Fire & Ice: Sherman's Crabtree and Lynch's Won't Get Fined

00:00:10 Speaker 1: I've been watching a lot of sports documentaries recently, and these have ranged in the years they were made, the sports and athletes they cover, and even the languages they're produced in, but one concept always seems to pop up in one way or another. Duality. The theme of duality, or an instance of two contrasting concepts or aspects of something has existed for thousands of years, light and dark, good and evil, hot and cold, and it also exists in sports. You see, duality, in some ways is actually a core part of what makes sports so special, what makes it so emotionally rewarding or devastating. In order to have a special Cinderella story, you have to have a super team to pit them up against. Part of what makes an underdog run so special is that overpowered opposition. I can go on, but you get the idea. We love the concept of duality, of juxtaposing two things against one another in sports media and in life. The massive brutish man with a kind heart, the super quiet and gregarious best friends. And so I've been thinking about famous and iconic sounds from sports with this concept of duality in mind. Looking back at the dozens of lists of sounds from sports, I've made for episode ideas in search of two that seemed comparable or completely different. But there is just one major issue. Sports most famous sounds can be split up and categorized in way too many ways. And trust me, I've been researching and listening to them for hours on end and not to flex, but my AirPods keep giving me an audio decibel level sound warning. So do with that info what you want. But back to the categorization thing. You can compare sounds by the type of sport. If a coach or player or fans said the thing, if the quote is motivational, legendary, or controversial when the quote was said, if it was in a game or an interview, if the way they said it was funny or weird or memorable. If it was loud or quiet, if it was on radio or TV. And in this research, a few categories definitely stand out, like trash talk. I mean, there are a lot of iconic sounds where someone is slandering or trashing or roasting someone else, and it makes sense, I mean, who doesn't love to hear some of that? But almost paradoxically, a few sounds from sports stood out for the opposite reason because they're purposefully not controversial or newsworthy, or at least they weren't supposed to be. If I'm confusing you a bit, you're probably not alone. So let me clarify. When a player hits a game winning shot, the buzzer sounds, the ball goes in, the crowd roars, and a player might yell or shout something, and the commentator well, commentates, And those are all loud sounds. They all fight to grab your attention, melding together and creating a moment you can't really replicate after the fact. But the sound right before the buzzer goes off, or the silence when the golf ball rolls towards the pin, is equally captivating. I mean, if anything, those sounds, the quiet ones, magnify the louder ones, and that duality a haha. See it was a long gramble, but we got there. The duality between the loud and the quiet, the hush and the roar of the crowd brings us to the topic of today's episode of Sports Dot MP three, which you should definitely follow right now on whatever platform you're listening on. But yes, we're talking about two of football's most memorable soundbites Richard Sherman's infamous Crabtree trash talk and Marshawn Lynch's famous I'm just here so I won't get fined. The two future NFL Hall of Fame players are responsible for two of the best sports sounds of all time, two sounds that came just a year apart from two teammates, nonetheless, one on offense, the other on defense. One sound famous for its sheer, emotion, volume and brashness, the other famous for entirely opposite reasons, and yet both came from places of honesty, and both will be remembered forever, and both, as it turns out, and I kind of already said, are the topic of today's episode. So without further ado, I'm willgatchul. This is Sports seven three, and this is the Transition. Marshawn Lynch was a four sport athlete at Oakland Tech High School, starring in basketball, football, track, and wrestling. He was the number two running back in the nation behind Adrian Peterson, and Lynch decided to commit to play football for the Golden Bears of the University of California at Berkeley in two thousand and four. Lynch was a backup his freshman year, but he still amassed ten total touchdowns and more importantly, earned the starting role than next year, with JJ Arrington the player he replaced having graduated. Lynch had a great career with the Bears the Golden Bears, not Chicago, and he remained a starter throughout his sophomore and junior seasons. He actually still holds the record for the most one hundred yard rushing games in school history with seventeen, But in two thousand and seven, after finishing up his junior year, Lynch decided to forego his senior season and entered the two thousand and seven NFL Draft. Richard Sherman graduated as salutatorian, which is the second highest GPA, from Dominges High School in Compton, California, in two thousand and six, playing football as a