Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

How stupid are these people?

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

You cannot shame the shameless.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

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Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    zmulls

    This whole discussion is driving me crazy because I don’t follow football in general, but I do know the Sherman Brothers (Robert and Richard) who wrote Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and tons of famous Walt Disney stuff (they are characters in SAVING MR BANKS and many of the songwriting sessions were based on Richard Sherman’s notes).

    Robert Sherman went to WWII and was in one of the first groups to liberate concentration camps; the experience brought him home from the war distant and moody, where Richard was happy and jubilant. You can hear Robert’s “voice” in “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins. Robert died last year (I think).

    So I keep seeing posts and tweets about what Richard Sherman said, I think he must have given an interview about SAVING MR BANKS, rather than some strange football occurrence…

  2. 2.

    Comrade Jake

    Lots of people talking about that today – I’m not a fan of Sherman but I don’t have a problem with what happened there. He was clearly still pretty wired, and Andrews stuck a mic in his face. Later in the post-game on the stage he was quite a bit more calm and reserved.

    Nevertheless, I hope Manning lights him up in the SB.

  4. 4.

    Suffern ACE

    No. I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was incoherent after a big play and not helped by the crowd noise, which he thought he needed to shout over to be picked up on a mike. Crabtree is an adult and should be able to recover.

  5. 5.

    burnspbesq

    As Cornel West would say, “It is long past time for my Brother Barack to speak out and stand in solidarity with Brother Richard, The Authentic Voice of the Black Community.”

  7. 7.

    El Caganer

    Well, of course. But he would then be immediately attacked for his un-American (Kenyan?) interference into one of our GREAT NATIONAL SPORTS.

  8. 8.

    Antonius

    Another failed Sister Soljah moment. When will Obama turn his back on his football player constituency?

  12. 12.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Obama should denounce Richard Sherman right after he swears off arugula and Dijon mustard for all time.

  13. 13.

    burnspbesq

    ETA: which is a roundabout way of saying “can we get over this already?”

    We all have more important things to worry about than a rich Stanford grad making a fool of himself on national teevee.

  14. 14.

    The Dangerman

    I couldn’t care less about Sherman’s rant on TV; that’s on the reporter for trying to interview him when he was still clearly amped (hopefully naturally, but the Seahawks are rumored to have a number of players on the All-Pharmacy team)…

    …but Sherman getting in Crabtree’s face while the game is still going on is bush league.

    ETA: Well, fuck all, I’m in moderation again!

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @Suffern ACE: Bollocks. Sherman is a grown man. That was a stupid and embarrassing (to him, if he has any shame) diatribe. There is no excuse.

  18. 18.

    burnspbesq

    @Amir Khalid:

    The American football equivalent of Zlatan: an enormously talented player with a noteworthy ability to stick his foot in his mouth.

  21. 21.

    beltane

    Maybe it’s just me but I though Richard Sherman’s outburst was a welcome change from the canned pablum one usually hears in post-game interviews.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @burnspbesq:

    Perhaps a rich Yale and Harvard business grad reinforcing his foolishness on national teevee broadcast from the Oval Office?

  23. 23.

    burnspbesq

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I’m still waiting for denouncements and rejections of Vlad the Impaler, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Edward Longshanks, Ivan the Terrible, and Pauly Shore.

    Not to mention Jake and Dimsdale Piranha.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Jake

    @DougJ:

    The enemy of Skip Bayless is my friend.

    Throw Stephen A in there with him. That “First Take” show is unwatchable.

  28. 28.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @efgoldman:

    journalistic fellating of Tebow

    Unforgivable sin, IMHO. No redemption possible. Voldemort had a better chance at redemption.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    @zmulls:

    You might find this interview with Jason Schwartzman interesting — he talks about how he learned to play piano like Richard Sherman played his demos in the early 1960s. He also got to hang around with Sherman and just chitchat and play piano with him, the lucky bastard.

    I, too, thought, Wait, what could Richard Sherman have said? It’s awards season, he wouldn’t have said anything bad!

  33. 33.

    RobertB

    Richard Sherman talks trash pretty much all game, every game – the Repo Man of trash talking. I’m not sure how shocking this is, but since it’s a slow news day, I guess the talking heads want to run with it.

  34. 34.

