The most interesting part of yesterday's NFC Championship football game between the the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco Forty-Niners did not happen during the game. It happened after the game during an interview between Seahawks cornerback Richard Stevens and FOX News sideline reporter Erin Andrews.
In the typical bloviating, bombastic style that unfortunately characterizes too many of today's NFL athletes, Sherman was blowharding about how great he is and that nobody can beat him. Anderson's facial reaction was priceless, as if she were thinking, "Man, this guy is an idiot." Then she said, "Who was talking about you?"
Wouldn't it be great if everyone watching the interview had the same reaction as Andrews. This guy is an idiot. Maybe that is not what Andrews was thinking, but I hoped it was. Unfortunately many people watching will see the interview as drama and will exalt Sherman as some kind of heroic superman. Sad.
Andrews knows a thing or two about idiots. She is a survivor of a well publicized event involving a stalker. One would have to believe an experience like that would have a lasting effect on someone. Andrews is undoubtedly now an expert at dealing with idiots like Richard Sherman.
NFL football is a great sport. Unfortunately we have allowed much of American sport to be contaminated by classless activities like this. I'd like us to go back to a simpler time, to a time when sportsmen acted with class and dignity.
Prior to the 1970's we seldom saw this type of behavior in sports because men were socialized differently. Men were expected to be humble about their abilities, especially in public. They were told that you can be up one day and down the next, so when you are up, try to think about what is like to be down and have some empathy. That is gone.
Idiots make better copy I guess.