wide receiver and defensive back, while also dominating in track and field, even winning the California state triple jump title. Even so, he committed to football, first committing to UCLA before eventually joining Stanford University after receiving an athletic scholarship. But here's the twist. Sherman began his collegiate career as a wide receiver. He played pretty well his first two years on the team. After an injury during his junior year in two thousand and eight which led him to only play five games that season, he redshirted, meaning that he was ineligible to play the rest of the season, but it gave him an extra year of eligibility, and that led him to make a career altering decision switching to defensive back, and as luck would have it, he had a defensive minded head coach that was willing to let him, Jim Harbaugh. Sherman would play exceptionally well in his new defensive role in the two thousand and nine and twenty ten seasons for the Stanford Cardinals, making over one hundred tackles and recording six interceptions while starting all twenty six games in those two seasons. At the end of it all, he finished his final season with Stanford and declared for the twenty eleven NFL Draft. Marshawn Lynch was a highly touted prospect entering the two thousand and seven NFL Draft, and he was selected by the Buffalo Bills with the twelfth overall pick, the second running back selected. Once again, he was behind Adrian Peterson, in this regard. He started his career as a starter, and for good reason, earning a spot on the NFL All Rookie team, amassing one and fifteen yards and scoring seven touchdowns, which is more than I've scored in my entire career, just to put that in perspective. Lynch followed that up by amassing more than a thousand rushing yards the following season and making his first Pro Bowl despite battling injuries. The two thousand and nine season, his third in the NFL, however, wouldn't go so well. Lynch missed the first three games of the season due to a spension regarding gun possession charge, and although he'd make a return, he lost his starting spot to Fred Jackson. Lynch's fortunes would change for the better the next year. He played three games in twenty ten for the Bills, and then he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks. Same season, Lynch would make the playoffs for the first time in his career, and he would make sure no one would forget that game against the New Orleans Saints, Lynch would take a handoff sixty seven yards for a touchdown, bringing nine tackles and throwing an opposing player to the ground like a rag doll in the process. The play is the perfect showcase of Lynch's play style, and it's also been labeled the Beast Quake for good reason. You see fans during the play, which was at a home playoff game, registered on a seismograph near the stadium during the run. Unfortunately, they would lose the next round to the Bears, the Chicago Bears, not the Golden Bears, and Lynch would rush for less than ten yards, so not his greatest game, and that brings us to the offseason. Seattle was entering it as a team right on the precipice of making it all the way to the Super Bowl, and that leads us to a certain cornerback from California that would help the franchise achieve its highest aspirations. Richard Sherman entered the NFL draft combine with a wide range of projections. He clearly had great skills and talent, but his late position switch left some teams hesitant. He was generally projected somewhere between the third and sixth round of the twenty eleven NFL Draft. Cam Newton was selected with the first overall pick of the NFL Draft one hundred and fifty three picks later, Richard Sherman was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round. He was the twenty fifth cornerback drafted. He was reportedly incensed to have fallen that far, and that chip on his shoulder attitude would stay with him for the rest of his career. Sherman began his rookie season as the fourth cornerback on the team's roster, but after season ending injuries to Marcus Trufont Walter Thurmond, he soon found himself starting, and he didn't waste the opportunity. Sherman finished his rookie season with fifty five tackles in four interceptions in ten starts in sixteen games total. That same season was Marshawn Lynch's first full season on the Seahawks, and he was having his best season yet, scoring in ten straight games and setting career bests in rushing yards and touchdowns for the season. The Seahawks finished the year with a seven and nine record, barely missing out on a playoff berth wh and during that offseason, Lynch would sign a four year contract with the Seahawks. Sherman would retain his starting role at the beginning of the twenty twelve season, starting all sixteen games and earning first team All Pro honers. Lynch would mirror those achievements, starting sixteen games and earning first team All Pro honners while rushing for ninety nine and a half yards per game. That season would see the team finish eleven and five and make the playoffs, winning the wild Card but losing the next round to the Falcons, and although they didn't know it at the time, it would be the last Seahawks playoff loss for a while, because the next two seasons