    Crusty Dem

    @Betty Cracker:

    I wasn’t thrilled with what he had to say, but he’s a smart guy and good in the community – Why do older white people get so upset about one guy’s tone and lack of sportsmanship in a league that is literally rife with rapists and murderers?

  36. 36.

    MikeJ

    @Amir Khalid: In an interview earlier in the week, Crabtree, SF receiver, was asked if Sherman was the best cornerback in the league. Crabtree said no. Crabtree also tried to start a fight with Sherman at a charity affair.
    Sherman made the play of the game against Crabtree, and was pointing out that, yes, he is the best in the league.

    I don’t see what anybody is upset about.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @MikeJ:

    Exactly. Crabtree is going to be watching the Stoner Bowl on teevee with the rest of us. SIt down, and shut up, Crabtree.

  39. 39.

    Ben Cisco

    Did Sherman stick his foot in it? Yes, he did.
    Is sideline “reporting” as useless as expecting the GOP NOT to be douchebags? Yes, it is.
    I’m calling this one for the (non-existent but much-wished-for) meteor.

  42. 42.

    Tommy

    LOL. Sherman. Near the top of his high school class coming out of Compton. Went to Stanford.* Graduated. Never been in trouble with the law. Heck never been in trouble in anyway that I am aware of. In the interview he didn’t cuss. He didn’t say he was going to kill Crabtree’s mom or have sex with his wife.

    That last sentence, if you have ever sat near the rink in hockey or the court in a pro basketball game, are often said. Not for the faint of heart. I just thought it was talking “smack” which kind of happens in sports from like the age of 9. I mean after a play and they are pushing helmet up to helmet you don’t think they are exchange recipes do you :).

    *He really, really hates the Niners coach Jim Harbaugh, His coach at Stanford.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @zmulls:

    Also, if I may brag for a teensy-weensy minute, there’s a slight chance that I may be able to sit in on a Richard Sherman interview for a historical project later this spring. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because it’s not a sure thing, but I’m excited at even the possibility.

  45. 45.

    beltane

    @MikeJ: He was supposed to follow the script and give credit to the 49ers who played a good game and then thank his teammates for their hard work, bla, bla, bla. Or he could have thanked his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving him the big win. Honest expressions of gloating and schadenfreude are not allowed on American TV.

  46. 46.

    zmulls

    @Mnemosyne: Yes, *Robert* Sherman might have trash-talked the Academy for the snub, but Richard was always the sunny one. But Robert’s dead.

  47. 47.

    max

    Is it time for Obama to reject and denounce Richard Sherman?

    Why should Obama run around denouncing people all the time? He’s the President, not Elected Moral Arbiter.

    max
    [‘I heard the first few seconds of the interview as I was leaving the room – the guy sounded jerktastic. Beyond that, who cares? Because I don’t.’]

  48. 48.

    FRANCH

    @Crusty Dem:

    My level of enjoyment of any sport is precisely inversely proportional to the influence that old white people who like to complain about “character” have over the league. SHUT UP and GIVE ME MY BLOOD.

  49. 49.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @beltane:

    He violated and shredded “The Narrative”.

    There is no greater sin in the eyes of the MSM.

    Skull fucking kittens in front of a bunch of four year olds is a petty tort in comparison.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    @MikeJ: He acted like a complete asshole. I’m not upset about it, but I’m puzzled that anyone would defend his utterly churlish behavior, which included not only the diatribe against Crabtree but the choking gesture toward the 49er bench. And I say that as someone who can’t stand the damn 49ers.

  51. 51.

    Suffern ACE

    There is something a bit odd about this “controversy”. Let’s see here. The press asks Crabtree if he thinks Sherman is the best corner in the league, hoping to stir up some trash talky controversy. Sherman gets pissed on for bringing up that controversy that the press decided to try to stir up.

    @Betty Cracker: when I first saw the interview, I thought when he shouted, he was attacking something the interviewer said. That pissed me off and none of it made sense. But when I figured out what all this was about, it mad some sense. He is rubbing it in, sure, but I don’t think he’s more outrageous than what we’ve seen before. It’s not like he’s threatening Crabtree, or anyone else.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @zmulls:

    I wish I could say I was surprised at the snub, but I wasn’t. Walt Disney (the person) is still very much a hot button for a lot of people in Hollywood, in large part because of his union busting, so any film that showed him as anything other than a total monster wasn’t going to garner a lot of awards. Which is a shame, because I really liked the movie and thought Emma Thompson in particular did an amazing job in a really tough role.

