Richard Sherman — does he have a solution for Manning’s passes?
There may be slow news weeks in regular news but in the sports world, there really is no such thing…so here goes:
After Richard Sherman’s press conference earlier this week, I’m hoping we’ve closed the loop on the Thug Gate that really wasn’t. The Seattle Seahawks cornerback deserved every bit of the fine the NFL handed down for his “choke” gesture.
And that’s it! Although his postgame rant garnered much attention, it was much ado about nothing. To my ears, Sherman sounded much like the child who can’t wait to tell “it” on a sibling…so as soon as the parent walks in the door (in this case network sportscaster) he bursts like a bubble about all his sibling’s (in this case, Michael Crabtree) wrongdoings that took place without adult supervision…”he was talking about me!”—really? There’s a reason why the league’s postgame conferences are approximately 15 minutes after the game….ummm, to alleviate at least a little bit of emotion…and because what we witnessed was far from that on the field, “I’m going to Disneyworld” moment—we now see why.
Calling him a thug was so outlandish it doesn’t deserve the energy required to discuss it. For those who wanted to discuss his braggadocios language….since when has THAT been censored in any sport? By the time Sherman finished his sentence…you know the one that included something about him being the best cornerback in the league…..approximately 62 other cornerbacks were jockeying for a microphone proclaiming that very same title (regardless of the fact that 58 of them were at home)—but that’s beside the point, I guess. I have no problem with trash talking as long as it can be backed up….that must be an unwritten rule somewhere, because you’ve got to know that once you open that particular can of worms, all eyes will most definitely be upon you!
Sending an Honorable Mention to the players selected to the Pro Bowl. I wonder how much of an impact the newly fangled draft system orchestrated by Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice had on this year’s viewership. If the ratings are waiting on me….the game itself would be cancelled during a commercial break!!
NBA…..OKC’s Kevin Durant has been shooting the lights out on a consistent basis here lately—but the league’s honorable mention goes to the Knicks Carmelo Anthony for getting the record for highest scoring game at Madison Square Garden back into the rightful record books of the New York Knicks. Sixty two points is nothing to sneeze it….I was glad to see him get it and to see the Knicks fans have reason to cheer.
Awwww, the mystique of Madison Square Garden is something to behold. It has to be something magical because I have yet to figure out why it was packed to capacity during Carmelo’s score-a-thon…nobody was able to predict it would be a historic night but yet MSG was filled to the rafters for a struggling home team, and the Charlotte Bobcats, a struggling everywhere team! There is definitely merit to the notion that every rock star wants to sell out at MSG and every basketball player wants to play on its storied court! At no time was that more apparent than last Friday night!
PGA….Tiger’s 2014 debut was far from pretty but it’s still early….he’ll find his way and get back into the swing of things (yep, pun was intended—trying to lighten up a somewhat deep moment). A—I don’t think for one moment he is washed up….once he makes friends again with his mechanics and mental toughness, he’ll be to making opponents weep! And B, I’d place a small wager on the mere fact that he hears the whispers of the naysayers, and it drives him…in the words of Scooby Doo “ruhroh”!
Tennis….The season’s first Grand Slam, Australian Open, opened up in downright hazardous weather conditions…one hundred plus temperatures were the norm…degrees finally began dropping to more reasonable digits—that was a good thing because who wants weather to be a factor in a game (insert subliminal message to the NFL here—the forecast for next week’s Super Bowl is indicating a wintry mix throughout the day and game time)
In the end China’s Li Na, who had made two previous appearances in the championship game, proved the third time really is a charm and age ain’t nothing but a number as she, at the age of 31, took home the women’s trophy! Congrats Li Na!
On the men’s side…an ailing Rafa Nadal gave it all that and then some but it wasn’t enough to beat a determined Swiss player by the name of Stanislas Wawrinka …Wawrinka had upended Novak Djokovic, amongst others, en route to the championship game. Congrats to Stan the Man!
In his loss, Rafa is getting an honorable mention too. Although we weren’t privy to the conversation that took place at the net after Warwrinka won—their body language indicated Rafa would have no part in taking away the moment from his opponent by focusing on his own injury.
With any luck, Serena “Never Give Credit To A Winning Opponent” Williams was watching. As much as I enjoy watching Serena play and dominate the sport….her postgame interviews tend to leave too much to be desired too often….I sincerely hope she loses that tendency…after all, the tennis court isn’t the only place greatness can occur!!
