Imagine being mad Marshawn Lynch will be speaking to you. Man, life must be hard as a Princeton student.
A handful of Princeton students wrote an op-ed in the school newspaper showing displeasure with the school's decision to make the Oakland native and former Raiders running back their senior "Class Day" speaker in June. Lynch is not expected to speak at the commencement ceremony, but instead several days before graduation.
The group of students expressed their frustration lied more with the process than the selection.
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"As seniors, we had been looking forward to the speaker announcement for months," the letter starts. "Many of us were disappointed when we saw that this year’s speaker was to be Marshawn Lynch, mainly because we did not feel included in the process by which this speaker was nominated and finally selected."
But the students also pointed out Lynch's history with the media, citing several fines.
"Among articles that praised his NFL career and philanthropic contributions, we came across articles discussing Lynch’s reticence with the media and his terse responses at press conferences," the students wrote. "In 2013 and 2014, for example, Lynch was fined $50,000 and $100,000 for refusing to speak to the media. During the 2015 Superbowl Media Day, Lynch famously responded to multiple questions with variants of 'I’m just here so I won’t get fined.'
"With no other frame of reference, such reports caused confusion over the set of criteria that led to his nomination."
San Francisco 49ers
Feeling left out of the selection process is understandable (I guess) but maybe these students should take a longer look at Princeton's statement for choosing Lynch. This is about much more than football.
“Mr. Lynch’s sustained professional excellence is not the only reason we are excited to have him serve as our Class Day speaker. His substantive work in communities stands alongside his on-field success,” Class Day co-chairs Jonathan Haynes, Jaylin Lugardo and Caleb Visser wrote in an email to their fellow students.
“Our goal was to invite a speaker who embodies the various experiences we have shared as a community during our Princeton tenure; someone whose professional and personal passions speak to the service-focused and intellectually rigorous interests core to the University.”
Lynch, who attended Cal as a student-athlete, has been a beacon of hope in his community. He has been all about community and empowering those around him through his philanthropy work. When he returned to the Seahawks for their Week 17 matchup against the 49ers, he was seen mentoring rookie Travis Homer on the sidelines.
After the Seahawks lost to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs last season, which might have been Lynch's last game in the NFL, he didn't speak a word about himself. Instead, he sent a message to his teammates and younger players to take care of their mind and money.
"Start takin’ care of y’all mentals and y’all bodies and y’all’s chicken," Lynch said after the loss. "So when y’all ready to, you know, walk away, you be able to do what you want to do."
Marshawn Lynch is a five-time Pro Bowl running back and a Super Bowl champion. More importantly, he has been even more successful off the field.
Princeton's "Class Day" speaker last year was actress Ellie Kemper, who played Erin Hannon in "The Office." I can go all sorts of ways about what that says about these students' anger towards choosing Lynch, an African-American athlete from Oakland, but ... I'm just here so I won't get fined.