    (And this is probably where I should mention once again that the giant rodent signs my paycheck, so I may be a little biased. ;-)

  53. 53.

    Tommy

    @Betty Cracker: I thnk I used the choke move in like 1984. Not a new move. You could fault him for that. Lack of originality.

    Of course you can call it classless if you want, but not something new.

  54. 54.

    beltane

    @Villago Delenda Est: The expression on the Foxbot reporter’s face was priceless. It clearly rocked her world to hear an athlete say something different than what every other athlete says after every other game.

    If it were Chris Christie pulling a move like this the media would be all aswoon. Maybe if Sherman had directed his wrath at a school teacher rather than another NFL player it would have been OK.

  56. 56.

    WereBear

    @Villago Delenda Est: I’m still waiting for denouncements and rejections of Vlad the Impaler, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Edward Longshanks, Ivan the Terrible, and Pauly Shore.

    Oh, yeah, Genghis Khan destroyed a culture here and there, but Pauly Shore almost killed comedy!

    I’m in one of the fanciest places in town, eating hand-crafted truffle salt fries, if you please. I got a check from FORD MOTOR COMPANY because I had to pay my own first year of turn-by-turn-navigation and they didn’t tell the dealership that was no longer part of the package when I bought my Ford Focus.

    Some emotional phone calls later, and my day out is on the heirs of Henry Ford. Which has a kind of poetic justice to it.

    (I’m staying ’til late because we’re having a company function here later. During which I will not have anything alcoholic. By the time I leave, I’ll be fine. Safety first, children!)

    WereBear +2 vodka gimlets

  57. 57.

    The Thin Black Duke

    As long as Crabtree didn’t rape a woman in a bathroom or shoot somebody in the head or pal around with a psychotic tyrant in North Korea, who cares what he said or how he said it?

  59. 59.

    Suffern ACE

    @Betty Cracker: but the 49ers did choke. Anyway, it’s not baseball sportsmanship.

    I look forward to the 9ers getting revenge next year when they have a QB who doesn’t fumble and throw so many interceptions in the last half of close games.

  61. 61.

    Violet

    @geg6: I asked the same thing but didn’t get a reply. I think he’s a football player maybe? Guess he did something in some interview that upset some people.

  63. 63.

    beltane

    @geg6: Richard Sherman plays for the Seattle Seahawks. He failed to exhibit proper sportsmanship in a post-game interview and this has given our media the vapors.

  66. 66.

    Tommy

    @Violet: A corner for the Seahawks in the NFL. He did this after the NFC game yesterday.

    As I said in another post the dude came out of dirt poverty in Compton. Went to Stanford and got his degree. Now maybe the best player in the NFL at his position.

    He talked a lot of shit. Over-the-top.

    Please don’t search this, trust me, after the above interview last night on Twitter an electronic KKK went after him. Some of the most ugly stuff I’ve ever seen.

    The dude as never been in trouble. Never arrest. By all we know a shit talking dude that is a model citizen.

  67. 67.

    eric

    @Betty Cracker: I will defend all of it. you dont like it, dont fucking smack talk and dont fucking lose. no one ever had a problem with Bird talking smack and he was far worse.

    I love the throat slash and would do it every time i win an argument in court against a douchebag. man the fuck up and take it. i find this all so prudish.

  69. 69.

    MomSense

    Are we talking about football? Isn’t there a rapist who still plays QB for a pro team? There is also the QB who was running dog fights. And then there are the long term health consequences that are being swept under the rug by the NFL but a bizarre interview is what gets people all riled up?

  70. 70.

    RareSanity

    @Betty Cracker:

    Betty as someone that played football well through college, I’m not going to be dismissive of how witnessing Sherman’s behavior affected you. Not only that, I can also say that that as someone that also liked to participate in a little trash talking during a game, the stuff he did was over the top even by my standards.

    However…

    Let’s not excuse the role the Fox and the sports media in general played in the situation. He’s a 25 year old guy, not 2 minutes (real minutes, not “football minutes”) off making the biggest play of his entire life, in the biggest game of his entire life, on the biggest stage he has ever been on in his entire life, in a sport he has dedicated his entire to. He’s filled with adrenaline, euphorically happy with what has just transpired, and the critical part he played in it, he is almost literally not in his right mind…and then a camera shows up, a reporter sticks a microphone in his face, and asks what he has to say about the whole thing.

