RICHARD SHERMAN

The Richard Sherman post-game rant after he defended a pass to save the game for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship garnered a ton of media attention. What could have amounted to just another athlete foaming at the mouth in a big moment, turned into so much more. The twists and turns were interesting and, often, pretty pathetic.

First and foremost, Sherman WAS deserving of criticism for the rant and it's a sad statement to our society that so many people required an explanation as to why. It was simply bad sportsmanship and that's why such behavior shouldn't be tolerated. But the conversation didn't end there. Let's take a look at some of the defenses, distractions, and caveats many attempted here:

MICHAEL CRABTREE IS WORSE

This may be true, but I can't think of a more irrelevant point. When someone tells you that Ted Bundy was a sadistic killer, I'm guessing you wouldn't respond: "Jeffrey Dahmer is worse."

EVERYTHING HE SAID WAS TRUE

First off, this is very debatable. Sherman may be the best cornerback in the NFL and there is a good argument to be made for that. But he's not Dion Sanders. Not everyone agrees with that. Sherman has a reputation of being the smoothest player in the NFL when it comes to getting away with pass interference and the tapes bare that out. Does this make him the best at his position? Some would say it's part of the game and more power to him and it does; but some would point to Dion and say that's an elite corner...he never had to do that kind of stuff.

The other sidebar on this is that the person that says Sherman is the best the loudest is Sherman himself. You're usually elite when others say this for you.

Most importantly, a good sportsman and classy person doesn't lord their talent over others. He has a gift and is supremely talented. There are two ways to conduct yourself when blessed with such superior skills. You can do so humbly, nobly and with respect...or you can act like Richard Sherman.

YOU CAN'T EXPECT NFL PLAYERS TO ACT LIKE BRITISH SNOBS AND INVITE EVERYONE TO TEA TIME AFTER A BIG PLAY

This is one of the many cop-outs we see about this: purposely inflating the criticism to make the criticizers look ridiculous. Nobody was ever suggesting that. If you can only defend the behavior by fabricating the nature of the criticism, you've admitted defeat.

POINTING OUT ALL THE GREAT THINGS ABOUT RICHARD SHERMAN

I've seen a ton of posts that tell us that Richard graduated from Stanford, gives generously to charities, and has interesting hobbies. I understand the attempt to humanize him a bit, but it still strays from the basic point. I've never said he lacks redeeming qualities off the field. He clearly doesn't. But he also is a terrible role model and the epitome of poor sportsmanship. We live in a gray world. People are gray. Richard's good qualities don't negate his preposterous antics and bad moments. Each can stand alone.

"WHAT YOUR OPINION OF RICHARD SHERMAN SAYS ABOUT YOU"

There were a lot of these posts where the reader was essentially told they were a racist if they felt Richard's rant was anything but appropriate. I remember posting about one of them and saying that I felt my negative opinion of the rant means I value good sportsmanship and that was about it. I'm quite sure I'd have felt the same way if Heath Miller had made the same rant (although it would have made less sense). The poster never responded to this, but continued to post things letting us know they could be called racist or worse if they continued to feel Richard was naughty.

"HATERS"

This is the most common word used by people defending something they can't defend. It's the most transparent cop-out there is. It's equivalent to "Whatever" with hand gesture. It basically says Richard is above criticism and anyone who judges him could only be doing so out of jealousy. There couldn't possibly be a basis to any of it because Richard is immune from bad behavior. It's laughable.

AGE IS A FACTOR

I was surprised to see a poll done where age was not really a big factor in how people viewed his rant. I'd have thought otherwise.

I have a feeling that had he done this for my team when I was 18 I probably would have thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen. It'd have been like WWE in real life. AWESOME! But as someone much older and with children, I see it quite differently. I'd hate for my kids to see that and ever think that was an appropriate way to act in their sports league or in life in general.

ATHLETES ARE NOT ROLE MODELS

The Charles Barkley point...unfortunately, he's wrong. He's right in that they SHOULDN'T be and many never asked to be. But it's part of the gig.

Sports is a multi-billion dollar industry and kids look up to athletes whether they like it or not. The teams and leagues know this and that's why so much effort is put forth to reign in all the douchebaggery. They probably do a much better job than we realize.

ATTACKING THE IDIOTS

When something like this happens, it provides an opportunity for every imbecile with access to a computer to chime in with their racism, hatred, and ignorance. Anyone who called Sherman a racial slur or anything close to it deserves to be exposed and attacked.

But let's not forget this is somewhat of a distraction from the simple bad sportsmanship point I think most rational people were offended by in the first place. The social media response was a reminder that racism is alive and well (sorry, Sarah Palin) in this country, but it still doesn't diminish the buffoonery that is Richard Sherman.

STANFORD GRAD

To all the Sherman apologists that keep pointing out that he graduated from Stanford...don't you think this cuts both ways? While it could show that he is a lot more than the ass clown we saw with Erin Andrews after the game, it also gives him way less leeway.

I actually think Sherman is a very bright guy. You probably don't graduate from Stanford without a little wits about you. But being smart doesn't equate to having good character. He'd be better off being uneducated and dim-witted in assessing his post-game rant. Instead, we all know he should be better than that, but he wasn't...and hasn't been.

IN CLOSING

Are people being hard on Richard? Not really. If this was his first stumble into stupidity, I'd say they were, but this is just another foray into classlessness in what is becoming quite a track record. It wasn't his first and won't be his last.

At the end of the day though, it's not about Richard Sherman. It's about us. How you react and relate to these things says a lot about you. If you encourage this and would tell your kids this kind of thing was okay, then you are one of the millions of parents producing the idiots you probably complain populate this country. Your posts for "Richard Sherman for President" are meant in jest...but, sadly, I can't always be too sure.