I’m still not quite sure what to make of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman’s Tuesday stunt at his weekly press availability, which included a life-size cutout of receiver Doug Baldwin coupled with the real thing lurking under the podium to chime in from time to time.
The league apparently doesn’t know what to make of it either; the NFL has no comment on Sherman’s antics. However, despite Sherman’s gratuitous reference to the headphone company that sponsors him personally but not the NFL, don’t look for Sherman to be fined.
Fine or no fine, Sherman’s remarks lumbered clumsily through issues of hypocrisy and greed that entail far more nuance that he gave them. Perhaps more importantly, the attempted Abbott-and-Cardboard-Costello routine wasn’t funny.
The players benefit financially from the league’s deals with headphone manufacturers and beer companies. They also benefit financially from short-week football, a topic that Sherman awkwardly wedged into what was supposed to be a satirical commentary on the NFL’s media policy. Most importantly, the players get paid significant amounts of money in part because a strong relationship with the media -- which serves as a conduit to the fans -- has helped the NFL become the behemoth that it is.
For more on that, consider this recent item from Ed Sherman, to which NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tweeted a link on Tuesday night as a “bit of history on NFL media relations.”
Sherman became Seattle’s NFLPA representative earlier this year. If he has genuine issues with the media policy, the NFL’s sponsorship portfolio, and/or Thursday night football, Sherman now has a far more direct and meaningful way to agitate for change. If he simply prefers to give short-shrift to these issues while advancing a “look at me, I sometimes say provocative stuff” agenda, then mission accomplished, I suppose.
