Richard Sherman-Inspired Family Feud

I thought it would be illuminating to include an email exchange with my father having to do with the Richard Sherman affair. I am sure this kind of back and forth is going on throughout the country. My father, who ran the half-mile for San Jose State in its track-&-field heyday, is a longtime 49ers fan who had been drifting towards the Seahawks because of my being a Seattleite and a big fan of this Pete Carroll team. (Also, check today's column by the Gray Lady's William Rhoden, "Seahawks’ Richard Sherman, Like Cornerbacks Before Him, Plays Man-to-Man and Goes Toe to Toe".)

Father: Just returned home from S.C. Watched game. You were right. Palesa's emotional body is even more sensitive than my own. We tuned in at the end of the second half, but it was too much for her, so we decided to wait until the end on the fourth quarter to resume watching. It was quite the dramatic ending. Fine! As I said, "May the best team win". We turned off the Sherman thing. Palesa was offended, as was I. No Postmodern rationalization can excuse it. This is perhaps a reaction to my exposure to English education -- Sport, the games of Gentlemen, the refinement of the code of Knight/Kinghood. I'll not wear my Seahawks cap again. Thug, Hitler, Bush, Ghetto talk, gangsterap all go together, ugly. Dredlocks (Rastaman/Higher Man), his sham. Caught on the stage, an arena, Hernandez, bully Dolphins, now this NFL gutter. Forgive me. Not for me! I'm leaving the area. One last gesture, Go Denver! It pains me to say so, Elway, Manning. I hope Seattle eats it. All my love, dad. . . see how the ugly lingers, Aesthetic=beauty. Remember Marley, "College and University graduating thieves and murderers"? Just goes to show our most prestigious (Sherman & Stanford?) educational institutions fail to pass on the importance of Character, and in this case, that Sport is the arena of Gentlemen. All my love, dad 

PS He regrets it even now I bet. If he needs ablution send him down here. I could work it out.

Son: White privilege, Dad, that's what I hear coming from you.

How come you're so offended? Of all the things to be outraged by? All Sherman said was he was the best. And guess what? He is the best cornerback in the league. No question.

I suppose you would have preferred to have the usual bromide of God and country and "Aw, shucks, the 49ers played like champions" served in loving spoonfuls to you in your televisual habitat. If you think Michael Crabtree somehow personifies the English Christian gentleman, you should scan the Internet more often. Fiat lux, baby,

Father: No. Its not about that. Its about ugly. Nobility in victory, not false modesty, but yeah it was a hard played game -- period? So Crabtree got to his football ego. He is still a man. But what is a Man, each, individual man, answerable to no one but himself -- and his God, Perfection, which he will and must answer to some day. He offended two innocent bystanders (Palesa & me) by his vomit of glorified, self exaltation on the NFL stage. I like a good sporting event, well played, hard played. I have no time for that self indulgent trash talk. Its not about Crabtee. Its about Sherman. Its about Sports. Its about Nobility of each and all. As Marley would say, The Rastaman, the Higher Man. And I would add the Buddha Land. Don't give me that gangster talk thing. Noble is Noble. Beauty is beauty. But beautiful body, athleticism, where is it without the spirit of nobility? Where is the beauty in the victory just so difficulty achieved? Silence and victory is sufficient for those who aspire to true victory. To show a dispirited, ugly heart is embarrassing, so two innocent spectators pulled the plug on him. No time for that in our world -- too offensive, in an offensive age. No more NFL for me, no more Seattle Seahawks. I've got to part ways with you on this one. Ugly is ugly, and he was the face of the ugly. What can the internet teach a man in his heart. dad

Son: All I'm asking is that you be a good Buddhist and inquire why it is this so offended you -- don't the Buddhists have a thing about reacting? -- and possibly it offended you -- entertain the possibility, Dad, read your first message -- is that it has to do with racial stereotypes. Tom Brady can chase an official off the field after a game, cursing him for a non-call that would have helped the Patriots beat the Panthers, and no one calls him "classless" or a "thug." This just happened a month or two back. Jim Harbaugh can harangue and grimace and wail and act like a toddler on the sideline -- a one man Greek chorus -- and no one calls him classless and makes demands for "Nobility."

Yet you stick a mic in Sherman's face down on the field adrenalin rushing right after he wins a championship game and despite the fact that he doesn't curse or really say anything offensive people are outraged and can talk of nothing else.

My position is that it struck a nerve in a supine, pacified, televisually hypnotized populace and that nerve was white privilege. We don't want an angry black man on our sacred screens. Gandhi, MLK Jr., Bob Marley, Mandela only, please.

I wish you luck in finding your "Higher Man" in the English Premier League. Adios, king.

****

Huffington Post put up audio this morning corroborating Richard Sherman's version of events that all he said to Michael Crabtree was "Good game." Also, here's a good story from yesterday's Huffington Post.