Written by: Ray Lamar Inspired by: Artist Bill Rembert

We live in a world where you can be criticized publicly for being overly confident in your abilities. Add being a high profiled successful African American male athlete and that criticism is amplified. Richard Sherman has been the butt of the media’s myopic views of him.  However, the parts of the story that you don’t hear are about Richard being a scholar-athlete, he was salutatorian (ranked second) in his high school class. He graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA. Sherman is also a Stanford graduate and went to pursue his master’s degree just after graduating with his Bachelors.

Despite all his academic success and a track record of having good character, after an interview that was facilitated by Erin Andrews he was referred to as a “thug”.  Deep racial slurs would follow this interview via social media from outraged people. Richard has voiced that the media makes him into this bad guy, and that his success on the field comes from the mistakes of the wide receivers he is guarding. Richard Sherman has consistently proved that he is a shutdown corner for many years, and still doesn’t get the respect that he deserves. As a result of this falsehood, Sherman Attacks the media in an educated way with extreme confidence and truth.

He doesn’t like the short-sighted stories that create muddy waters and assumption-based philosophies about his teammates, organization, or personal life. Sherman’s numbers are off the charts for corner backs as he has said on numerous occasions. He has a confidence about him that the outside world doesn’t like. He is competent and knows his boundaries and doesn’t mind expressing them. During the media periods he articulates logic and snaps at contradictions.  Regardless of all the troublesome media propaganda Sherman has continued to push and is unfazed by the matters with the pundits. Richard just competed in Super Bowl 50 making this his third appeared on the biggest football stage in the world.   

Editor’s Note: This article first published on February 17, 2020.