    He proceeds to go off like a forgotten pressure cooker…but, other than the wide eyed stare, and yelling of a person that is on an emotion and adrenaline overload, he didn’t curse, didn’t say anything offensive, or anything disrespectful to the reporter.

    The interview would have gone completely different if they had given the guy 5-10 minutes to come down and his head stop spinning from the three hour physical contest he had JUST finished participating in.

    I do agree with you about the antics he pulled immediately after the play with the mock handshake offer to Crabtree and the choking gesture…there’s not defense for those, you can rail away on him all you want to on those…but cut the guy a little slack on the interview.

  72. 72.

    Violet

    @Villago Delenda Est: Thanks. I had no idea who we were talking about. I watched the video. My favorite part is Erin Andrews saying, “No one is talking about you” to Sherman while she’s interviewing him. Uh….okay.

  73. 73.

    eric

    @RareSanity: there is a defense. Crabtree talked smack before the game. just like Will’s character in good will hunting “how you like them apples.”

    i am a huge teddy bridgewater fan and he did the same thing after the UL-Miami game and then apologized at the press conference for his boorish behavior. I respect that even more. But I dont have a problem with any of it. This is PROFESSIONAL football and that is the way you play and get in peoples heads now and going forward.

  74. 74.

    Col. Klink

    Steve Largent WAS, bar none, the best receiver Seattle ever had. He is also, bar none, the biggest wing nut Seattle’s ever produced. If Sherm goes back to Compton and becomes an anti-wing nut, I’ll start believing Ghandi’s moral arc of history…

  75. 75.

    Tom_23

    Sherman is an acquired taste. This article in SI explains a lot and you realize he is
    a) Really smart
    b) A decent human being
    c) Running his mouth is a feature…

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    @geg6:

    Hugely popular excitable exercise guru from the ’80s. Loves sparkly spandex.

    Anyway, yesterday was the result I wanted–yay for me!

    And if anybody wants to see a bad post-game interview, rewind Pan Oliver’s nearly weepy chat with Harbaugh. Either she is a poorly disguised Niner fan or was all, “Shit, I have to interview HARBAUGH?!?”

  77. 77.

    DougJ

    @MomSense:

    There is also the QB who was running dog fights.

    In fairness, one who did his time and now voluntarily testifies on behalf of the SPCA.

  78. 78.

    MikeJ

    Let’s look at what the Sherman haters have to say Deadspin

    Lol don’t mess with Richard Sherman, he will go bananas. Guys a fricken jungle monkey.

    Richard Sherman= typical nigger#douchebag

    Richard Sherman deserves to get shot in the fucking head. Disrespectful nigger.

  79. 79.

    Col. Klink

    Largent was governor of Oklahoma. Now don’t laugh, it’s Oklahoma, but still… Can Sherman follow in Jerry Brown’s footsteps?

  80. 80.

    Tommy

    Christie is pissed. His state wants info (House and Senate). Feds maybe. All these folks wanting information, too hard for him.

    Kind of makes me think of an earlier time in my life. Clinton. The guest list of their Christmas card list. A list of dozens of things. Kind of sucks when this happens to you doesn’t it. You reap what you sow.

  81. 81.

    Keith G

    Also via El Jazeera, allow me to brag on my adopted home town, a place in Texas that will no longer allow racial stereotypes to be used as school mascots.

    The Houston Independent School District (HISD) on Thursday banned team names and mascots that depict Native American culture, responding to growing public sentiment that such race-based references are offensive.

    The Houston school district is the largest in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States, with 282 schools and about 210,000 students. Its decision could influence other school systems that are reconsidering team and mascot names that may be viewed as inappropriate.

    The Houston school board unanimously approved a new policy that prohibits the use of race-based team names and mascots.

  82. 82.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @RareSanity:

    I do agree with you about the antics he pulled immediately after the play with the mock handshake offer to Crabtree and the choking gesture…there’s not defense for those,

    Well, ideally, in a soft voice he might have said something along the lines of “perhaps NOW you appreciate my skills at my position?”

    But that’s not what they do in the NFL, or any adrenalin filled sport where passions run high and words are thrown like poo, especially if you’ve been challenged by receiving flung poo.

