NFC Championship: 49ers at Seahawks

Who will win?

  • Seattle

    Votes: 110 62.5%
  • San Francisco

    Votes: 66 37.5%

  • Total voters
    176

twibnotes

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Richard Sherman sure as hell didn't invent the choke sign





Of course not, but it's rare and was regrettable when others did it too.
 

E5 Yaz

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I've always liked the axiom, "Act like you've been there before." Choke signs, or what Lowe did, or Sherman getting up in Brady's face a year ago after Seattle's win don't do much for me. You won the game. At that point, what's the big deal about rubbing it in further? 
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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There are certainly exceptions but most professional sports leagues are jam-packed with shit-talking, entitled young men who have been told how great they are for the majority of their lives.   I mean, you can pretend that they are classy, nice young men who wear ties, love their moms and help old ladies across the street.  But many are PED-using, alpha-male types who you wouldn't want dating your daughter.  
 
My personal preference is that if they are, indeed, of this variety that they wear it openly.  I find it more reassuring than having a guy who says all the right things but is essentially Patrick Bateman in compression gear and with worse card stock.
 

twibnotes

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There are certainly exceptions but most professional sports leagues are jam-packed with shit-talking, entitled young men who have been told how great they are for the majority of their lives. I mean, you can pretend that they are classy, nice young men who wear ties, love their moms and help old ladies across the street. But many are PED-using, alpha-male types who you wouldn't want dating your daughter.

My personal preference is that if they are, indeed, of this variety that they wear it openly. I find it more reassuring than having a guy who says all the right things but is essentially Patrick Bateman in compression gear and with worse card stock.


All fair, but I don't see wearing it openly as an attractive trait. It's not like a player is a phony for talking on the field and then showing respect off it. That's part of the code/etiquette that the vast majority of NFLers abide by. Sherman isn't just disrespecting his opponent, he's stomping on the norms that have existed in the game for a long, long time. Makes him seem like he thinks he's bigger than the game, and that's so unattractive in the ultimate team sport.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

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redsahx said:
So you're going to equate Julian Edelman pointing for a first down with Sherman seeking out a player and getting in his face with a choke sign at the end of a conference championship game? Seriously?

Sherman's antics stand out. That was probably the most classless thing I have seen a player do in any sport.
 
You must not watch a lot of sports.
 

Snodgrass'Muff

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Guys, we can all stop now.  Justin Verlander has weighed in.
 

 
I guess taunting players is classless but throwing a baseball at 95+ mph near someone's head is cool.
 

Devizier

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Who gives a fuck about Sherman? These guys go out and destroy each other for 60 minutes, they earn the right to talk shit when they back it up. I think the league needs more Shermans. I only wish his name was William Tecumseh.
 
M

MentalDisabldLst

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E5 Yaz said:
I've always liked the axiom, "Act like you've been there before." Choke signs, or what Lowe did, or Sherman getting up in Brady's face a year ago after Seattle's win don't do much for me. You won the game. At that point, what's the big deal about rubbing it in further? 
 
Whoa whoa whoa.  Derek Lowe pumped one of his fists hard.  He didn't make a crotch-chop towards the Oakland dugout.  He was thrilled he had just closed out a game in the most spine-tingling manner possible.  If I'd been in his position, I might have lost my mind and done something like ripping off my jersey, and THEN what would Miguel Tejada's kids have thought?  Derek Lowe is many things, but he didn't disrespect his opponents, at least not that day.
 
If Richard Sherman did this, he would get no fine:
 
 

Tony C

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Devizier said:
Who gives a fuck about Sherman? These guys go out and destroy each other for 60 minutes, they earn the right to talk shit when they back it up. I think the league needs more Shermans. I only wish his name was William Tecumseh.
 
 
No kidding. Coaches like Harbaugh who rant and rave bug me, Sherman or Lowe...whatever -- not great, but good to see emotion in the game, too.
 

Sox and Rocks

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Just finished watching this on DVR delay...
 
On the one hand, Sherman is the best corner in the game, he just made a play to send his team to the Superbowl, and Crabtree was talking smack during the week.
 
On the other hand, he seemed legitimately angry.  Like drugged out/mentally insane angry.  I'm pretty sure my almost 3 year old will have nightmares tonight after watching that interview.
 

Tony C

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Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
All the Sherman talk is obscuring the real story, which is that Kaepernick had bad turnovers on their last three possessions. He played great to get them this far in the playoffs but that was one of the most epic crunchtime QB meltdowns I've seen.
 
