01-20-2014, 06:48 PM
(01-20-2014, 03:43 PM)Hulk01 link Wrote:Cornfed, I am sure that you realize that the city of San Francisco is a useless sample area for feelings about a player who beat the San Francisco 49ers, hates San Francisco's head coach, taunts one of San Francisco players, gave the choke sign to San Francisco's QB and most visible player, and attended a college that is the loathed rivals of graduates of the Bay Area's largest university. Did you expect to hear one positive comment?Â
I was in a bar last night half the continent from Seattle, and the vitriol between the Niners and Hawks fans suggsted Auburn vs. Alabama. The bar's host was joking with my friend (and a friend of Connor McFadden, btq) that he was going to have to deputize us to break up the fist fights that looked imminent. Don't know what that is all about but in a rougher area after another round, that place would have gone scary. There is some serious hate between these teams and their fans--1800 miles from either city.
I heard comments from a half-dozen 30 years old Minneapolitans plus several of my followers in other countries. It appears that Sherm actually made a lot of new fans, particularly among the guys who listened to his later interviews and not just the whopper with Andrews.
I do not understand the criticism that he made the interview all about him and gave no credit to his team. He had 30 seconds to answer Andrew;s question which was "take me through that last play." He said the guy was an idiot to try to beat him and he proved it. Then he capped that statement with a loud L.O.B., a reference some of these critics must not understand. L.O.B., as most of you know but these critics do not, means Legion of Boom. That's the nickname of the Seahawk defense. That's the team.
And as for the tirades and dubious behavior, are we worse off for John McEnroe and Tiger Woods?Â
Re inarticulate: I saw a tweet and one other comment that said Sherman was inarticulate. It was the first references that I saw; we had the sound off by then and I missed his comments. I expected to call up the interview video and see him babbling uncharacteristically. He wasn't. Not even close.
Re the bewilderment over the responses to Sherm's comments: These Stanford boards are thick with Niner fans and guys who loathe Pete Carrol. That has a strong influence.
I love this kid. Have for six years. Period and exclamation point. I couldn't love Richard Sherman more if he'd devoted the time to running over my ex-wife with his Lexus.
Hulk, apparently you are back there among MY PEOPLE in the great MidWest? Enjoy the warmth of good people and simple food!
No, I'm not surprised that the blowback was negative based on where I was and who was coming through the door. They were not, however, all 9er fans and there were a couple of purported SeaHawk fans who were unhappy about The Rant. I noted that that would be predictable to a great extent. It was the immediate connection to RS when they saw my Stanford sweatshirt. Anyone who is thinking it does not connect to Stanford is fooling themselves (not particularly relevant on this thread, but a dodge I've seen elsewhere).Â
Also, it is not that I am trying to say that there is universal concurrence that it was "evil"; just that there is a full range of reaction, positive to negative, and that probably about half are outraged or slightly less than outraged. That's a big chunk of people whose image of Stanford was negatively affected by The Rant.
As to describing RS as inarticulate, nothing in the rant strikes me as inarticulate. On the contrary, it was fluid and extremely descriptive(!) and I'm certain he struck just the note he was seeking. Here, in fact, I find the efforts to defend The Rant by comparing RS to Ali to be valid. Both set very strong examples of effective expression and emotional evocation. There the comparison ends. I never sensed hatred coming from Ali. As an aside, I am struck by the focus on the description of RS as inarticulate possibly containing racist undertones. Very possibly true in light of how inaccurate such an allegation seems to be. Nonetheless, is it not ironic that in the recent past people have been accused of racism for using the word "articulate" to describe Barack Obama (except for Joe Biden, who called him "clean" and "articulate"). Maybe racists are getting to be more explicit in their practices.
I've learned a lot about RS from many people that I have come to respect on this board today. As I said early on, I have not been, and this incident will not make me now, an RS "hater". My concern is Stanford's standing and insuring that we are accurately perceived. I believe The Rant will make it overall somewhat more difficult to engender an accurate perception of Stanford for people on the outside.
Finally, I understand the emotional peaks and valleys of people who are still in their first quarter of existence. Hell, I'm probably late in the third quarter of mine and still struggle to pause and reflect. Nonetheless, I have learned that, for me, if I embrace negative emotions, thoughts, images and expressions, I tend to undermine any semblance of serenity to which I might otherwise aspire. My aspirations may not appeal to RS, but I do hope he is not hurting himself with his approach to whatever it is he is seeking.
"It's not what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you think you know that just isn't so."
Mark Twain