    It’s juvenile, but it’s typical. The MSM reaction to it has told us a very great deal about the MSM, but being non-reflective sacks of looks good on camera shit, they cannot get it. The IMPORTANT thing is we’ve got something for ratings bait in the entire build up to the Chris Christie Memorial Meadowlands Bowl here in two weeks.

  83. 83.

    gwangung

    @Suffern ACE:

    when I first saw the interview, I thought when he shouted, he was attacking something the interviewer said. That pissed me off and none of it made sense. But when I figured out what all this was about, it mad some sense. He is rubbing it in, sure, but I don’t think he’s more outrageous than what we’ve seen before. It’s not like he’s threatening Crabtree, or anyone else.

    Yeah. This is purely a personal thing. It’s a personal rivalry and vendetta that has some history.

    I find it interesting that a lot of people (pro and con) are making reference to his background and trash talking, where there’s such a rich history of personal antagonism and rivalries in sports.

  84. 84.

    WereBear

    @RareSanity: He’s a 25 year old guy, not 2 minutes (real minutes, not “football minutes”) off making the biggest play of his entire life, in the biggest game of his entire life, on the biggest stage he has ever been on in his entire life, in a sport he has dedicated his entire to.

    If it were in a movie, the entire theater audience would get on its feet and cheer.

    Geez, people. Get a grip!

  85. 85.

    Violet

    @DougJ: Agreed. He did a bad thing, he spent time in jail for it, and has completely changed on the issue. A chance at redemption is a good thing. I don’t forget what he did but he’s actively campaigning against it now. Good for him.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Since this is an open thread….

    Can’t remember which commenter originally mentioned (several months ago) a Kickstarter campaign for a puzzle book, Cryptic All-Stars. I’m a huge fan of good British-style cryptics, so I tossed a little coin their way. They’ve been wonderful about keeping their donors regularly updated via email, and the book itself arrived in the mail Saturday. It looks very tough and very fun, and I can’t wait to get started!

    Many thanks, whoever you are, and my apologies that I have forgotten your name.

    Many thanks, whoever you are, for pointing me

  87. 87.

    Geoduck

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Might go home to Compton, as Steve Largent (another Seattle Seahawk) went home to Oklahoma, to serve in Congress.

    Of course, Largent was a Republican, so leaving Seattle was a wise first step in his political career.

    As for Sherman.. as noted, he’s a long-time trash-talker, which means a lot of people already hated him, plus the fact that a lot of people now hate the Seahawks.. gives the incident a lot of extra wind.

  88. 88.

    Suffern ACE

    @RareSanity: I think what puts the interview over the top is when he starts rushing into the camera. Someone should tell him not to do that. Respect the 4th wall! Let the production team decide when it’s time for your close up! The camera has zoom lenses just for that reason. I know he was a little out of his mind, but that made him look like he needed some time away from people.

  89. 89.

    Violet

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    the Chris Christie Memorial Meadowlands Bowl here in two weeks.

    I really wonder how that’s going to go. Will it bring Bridgegate to an audience that hasn’t followed it thus far? Will more corruption come to light, specifically in relation to the Superbowl, stadium, parking, etc.? Will the weather be utter crap? How’s it going to go?

  90. 90.

    MomSense

    @DougJ:

    And I applaud him for it. Just saying that we pick strange things to get worked up about considering the more serious problems in professional football. I’m more concerned about the health consequences these players are going to face after they have stopped playing.

  92. 92.

    Col. Klink

    And not one of those ‘sure keep all your money but support fine arts’ Republicans. Largent was a true wing nut. You can be crazy and get elected in Washington State, (See Dixie Lee Ray), but you can’t be a bread and butter variety flat-earther…

  93. 93.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    The organizers have already managed to piss off the delicate flowers of the media by doing things like banning limos driving up to the stadium, prohibiting tail-gating by fans in the parking lot for “security” reasons but actually for harshing the mellow of the corporate hospitality tents, and in general making it so that in addition to whatever small fortune you’ve parted with to get tickets, demanding $50 or so for a bus ride to get to the stadium.

    It’s going to be interesting, in the Chinese proverb sense.

    The weather is probably going to suck/blow/bite, which at least conventional wisdom says is a plus for the Broncos.