This really is the real story. Given how the 49ers were destroyed their previous 2 times in Seattle and then had this Kaepernick meltdown, that is the real story.
 
Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
Yeah, but he was classy as he sucked
 
Well, except when he scored a TD and took the opportunity to mock Cam Newton.
 

kanga12

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Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
All the Sherman talk is obscuring the real story, which is that Kaepernick had bad turnovers on their last three possessions. He played great to get them this far in the playoffs but that was one of the most epic crunchtime QB meltdowns I've seen.
 
Yeah, even on some of his completions they could have been picked off.  It didn't help that the 49ers had no running game to speak of (outside of Kaep's scrambles) - Gore rushed 11 times for 14 yards (RBs were a combined 15 for 31 yards). Iupati's injury in the second quarter didn't help as well.  
 
On a random note, for all the Kaep haters, check this out.
 

kanga12

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Tony C said:
 
Well, except when he scored a TD and took the opportunity to mock Cam Newton.
 
Fwiw,  the Panthers mocked Kaep's bicep kissing in week 10 after several sacks.
 

Turrable

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Sherman is a world-class cocksocket and if you don't want him to make a game-winning pick-6 against Manning you're just wrong
 

Three10toLeft

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Didn't read through every post, but I thought what Sherman did was hilarious/added to the overall entertainment value of the game and the Super Bowl.

He's the best in the game at his position. He made an incredible play to send his team to the Super Bowl. It's obvious, and has been for a while, these two teams strongly dislike one another and he let his emotions overcome him that moment.

Made for great tv and no one was hurt.

All you stodgy fuckers sound like the old crows yelling for kids to stay off their damn lawn.
 

Gdiguy

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Devizier said:
Who gives a fuck about Sherman? These guys go out and destroy each other for 60 minutes, they earn the right to talk shit when they back it up. I think the league needs more Shermans. I only wish his name was William Tecumseh.
 
Stolen from another forum:
 
 
Pablo Torres who writes for ESPN the Magazine and contributes to NPR and what not has the best take:

Richard Sherman needs to understand that I signed up to watch a bunch of people get brutally injured, not yell at each other.
 

Tartan

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twibnotes said:
All fair, but I don't see wearing it openly as an attractive trait. It's not like a player is a phony for talking on the field and then showing respect off it. That's part of the code/etiquette that the vast majority of NFLers abide by. Sherman isn't just disrespecting his opponent, he's stomping on the norms that have existed in the game for a long, long time. Makes him seem like he thinks he's bigger than the game, and that's so unattractive in the ultimate team sport.
 
What defines "bigger than the game"? That's the sort of arbitrary nonsense that talking heads trot out on a slow news day and they need a 24-hour controversy to fill air time.
 
Someone actually coming off as "bigger than the game" would be someone, say, prioritizing personal accomplishment over the good of the team. On the field, where it mattered, Richard Sherman came up with a play that helped put his team in the Super Bowl. Where it matters, Sherman is a phenomenal team player.
 
Seriously, what's the negative fallout from Sherman's rant other than people getting all huffy and puffy because their sensibilities were offended? He didn't say anything offensive. I enjoyed his candor. I'll take that over the laundry list of Bull Durham cliches any day of the fucking week.
 

CaptainLaddie

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I had quoted a bunch of posts of you ignorant assholes who decided to judge Richard Sherman based on the part of a city he was born in and used it to blame his actions, but instead, I'll say this: if Richard Sherman was white and from small-town Oklahoma, and he said what he did tonight, all of you pricks would have been cheering him.  Congrats on exposing yourselves.
 
There's a lot of ugly in the last four pages of this thread.  I genuinely hope that you realize that an emotional football player, after winning an emotional game against their biggest rival, to go to the event which is the pinnacle of his life, isn't some asshole just because he's overly excited about getting there and in the process beating the guy who he spent all night trashtalking with.
 
At least Richard "Thug" Sherman didn't drop an "fuck" like some guys.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw8zHUjwvCo
 

bosox188

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CaptainLaddie said:
I had quoted a bunch of posts of you ignorant assholes who decided to judge Richard Sherman based on the part of a city he was born in and used it to blame his actions, but instead, I'll say this: if Richard Sherman was white and from small-town Oklahoma, and he said what he did tonight, all of you pricks would have been cheering him.  Congrats on exposing yourselves.
 
