kids. That’s not the way we do it. . . . I thought it was embarrassing.”
“He took away a lot from the other players on his team. Guys played their butts off, guys coached their butts off, and pass rushed and tackled and special teams, and then it got to be all about one guy. In a team sport, that’s wrong,” Madden said.
This opinion from Madden is not surprising, however it’s not the players’ jobs to be an example for kids, that’s the job of their parents. But with Sherman’s academic, collegiate and professional resume I could think of a few worse people to emulate.