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2014 NFL Conference Championship Sunday

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cincibuck said:
It's not just Sherman or NFL football. This sort of "look at me behavior," this playing for the camera is present in MLB, NBA and NFL. Part of it belongs to that topic we can't talk about in this country - I think our concept of Jack-Armstrong-All-American-Boy-sportsmanship and it's associated behaviors is a white value, one that isn't shared within the black community. I think our perception of showboating, trash talking, monster stomping, throat-cutting gestures has much to do with where we grew up. It's not cheating, it's not illegal or immoral. and in one sense I can see where it's more honest than acting like a gracious winner, but it goes against some innate belief I have that such behavior isn't 'fair.'

A second part of it has to do with the intimacy with which sports are covered these days. The newspapers and TV of the 1950s only focused on Jackie Thompson's homerun to beat the Dodgers and put the Giants in the World Series. No one but the players knew that afterwords the Giant's players pounded on the doors of the Dodger dressing room and screamed insults and called them 'chokers.' Now that kind of story is front page.

I don't like the WWE type of behavior. I see it as juvenile and demeaning. I'd love to see any of the major sports end the season in a more dignified manner, but I can see where my attitude was formed by the time and place I grew up in and by the color of my skin.
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I definitely noticed a generational divide in the reaction to Sherman's postgame interview yesterday, not so much racially.
 
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Onebuckfan said:
Walter Payton Barry Sanders Archie Griffin and others acted like men on the field. They should have been the role models that young black or white men aspired too.
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There are assholes and good guys in every generation of sports. For every Richard Sherman in the NFL today there's a Russell Wilson too. But frankly, I tire kind of quickly of the cliches and coach speak 95% of the league dishes out on a weekly basis (Wilson is a perfect example of this).

Besides, he's owned Skip Bayless. That's got to count for something, right?
 
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jlb1705 said:
I watch football to be entertained. Richard Sherman entertained me.
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I've had a couple days to think about this, and watching all of the media (and some of my own) backlash on this. Here's my latest take on it:

1. Sherman was amped up to prove Crabtree wrong for a personal issue (allegedly) that they had with each other. Now, Sherman states that it was personal, and that got him geeked up to play the game. That's fine and dandy, and whatever gets him juiced to play the game, use it. With all that being said, his "I was going to shake his hand," excuse is a bunch of BS. First thing he did was come over to Crabtree and smack him on the ass. Yes, in male sports (cept in the Penn State culture), the ass smack is a universal sign of sportsmanship. That wasn't the time for it, though, and if you have a personal problem with a guy, don't go smackin his ass. Unless you're Sandusky.

2. I like the way the guy plays with a chip on his shoulder, but let's be real. He was targeted TWO TIMES on Sunday evening. Two. In turn, he had ZERO solo tackles on Sunday. Kam Chancellor should have gotten more credit on Sunday because he played his ass off on Sunday. That dude was a BEAST (5 solo stops, one pick). Other than Sherman making that one play, I can't remember anything the guy did the entire game. Chancellor was all over the field.

3. The irony of all of this is that late in the 4th quarter, during a TV timeout, this appeared on my TV (this is the NSFW version):



Maybe Crabtree should have had on a pair in his helmet or something?

4. I got to thinking back about the older days of the NFL. Days with guys kike Tatum and Atkinson, Larry Wilson and Butkus. Those guys would have broken Crabtree in half back in those days. I remember hearing an old vet complaining about how lovey dovey and pussified guys were becoming in today's NFL. I can't remember who said it, but if I had to paraphrase the comment, it was something to the effect of, "These guys get done playing each other, and then they hug, shake hands, and have dinner together. Not in my day. If I went up to a guy after the game, then he'd either be unconscious at the end of it or I would."

The NFL is all about winning. Call it what you want, but they have successfully pussified the sport through rule changes and outreach programs.

This article kinda touches on it a little bit:

http://www.chiefsspin.com/can-rivalries-exist-in-modern-nfl-era/

Former Chiefs wide receiver Danan Hughes (1993-98) said in a phone interview he and his teammates followed Schottenheimer’s lead.
“Marty Shottenheimer hated the Raiders, made no qualms about it, and he allowed his passion and hatred to matriculate over the entire team even if guys came from the Raiders,” Hughes said. “By default, you started hating the Raiders because your leader hated them.”
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Rich Baldinger (1983-92) adds a lot of the personalities in Oakland from his playing days contributed to the rivalry.
“People were bigger than life back then, guys like Howie Long, Greg Townsend, there were just different cats on the field,” Baldinger said in a phone interview. “And before them, Lyle Alzado and Ted Hendricks.
“I don’t know if they’d allow a Ted Hendricks in the NFL any more. It was just something about them; there was always a story about them. I think it was just the personalities that went along with it, what the media made it into and what the media talked about.”
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The old dudes would have loved this one:

 
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