When Richard Sherman sealed the Seattle Seahawk’s spot in Super Bowl XLVIII in his game-saving play against the San Francisco 49ers, he also sealed his spot as the sports world’s latest “classless” wonder.
His adrenaline and aggression were at an all-time high in a post game interview with …
“Well, I’m the best corner in the game! When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you’re going to get. Don’t you ever talk about me.”
What is just as bad as being a sore loser, is being a sore winner. As Ato Boldon, four times Olympic medalist stated in his tweet, it was evident that there was no clear media training done for the opinionated and classless Rich Sherman.
Despite tweets on his arrogant stupidity, Mr. Sherman did graduate from Stanford with a degree in Communications. This may be the reason why in the passionate reaction to his game-winning play, he did not use curse words and turned to camera to make direct eye contact.
But he should have also known not to waste precious press time talking about his opponents and the other team! With Mr. Sherman’s spectacular play, he gave himself the opportunity to share his pride in being a “Seattle Seahawk,” give credit to both his own quaterback and receiver who scored the winning touchdown, etc, etc. …. In short, brand, brand, brand.
He became Twitter’s latest “trend,” not only for his commendable game, but his foolish response. And Mr. Sherman didn’t apologize, but said that he regrets the “storm afterwards” and how it was perceived in the media. He did admit that he probably should not have attacked Crabtree,
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
Although these antics garner media attention, always remember that bad press is not better than no press at all. Instead, it is important to portray yourself at your best and in Sherman’s case, win with composure.