John Madden says Richard Sherman’s actions were ’embarrassing,’ bad example for kids

January 22, 2014

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Here we are three days after the Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl, and we’re still discussing Richard Sherman. Since Sherman is the best cornerback in the NFL, we should be discussing him. Some, like John Madden, just wish we weren’t discussing his postgame antics.

Madden discussed Sherman on SiruisXM NFL Radio Wednesday, calling his postgame trash talk “embarrassing.”

“I think it’s too much,” Madden said, via Pro Football Talk. “To me, it was kind of embarrassing. … Kids are watching this, and kids copy the players. I have grandkids and I know what they do because I see them. If a player is wearing a certain color gloves, they have to have that color gloves. A player two weeks ago wore red shoes, I had a grandson came to the game and he had to wear red shoes. The jerseys — they wear the jerseys and they copy everything those guys do.

“And to be a great one, they don’t know which things they should copy, and they think that’s how they have to play. I think if any apologies ought to be made, it ought to be to the kids. That’s not the way we do it. … I thought it was embarrassing.”

Sherman went to Stanford and chose to pursue his education there because it is such a respected academic university. He became the best cornerback in the NFL by being a film nut and student of the game. He is a very intelligent 25-year-old man, but some felt as though his verbal assault on Michael Crabtree took away from what the Seahawks accomplished as a team. Madden touched on that as well.

“He took away a lot from the other players on his team,” he said. “Guys played their butts off, guys coached their butts off, and pass rushed and tackled and special teams, and then it got to be all about one guy. In a team sport, that’s wrong,”

I don’t think that’s what Sherman intended, but it was certainly a consequence. He has earned the right to talk trash because he backs it up. I’d just call it poor timing.