There's a lot of ugly in the last four pages of this thread.  I genuinely hope that you realize that an emotional football player, after winning an emotional game against their biggest rival, to go to the event which is the pinnacle of his life, isn't some asshole just because he's overly excited about getting there and in the process beating the guy who he spent all night trashtalking with.
 
At least Richard "Thug" Sherman didn't drop an "fuck" like some guys.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw8zHUjwvCo
 
I think another great example would be Bruschi's "You wanna change the rules? Change 'em!" speech.
 

MarcSullivaFan

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Snodgrass'Muff said:
Posnanski already has a solid blog post up about the Sherman interview.  He also points out that the Harbaugh quote was a line from The Old Man and the Sea.
 
http://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/postgame/
Thanks. This is a great post and puts Sherman's rant in perspective. My initial reaction was less about the trash talking aspect (I generally find it amusing) and more about Sherman's tone, which seemed shrill and inconsistent with a guy who just won a huge game. But, as Pos points out, expecting these guys to transition immediately from being gladiators to politicians is stupid. Obviously, anger is what Sherman uses to get up for competition. Upon further reflection, I get it.

As a side note, as my has I loved him as a player, Garnett is a total shithead. He was our shithead, but a shithead nonetheless.
 

smastroyin

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The first INT was terrible, all Kaep's fault, and he repeated the mistake mentally (but physically made a better pass and the roaming DB was a bit less in position) later.  
 
The fumble was bad but he was stripped from behind on a broken play.  I suppose he could have decided to tuck and run sooner, but I think you have to give some credit at least to the defense.
 
The final INT was not his fault really at all.  I guess you could say just don't throw it toward a ballhawk like Sherman in that situation.  But, Crabtree was open and it was a good (not perfect, but good) throw.  Sherman made a great play to get his physically as outstreched as it could be hand on the ball, and was lucky that it tipped up and into his teammate's arms.  I'm not sure you can really blame Kaep for that play.  
 

Ralphwiggum

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Couple of things on Sherman:  I was one of the people who posted immediately after the game that his post-game antics would cause me to root for Denver.  After some time has gone by, that's probably not the case because I really hate Peyton Fucking Manning, but nonetheless his behavior immediately after the play (getting in Crabtree's face, and then the interview) left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
I wasn't aware that Sherman was from Compton.  I knew he went to Stanford and based on interviews I have seen he seems like a pretty smart guy.  I still think he seems like a giant dick, though.  Yes, this is a league full of trash talkers and guys who celebrate a five yard reception, and it is also a league full of guys who are not the best citizens of the world off the field, and Sherman is guilty of nothing more than being a confident, outspoken player (and depending on your perspective, an arrogant dick).  But, his behavior stands out above the "typical" brash NFL player's behavior.  The choke gesture, whatever, I have no issue with that.  But getting in Crabtree's face and then calling him out immediately after the game is over just rubbed (and still rubs) me the wrong way.  I would prefer that guys show some respect for their opponents, especially in victory, and yes that goes for guys on my own team as well.
 
Would I love the guy if he played for the Pats?  Of course I would.  That is what sports fandom is all about, you root for laundry and you love the guys who perform on Sundays, and (particularly in the NFL) you just hope your guys aren't Aaron Hernandez off the field and leave it at that.  But if a Patriot player had given a post-game interview like that I would have cringed and preferred he kept it vanilla.
 
Lastly, on the race stuff, I watched the game with my in-laws who are black, and my mother-in-law who grew up poor in Brooklyn was pretty disgusted by Sherman to the point where she had to leave the room and go to bed.  Now, obviously there is a generational thing (and a class thing maybe?) going on there, but I wouldn't be so quick as some have been in this thread to make the accusations that have been made to those who were put off by Sherman's behavior after the INT and in the post-game interview.
 
The Pos article makes some good points, but Sherman's behavior still stands out.  Have some respect for the guys you just beat.  Plus he pretty much had you beat on that last play and it took a great/lucky/miraculous play to tip the ball away.  Great play by Sherman no doubt but Crabtree was open.
 

twibnotes

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CaptainLaddie wrote:
I had quoted a bunch of posts of you ignorant assholes who decided to judge Richard Sherman based on the part of a city he was born in and used it to blame his actions, but instead, I'll say this: if Richard Sherman was white and from small-town Oklahoma, and he said what he did tonight, all of you pricks would have been cheering him. Congrats on exposing yourselves.

