[CJ90]

I'm a brobdingnagian Richard Sherman fan.  I've met him a few times, and he was just a tremendous, friendly guy with me and my kids.  He does a great deal of charity work and has been great with youth in his old neighborhood. 

Of course I didn't care for his conduct post-tip and his IV with Erin.  But I'm not going to let his adrenaline fueled rant (and/or the one involving Brady) cause me to think that he's a punk, an embarrassment to Stanford or worse.  A few minutes of bush league conduct doesn't remotely undo all the good things he's done and the person that he is. 

It seems tempting and easy to see a person in black and white instead of shades of grey and to make sweeping judgments based on his/her best or worst moments, particularly when we don't know the person well and what we see amounts to soundbites.  But IMO, it would be a big mistake to judge Sherm on the basis of this incident or even the few cases where he's gotten carried away and launched into adrenaline-fueled rants, even if they were bush league.  They were ill-chosen words.  99.9%+ of the time, what Sherman says and, more importantly, what he does in the real world, are first class and role model worthy.  I'm pretty sure he does more good with his charity work than do the vast majority of people in this world, including most of the football fans who are fully condemning him as a person and not just condemning some discreet behavior of his.  I'd also wager that most people have done worse, adrenaline-fueled, heat of the moment type things in their lives than what Sherm did this evening, even if Sherm was on TV and had a (brobdingnagian) audience.  I'm quite sure I have, anyway. 

[CJ90]

I'm a brobdingnagian Richard Sherman fan.  I've met him a few times, and he was just a tremendous, friendly guy with me and my kids.  He does a great deal of charity work and has been great with youth in his old neighborhood. 

Of course I didn't care for his conduct post-tip and his IV with Erin.  But I'm not going to let his adrenaline fueled rant (and/or the one involving Brady) cause me to think that he's a punk, an embarrassment to Stanford or worse.  A few minutes of bush league conduct doesn't remotely undo all the good things he's done and the person that he is. 

It seems tempting and easy to see a person in black and white instead of shades of grey and to make sweeping judgments based on his/her best or worst moments, particularly when we don't know the person well and what we see amounts to soundbites.  But IMO, it would be a big mistake to judge Sherm on the basis of this incident or even the few cases where he's gotten carried away and launched into adrenaline-fueled rants, even if they were bush league.  They were ill-chosen words.  99.9%+ of the time, what Sherman says and, more importantly, what he does in the real world, are first class and role model worthy.  I'm pretty sure he does more good with his charity work than do the vast majority of people in this world, including most of the football fans who are fully condemning him as a person and not just condemning some discreet behavior of his.  I'd also wager that most people have done worse, adrenaline-fueled, heat of the moment type things in their lives than what Sherm did this evening, even if Sherm was on TV and had a (brobdingnagian) audience.  I'm quite sure I have, anyway.