[Mick]

I turned it off after the interception. Was there anything beyond the choking motion he made?

I was watching the game with my son and pointing out Baldwin adn Sherman as they made impact plays. It was a great lesson at the end of the game that great players are not necessarily great people. In the end, he's human. He does some good (the work with kids in Compton) and some bad (the way he acted playing New England for example.)

Here's an interesting take on Harbaugh vs. Carroll: http://nfl.si.com/2014/01/18/doug-baldwi...e-carroll/

It seems Carroll let's Sherman "be himself." I can see why Harbaugh would try to bottle some of that up...

Really liked this post, farmboy.  Feel exactly the same way.  And while we're on the topic, let me offer a slightly alternative thought.

I didn't attend Stanford, though I've been a fan of Stanford football and Stanford sports for more than forty years.  One of the proudest days of my life was when a coach at Stanford told my son a spot on the team was his if he wanted it, and one of the saddest days came when he told me he wanted to be at least 500 miles away from the family home.  ;)

Still, I understand the comments on Sherman, particularly from Stanford alums. You went to school with these people, virtually all the Stanford folks I've met are really great  people (personally and professionally), and it's important to all of you that those athletes fit the same profile.  I feel the same way about Santa Clara alums, I like to see good people like Nash and it makes me cringe when a former Santa Clara athlete acts badly in public.

Virtually all of the Stanford athletes act in a conventionally "classy" manner in public, so we're tempted to want to put them all in that category.  We want everyone to be Andrew Luck.  And that's fine, but for me, I distinctly remembered the personalities of the great athletes I knew growing up, and most were dirtbags, to be candid.

When I was 12, I loved basketball and the Warriors won the NBA championship.  Rick Barry was my favorite player.  My dad and I went to the SF airport  to pick up my stepmother who was returning from Phoenix.  In the pre-charter flight days, the W's flew commercial, and Barry walked out wearing a knee length rabbitskin coat...probably 100 rabbitskins, all different colors (it was 1975 after all).  My dad suggested I get his autograph, but he had a well-deserved reputation even then as being a jerk...and I wasn't an autograph seeker in any event.

So I appreciate the athletic skills of Richard Sherman, and Jim Harbaugh, and Rick Barry, and Pete Rose and all the other great athletes I've seen over the years.  But both my admiration and any personal concern absolutely stops when the game clock hits 0:00.  I'm quite certain that everyone on this board has had personal experiences with athletes that were, shall we say, different from their public reputations.

Charles Barkley said the only hero you need is the one at the dinner table (or words to that effect).  I've always felt that.  So I'll always admire Richard Sherman the athlete, and I appreciated what he did at Stanford, but I couldn't care less about Richard Sherman the person.  After all, I'm not hiring him to teach my kids etiquette...

[Mick]

I turned it off after the interception. Was there anything beyond the choking motion he made?

I was watching the game with my son and pointing out Baldwin adn Sherman as they made impact plays. It was a great lesson at the end of the game that great players are not necessarily great people. In the end, he's human. He does some good (the work with kids in Compton) and some bad (the way he acted playing New England for example.)

Here's an interesting take on Harbaugh vs. Carroll: http://nfl.si.com/2014/01/18/doug-baldwi...e-carroll/

It seems Carroll let's Sherman "be himself." I can see why Harbaugh would try to bottle some of that up...

Really liked this post, farmboy.  Feel exactly the same way.  And while we're on the topic, let me offer a slightly alternative thought.

I didn't attend Stanford, though I've been a fan of Stanford football and Stanford sports for more than forty years.  One of the proudest days of my life was when a coach at Stanford told my son a spot on the team was his if he wanted it, and one of the saddest days came when he told me he wanted to be at least 500 miles away from the family home.  ;)

Still, I understand the comments on Sherman, particularly from Stanford alums. You went to school with these people, virtually all the Stanford folks I've met are really great  people (personally and professionally), and it's important to all of you that those athletes fit the same profile.  I feel the same way about Santa Clara alums, I like to see good people like Nash and it makes me cringe when a former Santa Clara athlete acts badly in public.

Virtually all of the Stanford athletes act in a conventionally "classy" manner in public, so we're tempted to want to put them all in that category.  We want everyone to be Andrew Luck.  And that's fine, but for me, I distinctly remembered the personalities of the great athletes I knew growing up, and most were dirtbags, to be candid.

When I was 12, I loved basketball and the Warriors won the NBA championship.  Rick Barry was my favorite player.  My dad and I went to the SF airport  to pick up my stepmother who was returning from Phoenix.  In the pre-charter flight days, the W's flew commercial, and Barry walked out wearing a knee length rabbitskin coat...probably 100 rabbitskins, all different colors (it was 1975 after all).  My dad suggested I get his autograph, but he had a well-deserved reputation even then as being a jerk...and I wasn't an autograph seeker in any event.

So I appreciate the athletic skills of Richard Sherman, and Jim Harbaugh, and Rick Barry, and Pete Rose and all the other great athletes I've seen over the years.  But both my admiration and any personal concern absolutely stops when the game clock hits 0:00.  I'm quite certain that everyone on this board has had personal experiences with athletes that were, shall we say, different from their public reputations.

Charles Barkley said the only hero you need is the one at the dinner table (or words to that effect).  I've always felt that.  So I'll always admire Richard Sherman the athlete, and I appreciated what he did at Stanford, but I couldn't care less about Richard Sherman the person.  After all, I'm not hiring him to teach my kids etiquette...