There's a lot of ugly in the last four pages of this thread. I genuinely hope that you realize that an emotional football player, after winning an emotional game against their biggest rival, to go to the event which is the pinnacle of his life, isn't some asshole just because he's overly excited about getting there and in the process beating the guy who he spent all night trashtalking with.

At least Richard "Thug" Sherman didn't drop an "fuck" like some guys.
This is just dead wrong. The choking sign and endless chirping is obnoxious no matter who says it.

It's also obnoxious to imply that anyone who finds such behavior distasteful is somehow racist

Edit: I do think you can make the case that some of us critics of Sherman's behavior would see things a bit differently if he were a Patriot. I can't stand it when guys style at the plate, but I defend Papi doing it. The laundry does crazy things to us fans
 

redsahx

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Snodgrass'Muff said:
You must not watch a lot of sports.
Snodgrass'Muff said:
Guys, we can all stop now.  Justin Verlander has weighed in.
 

 
I guess taunting players is classless but throwing a baseball at 95+ mph near someone's head is cool.
You must not watch a lot of baseball.
 

Boston Brawler

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I indadvertedly may have started some of this shit storm when I asked if Sherman yelled "MOB" in that interview and if he was affiliated with the Bloods. I do some work with a Gang Task Force. MOB ( while also meaning Money Over Bitches) means Member of Bloods and is one of the more common Blood tattoos/phrases. I apologize for causing some of this.

Back on topic, I have more of a problem with Sherman slapping Crabtree on the ass after the play than I do with the post game interview. Of course Crabtree could have been shit talking all game too and deserved it.
 

wibi

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Boston Brawler said:
I indadvertedly may have started some of this shit storm when I asked if Sherman yelled "MOB" in that interview and if he was affiliated with the Bloods. I do some work with a Gang Task Force. MOB ( while also meaning Money Over Bitches) means Member of Bloods and is one of the more common Blood tattoos/phrases. I apologize for causing some of this.

Back on topic, I have more of a problem with Sherman slapping Crabtree on the ass after the play than I do with the post game interview. Of course Crabtree could have been  was shit talking all game too and deserved it.
 
Fixed that for you.  Crabtree is a known shit talker and has been for years
 

Average Reds

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OK, so I just heard the Sherman interview with Erin Andrews this morning while driving.  (Had to bail immediately after the game ended last night.)
 
Holy crap, I laughed so hard I almost hit a tree.  Andrews' response - "who is talking about you?" - may be one of the greatest interview moments I've ever heard. 
 
In general, I find Sherman a bit obnoxious for my tastes (in the same way I find Harbaugh obnoxious) but he's a hell of a player.  And that interview will stay with me forever.
 

redsahx

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CaptainLaddie said:
I'll quote this because it's the dumbest thing ever written.
 
YOU WIN, REDSAHX!!!!
For the record, I said nothing about race, or Compton. I didn't have a problem with the Erin Andrews interview, or in general with Sherman trying to get into players heads before or during a game (which is actually a smart tactical move on his part). Lots of players talk on the field, or after the game (Larry Bird was one of the biggest trash talkers ever). However, I find Sherman getting into a players face after the game or right after a game clinching play and excessively trying to rub it in obnoxious, and in a big game like that I was hard-pressed to think of similar behavior on a similar stage (though obviously I am guilty of hyperbole). If Crabtree had initiated the conversation, that would have been one thing, but Sherman's tendency is to go after guys and follow them. Celebrate with your teammates. Pose for the crowd. Fire a verbal shot in your post game comments if that's how you want to do it. Why try to get up after an opposing player at that point? I thought Crabtree showed real restraint, as I would have taken a swing at Sherman for that.

I guess an equivalent would have been Peyton Manning stalking Belichick to the tunnels screaming "where was your defense genius? Nice gameplan! I'm the best QB ever! Don't you ever think you can stop me!" I understand the viewpoint of people who want to defend him, especially if they think the criticism is hypocritical or over the top. I didn't lose sleep over it, and I was actually rooting for Seattle as I find Harbaugh just as obnoxious. It's just hard to tip your cap to Sherman if he is going to show zero grace.
 

DJnVa

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Jesus, this is all FUN.
 
I hope he picks off Manning to seal the Super Bowl and calls Manning weak and jokes about his neck.