[Dcouncil] Belichick versus Sherman

[James Davenport]

Hello Fellow Council members,

I wanted to get opinions on what I've witnessed over the past week in regards to the Richard Sherman NFL situation. I realize a great many of you don't concern yourselves with the American Football culture in this country. I apologize if you see this email as an intrusion on your time and work day. For the rest of you, I'm sure you possess passing knowledge of the events that transpired after the NFC Championship game between the Broncos and the 49ers. You may also be privy to the press conference Bill Belichick held the day after the AFC Championship game. Gregg Doyel wrote a great article on the level of spite and despicable behavior Bill Belichick showed in his press conference against Wes Welker (http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/24414957/hate-shermans-rant-its-got-nothing-on-belichicks-welker-accusation). I think it illuminates an implicit bias among the media in our country that only one article brought to light how much worse Belichick's comments were when compared to Sherman's. The article Doyel wrote was the ONLY article discussing what Belichick did in a negative light. The vaste majority of pieces focused on Sherman's actions. Could it be that it was a situation whereby journalist saw this "big angry black man" in his post game interview with Erin Andrews? Twitter apparently blew up with racist references to Sherman, who just so happens to be a Stanford graduate and an All-Pro. People labeled him a "thug" in racist tweets based upon the both his post-game interviews. I wonder if Lovie Smith, or Herm Edwards, or Tony Dungy, or Dennis Erickson, or Raheem Morris had said the same things about an opposing player if it would've been viewed differently.