would lead to two Super Bowl berths and more importantly, set the stage for two iconic sounds. By the twenty thirteen season, Sherman was a key starter for the Seahawks and he was about to have his best season yet. Starting sixteen games, he would record eight interceptions, a touchdown and receive a first team All Pro selection for a second consecutive season. And the Seahawks defense during these years actually earned the name the Legion of Boom or LB for short, and it referred to the hard hitting backfield of Cam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, by Maxwell and a few others. The Seahawks were one of the best defensive teams of the decade, and Sherman was definitely the most outspoken of that team. And for as much as defensive players could boom, so to speak, Marshawn Lynch was booming defenders on his side of the field, rushing for twelve hundred and fifty seven yards and twelve touchdowns while earning his third straight Pro Bowl selection, and that leads us to the twenty thirteen playoffs. The Seahawks won thirteen games and earned a bye for the first week of the playoffs, and then they beat the Saints in the divisional round and setting them up for an NFC championship against their bitter rivals, the San Francisco forty nine Ers. The Seahawks were winning the game twenty three to seventeen. There were thirty seconds left, but the forty nine Ers had the ball. The forty nine Ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick dropped back for a pass and launched the ball towards Michael Crabtree, the team's wide receiver, But Kaepernick under threw the ball and in came Richard Sherman. He rose up, tipped the ball to his teammate Malcolm Smith, and Smith caught the ball, causing an interception and sealing the game, sending the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Sherman's deflection, also called the Immaculate Deflection, a homage to the Steeler's immaculate reception versus the Raiders, was spectacular, but his annex after the play were equally jaw dropping. Sherman runs up to Crabtree, the wide receiver he was just playing against, and offers a handshake while shouting hell of a game, to which Crabtree responds by shoving Sherman in the helmet. Sherman then turns around, makes a choking gesture towards QB, who had choked the game according to Sherman, and walks off the field. All of that after the play a pretty legendary sequence, but that wasn't even the start of it. Following up that amazing defensive play, Sherman would then speak on the field in a postgame interview with reporter Aaron Andrews, capping off a great play with one of the most iconic soundbites in NFL history. 00:15:32 Speaker 2: So thank you so much, Richard. Let me ask you the final play. Take me through it well on the best corner of the game. 00:15:38 Speaker 1: When you try me with a star who saved like Cracktrey, that's the results you an't get. 00:15:43 Speaker 2: Don't you that we're talking about me? Who was talking about you? 00:15:48 Speaker 1: Craty? Don't you help me? 00:15:49 Speaker 2: Your mouth up? Beth? Why are you almost set it for you? Real quick? Hello? Be now. 00:15:58 Speaker 1: Sherman's post game trash talk, Crabtree call out, whatever you want to call it, instantly went viral, and not everyone felt the same way about it. Sherman penned an article shortly afterwards, in part defending himself from being called a thug for his outburst, which is definitely not a thing people need to refer to any human being as. But he also alluded to the fact that his issue with Crabtree went back to a charity match in Arizona earlier that offseason, and while neither have spoken much on the topic, it seems like the two were not very amiable when they first met each other during a charity softball game, with one apparently refusing to shake the other's hand upon an introduction at the event, and while that remains probably forever somewhat of a mystery, we do know one other fact, Earl Thomas, the Seahawks safety, part of the Legion of Boom and teammate of Sherman, had actually played against Michael Crabtree in college v Tree was an absolute monster at Texas Tech, and when he went off in their upset victory over their bitter rivals Texas years before, Earl Thomas was the safety getting torched, and Sherman has said since that Thomas and him actually talked about Crabtree a few times before that game, with Thomas saying to watch out for him and Sherman getting pretty offended by Thomas claiming that Crabtree was anywhere near Sherman's level, which definitely fits if you've heard Sherman talk at all, and Sherman would have the last laugh. The next game, the Super Bowl, the Seahawks crushed the Broncos forty three to eight, and Sherman would sign a four year, fifty six million dollar extension the following off season, making him the highest paid cornerback in the league. And that brings us to the other end of the spectrum, a few decibels lower to Marshawn Lynch, who, by the way, had been having the greatest stretch of his career on the field with the Seahawks and scored a touchdown in that Super Bowl win. The following postseason, Yes, the season after the Seahawks had just won the Super Bowl and Sherman had roasted Crabtree, the team found itself