  94. 94.

    burnspbesq

    @eric:

    I love the throat slash and would do it every time i win an argument in court against a douchebag

    No, you wouldn’t, and you know perfectly well you wouldn’t. No judge on earth would put up with that nonsense. Which you know if you’re an actual litigator and not some sort of poseur.

  96. 96.

    RareSanity

    @eric:

    To each their own, I loved talking shit to guys during the game, but I never like to be a overtly antagonistic as Sherman. I always felt that sometimes it could have to opposite affect of giving your opponent a little extra motivation, or making me the target of a cheap shot on the sideline or on the bottom of a pile.

    I have played against guys like Sherman, and if that’s how they get themselves up to play, more power to them…just makes beating them more delicious. The problem I have is when guys like that antagonize like Sherman did, then when Crabtree mushes him in the face, Sherman looks to the ref with the “What’d I do? I was just trying to shake his hand.”

    That’s the punk part of that I can’t stand. Once Sherman took it to that level, it went beyond football, and became personal. We can talk shit, but don’t touch me…don’t then try to patronize me with your offer of a handshake during the fucking game. That’s what happens after the game when we express respect for each other for the competition.

    They don’t like each other, Sherman does respect Crabtree, so why the fuck is he pattin’ him on the ass and offering to shake his hand? I’m surprised that Crabtree displayed the amount of restraint he did after it happened…I would have been fighting.

  97. 97.

    rda909

    I think Sherman gets that ultimately, he’s in the entertainment business. Leading the league in interceptions quite an athletic accomplishment, and also he seems to be developing a “brand” for himself in a calculated way. He seems like a fun guy in this clip:
    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1538600-richard-sherman-vs-darrelle-revis-who-is-in-the-right-in-twitter-battle

    Maybe Erin Andrews should cover golf instead, if she’s disgusted by the aggressiveness of football.

  98. 98.

    Violet

    @Villago Delenda Est: Are they making everyone ride the buses, even the rich people? If so, that will be highly entertaining. Maybe some of the buses will break down or the bridge will be shut down. Popcorn time!

  99. 99.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Violet: I thought she said “who was talking about you?” or something along those lines. Because there’s some kind of bad blood between him and the receiver, and if people at home didn’t know that, they wouldn’t know the context and backstory for he was talking about at that moment.

  100. 100.

    geg6

    @beltane:

    Well, he’s a Seachicken. They usually do nothing but whine, so I have to say that maybe this guy is an improvement and maybe their fans will take a page from his book. Better that than the incessant whining I’ve heard from them for the last eight years.

  101. 101.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    GUARDS! GUARDS!

    Clearly, you need to be subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques for the failure of your iPad to let you fix that sentence fragment.

  102. 102.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @geg6:

    It’s comments like these which cause my Schadenfreude meter to peg when I look back at the Steelers’ dismal season.

  103. 103.

    Suffern ACE

    @Violet: I believe when Chris Christie first ran, he made a big issue about the Xanadu development at the meadowlands. He was going to tear it down or have it repainted. 4 years later, it still is there, still is closed, and still is as ugly as ever. Perhaps the limo riding press corps could note that parking and tailgating would be possible if inly Christie would make good on his promises.

  105. 105.

    Violet

    @FlipYrWhig: I might have mis-heard. I’m on week 2 of a really bad sinus infection that came roaring back with a vengeance and I spent the entire day yesterday in bed. I may have having hearing issues I’m so full of mucous. Ugh. Really sick of this crap.

  106. 106.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @efgoldman:

    I’m not talking about EDUCATED wisdom, I’m talking about idiots on ESPN conventional wisdom! :P

    Clayton probably has a better feel for this, since he used to have the Tacoma News Tribune sports columnist gig, but the east coast guys are dipshits, through and through.

  107. 107.

    catclub

    @Violet: “How’s it going to go?” Christie will blame the unions for any fuckups.
    Did they need union electicians to lose power in the Superdome? I bet they didn’t.

  108. 108.

    Ben Cisco

    @MikeJ:

    What did Sherman say that was wrong or offensive?

    Sorry, got called aqway for a bit. Two different queries there.

    Was what he said incorrect? No.
    Was the manner in which he said it offensive? To the corporate NFL (and a good many people’s sensibilities), yes.

    Heat of the moment, yadda yadda – that’s what sideline “reporters” crave – like electrolytes!

