Richard Sherman Apologizes, Explains His Actions on Sports Illustrated

By Young Kim
Richard Sherman
Richard Sherman USA Today Sports

Sports Illustrated published an essay written by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman on Monday which features a detailed explanation about Sherman's feelings about his postgame rant following his team's Sunday night NFC Championship victory. Sherman wrote that San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree pushed Sherman's face after Sherman patted his back and offered to shake his hand following the final play of the game. This led to his outburst during a postgame interview with Fox Sports Erin Andrews.

"Well, I'm the best corner in the game," shouted Sherman. "When you try me with a sorry receiver like [Michael] Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get."

Sherman has remained firm on his stance about Crabtree's talent as an athlete, explaining in his essay that he doesn't believe Crabtree is still a top-20 wide receiver and backing his opinion up with a comparison to Josh Gordon, a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns. However, he did apologize for taking credit away from the rest of the team, especially the Seahawks defensive line, whom he felt helped set him up for the game-winning tip to give his teammate Malcolm Smith an interception.

The controversial two-time All-Pro has not turned a blind eye to the backlash he received on Twitter and stated, "I was loud, it was in the moment, and it was just a small part of the person I am. I don't want to be a villain, because I'm not a villainous person." He went on to defend himself, writing, "To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field-don't judge a person's character by what they do between the lines. Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family."

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll managed to talk to Sherman and brought him to apologize. Sherman texted ESPN reporter Ed Werder, "I apologize for attacking an individual and taking the attention away from the fantastic game by my teammates ... That was not my intent."

The same day Sherman's essay was published, Carroll defended his star cornerback by saying, "This is a very emotional kid, and that's what drives him...He has a great sense about things and understanding and sensitivity and awareness and he cares and he's a very thoughtful person so when he puts out those kind of thoughts he has to know what he's saying and understand it and I think he's very understanding at this point that he caused a stir that took away from the team."

Sports Illustrated reposted an article by Lee Jenkins about Richard Sherman's life the same day the latter's essay was published. The article appeared in the July 29, 2013 issue and illustrated Sherman's life, going in detail about he graduated from high school with a 4.2 GPA and received a diploma from Stanford in Communications, his feud with then-Stanford now-49ers head coach, Jim Harbaugh, and his failed drug-test.

Sherman's interview can be found here:

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/01/20/richard-sherman-interview-michael-crabtree/?eref=sircrc

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