at the Super Bowl once again. Marshawn Lynch, a key player for the Seahawks, was just coming off his career postseason high in rushing yards, having ran for one hundred and fifty seven in the last overtime win against the Green Bay Packers. And while Sherman had dominated headlines immediately after the NFC Championship game the year before, this year, it would be Marshon Lynch's turn. And unlike Sherman, who actually won the PFWA Good Guy Award for his quote willingness to work with and provide insightful information to the media unquote, Lynch didn't have as great of a record with the media or the NFL for that matter. You see, Lynch had been fined over a million dollar in his career. Leading up to that presser. Earlier that season, he had refused to talk to the press after a game, and that had resulted in a one hundred thousand dollars fine, and as media day approached, it was clear to all parties that something had to change because even millionaires hate one hundred thousand dollars fines. I think I am sadly not a millionaire. And that brings us to the meeting he had with Commissioner Goodell and NFL executives in the lead up to Super Bowl Media Day. The commissioner of the NFL and his fellow executives had a meeting behind closed doors with Lynch and they basically explained to him that Lynch was under an obligation to appear for the media, but they stressed that he just had to appear, not necessarily say anything. And with that in mind, Lynch understood what they were getting at and he definitely left that meeting in much better spirits than he'd entered it. And that sets the stage for Super Bowl Media Day, when players, coaches, and personalities alike all come together to talk about everything you can possibly imagine regarding the Super Bowl, and Lynch was not ready to talk, at least not enter a back and forth type of talk, if you will. Lynch sits down at the podium, takes out his phone, and sets a timer for five minutes, the minimum amount of time required by the National Football League to not get fined, and then proceeded to take twenty questions from the eagerly awaiting media, who would immediately find out that they weren't getting the answers they wanted from their questions. Instead, he told them simply, plainly and truthfully why he was there. 00:20:52 Speaker 2: Hey, I'm just here so I don't get fined. So y'all can sit here and ask me all the questions. Y'all all two, I'm going to answer what the same, So y'all can shoot if y'all please. I'm just here so I won't get fined. I'm just here so I won't get fine. I'm just here so I won't get fined. 00:21:16 Speaker 1: The next day, Lynch had more of the same for the press. He started off this one with a slightly different version, saying, quote, you know why I'm here, end quote, And indeed they did. It was just so that he didn't get fined, and yet somehow it ended up being the most captivating part of the entire media event. I mean, the player who caught the game winning catch to send the Seahawks to the Super Bowl was watching Lynch's press conference that day. In total, he said it twenty seven times, avoiding five hundred thousand dollars in fines because of it. And he also wore a Beast Mode hat his personal brand during the sessions, which reportedly earned him the equivalent advertising value of three million dollars, So if you really do the math, he kind of ended up making three point five million dollars in some ways. Although there was some controversy right after the fact about if Lynch would get fined. An NFL spokesperson Michael Signora, spoke about the decision to not find Lynch in an email to Pro Football Talk, writing quote marsha on Lynch complied with his obligation to attend all required media sessions at the Super Bowl. In addition, there is no basis for a fine for the hat he wore at the media sessions, which was made by and given to him by an NFL licensee, new Era and was in team colors end quote. Lynch even trademarked the phrase I'm here so I won't get fined. And although the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl that year, it certainly wasn't because of Lynch. If anything, it was because of a lack of using him. But that's an entirely different story. And as for Lynch and Sherman stories, well, they both finish their great NFL careers and are definitely going to be in the Hall of Fame. And just to bring it back to the first point about duality, I think the rise of both of these sounds and history and pop culture it's interesting really. I mean, Richard Sherman was a cornerback, and a big part about being a cornerback is having confidence, in swagger and almost believing the impossible. And I think that his quote sums that up and shows that attitude. And on the flip side, Marshawn Lynch is one of the most physical, dominant, powerful running backs in NFL history, and his quote epitomizes almost the opposite of that of the quietness and the calm. As different as they are and as similar as they are, both the sounds and the players themselves, they'll both always have one thing in common. They'll both always share being the topic of today's episode of Sports Dot MP three. And yeah, sorry if that was an abrupt ending, but you know, sue me, no, please don't actually please