    The NFL is so hell-bent on plugging these guys into a anonymous, homogeneous template that hell will rain down on anyone who finds themselves outside of said template. Which Sherman has.

    In my opinion (disclaimer; my last experience with playing DB was in the 8th grade, many many moons ago), he would have perhaps been better served by a cooling off period. Which he didn’t get b/c he got a mic stuck in his face 15 seconds after the fact.

    His error was a human one, not realizing that he had to be corporate and not “street”.

    BTW, Ms. Andrews isn’t hurting over this one – she’s trending all over the place.

    Almost as if…it was expected.

  109. 109.

    flukebucket

    Shit. He is an entertainer that was just entertaining. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. I see it as his Rick Flair moment :-)

    The beauty is all of the teabaggers that have said to me today, “You see. And now we have one of THEM running the country” all the while he plays all of them like a damn fiddle.

    But I still hope Peyton lights his ass up.

  110. 110.

    Violet

    @catclub: Totally my favorite Superbowl ever, the losing power one. I love live TV events. You really cannot predict what might happen.

  111. 111.

    FlipYrWhig

    @RareSanity: I read a piece by Sherman today (Sports Illustrated blog, maybe?) where he said he was offering congratulations. I HIGHLY doubt that. I would guess he said something like “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Richard Freakin’ Sherman, baby, the World’s Greatest! And what was your name again?” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sherman do a standard “Good game, buddy, much respect” kind of thing. He doesn’t respect Crabtree because of some prior incident, so I don’t think he was offering him a handshake in earnest like he appears to have been claiming afterwards. That’s my wild guess, without evidence.

  112. 112.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    There are like 13k parking spaces at the Meadowllands, a stadium that seats only about six times that.

    Good times!

  113. 113.

    burnspbesq

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The judge probably also frowns on spiking the ball, especially in front of the jury.

    Unless you’re in front of a Florida jury, demonstrating what the victim did a split second before the defendant stood his ground with extreme prejudice.

  114. 114.

    Suffern ACE

    @FlipYrWhig: yeah. I think she was confused, and we were too. He was talking to Crabtree, who obviously had gotten in his head. Unfortunately, he started his statement with a pronoun, “you” So it seemed like he was angry with the reporter. She may not have known about the feud with Crabtree. She was hardly alone. She asked him who he was talking about.

  115. 115.

    RareSanity

    @Suffern ACE:

    Like I said, he wasn’t thinking straight, he might as well have been on meth with all the adrenaline coursing through his body at that time.

    They sought him out, not only because he made that key play, but because they know he has a big mouth and he probably would have given them a great soundbite. What’s even worse, once it was evident that the interview was not going well, the reporter started asking follow up questions until someone obviously in her ear said, “Stop! Stop! Send it back to the booth, this isn’t going to end well…”

    I am honestly surprised that he didn’t say something worse than what actually did come out. He was on the set later on in the post game show and he was like a completely different person. Like I said, I don’t particularly care for all of his antics, but it was a risky situation for all parties right after the game.

  116. 116.

    RareSanity

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I agree…he was doing it antagonistically.

    I see my comment said “does”, it should have said Sherman “doesn’t respect” Crabtree.

    Like I said in another comment, I was actually rather surprised at how much restraint Crabtree showed given the emotion of the moment.

  118. 118.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Suffern ACE:

    She may not have known about the feud with Crabtree.

    Then she was not prepared to interview him.

    Which is plausible, she is a Faux Sportsbimboette, hired for her looks, not her brains.

  119. 119.

    Suffern ACE

    @RareSanity: that is also true. The player who made the interception was also the hero. But he wouldn’t have provided the same entertainment.

  121. 121.

    geg6

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    No whining from me and you cannot produce any evidence of such (Cole is not every Steeler fan. In fact, he’s not even your average Steeler fan). They didn’t deserve to go to the playoffs and the first four games showed that. Though they partially redeemed themselves at the end, IMHO. I don’t know a single person who has whined about the Steelers not being in the playoffs or bad officiating (of which there was plenty in both games yesterday) and I can guarantee you that I still won’t know anyone whining about it come the preseason, let alone eight years later.

  122. 122.

    No One of Consequence

    @burnspbesq:

    In near certainty you meant ‘Dinsdale’, but one can allow for typos on occasion yes?

    Exits stage right, nervously searching about for Spiny Norman…

    – NOoC

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    My favorite passage from A Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

    LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
    April 16, 1963
    MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

    We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

    We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you go forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

  124. 124.

    Cacti

    Meh. Seattle and San Francisco are division rivals, and not the friendly kind either.

    As long as nobody’s trying to injure anybody, a bit of spirited trash talk enhances the professional football experience.

    The best way to shut up a trash talker is to win.

  126. 126.

    gwangung

    @Cacti: Seriously. Sherman didn’t murder anyone. He didn’t kill anyone while drunk driving. He didn’t rape anyone. He’s not even at John Rocker level of woofing.

    Small potatoes.

  127. 127.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    The biggest takeaway I have from this and far too much today is that we celebrate MLK day by showing just how much we’ve re-mainstreamed blatant racism and how ok it is because the President is a filthy commie darkie.

  128. 128.

    chopper

    @lamh36:

    That’s the way to celebrate Martin Luther King’s life – having a white person condescendingly lecture a black dude about how he should act.

  130. 130.

    Yatsuno

    @Ben Cisco: Ten minutes later he had a second interview in the locker room. He was very well-dressed (the man proves bowties are cool) and was quite calm and articulate. It was a good interview (though short) and had none of the controversy from the mishegas ten minutes earlier.

  134. 134.

    Crusty Dem

    @Jeffro:

    Yup. I wouldn’t argue that his statements show “no class”, but seeing him for the last three years, reading his articles and interviews, knowing his history, and seeing him called an idiot, a thug, etc (and I’ve read all that and more in the last 24 hours) – says a lot more about the judger than the judgee.

  135. 135.

    Cervantes

    @Jeffro: On that point:

    “I wasn’t nervous; I wasn’t scared,” she said. “I have met with him three to four times. I actually really like him … He is smarter than probably all of us put together and he just went nuts — in a good way.”

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    Okay, here’s my bizarro late-night comment: after seeing pictures of the guy and hearing his background, I think that my current assumption that cornrows/braids for AA men are a middle-class/upper-class marker is correct, because I usually see them on middle to upper-class men (at least here in Los Angeles). Am I reading the cultural signifiers right?

  137. 137.

    Librarian

    I don’t know about Richard Sherman, but I definitely think that he should denounce Allan Sherman.

  138. 138.

    Sharon

    @lamh36: e ok hold it just a second here. Sarah Palin is RIGHT in this case. Obama is in this long article that has come out in a magazine where he says his low ratings these days are because he is black… GIVE ME A BREAK. they are LOW because everyone in this country is seeing it fall apart under his poor managment. He could be purple or green and Obamacare would still be a disaster! What Sarah is say is DON’T once again play your race card Obama and blame so called racists for your failure as a president! She is saying MAN UP! and SHE IS RIGHT!!! and no matter her color she has a RIGHT to say so,,, I say it too… I mean really.. at this point? after you get elected twice your gonna play oh poor me its cause Im black… wah.. NOW.. stop running people down for speaking truth before you know the facts and before you THINK!

  140. 140.

    Sharon

    @rikyrah: @rikyrah: What a beautiful letter and what makes me so very sad is what has been done with the freedom he fought for. What I see today is a crying shame. The behavior, the rap lyrics, the constant murders in large cities of black on black crime and now the growing trend of the knockout game or polar bear, where whites who have done nothing to blacks are targeted and hurt badly or killed. What then did MKL fight for, what did he die for? This is the most sad of all legacies.

  142. 142.

    Plantsmantx

    @Sharon:

    Obama is in this long article that has come out in a magazine where he says his low ratings these days are because he is black…

    Are you talking about this?

    “There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black president…Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black president.”

  143. 143.

    Sharon

    @Plantsmantx: yes he is once again playing his race card to hide the fact that he is the worst president this country has had in decades. I am sick and tired of hearing that card played over and over ad nauseum. OWN your mistakes Barry… I refuse to call him mr president…stop blaming others for your failures. Then today the topic of this whole thread.. Sherman, accuses all of us who call people who act like he did in the post game interview.. thugs.. saying that its our way of calling them ngrs by saying thug.. SO now.. I guess saying thug is going to be a cause for being called a racist! Once again I say… I am judging you by your character not the color of your skin as you asked for.. sorry if most of the time I find you terribly wanting…

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