RENTON, Wash. — If Richard Sherman’s critics thought their heat would change him, the Seahawks’ outspoken cornerback had some news for them Wednesday.
“You can’t be anybody else,” Sherman said before Seattle returned to practice for Super Bowl XLVIII. “You can’t make things up now. It’s gotten me this far, and it would be hard to be somebody else. I can only be myself.”
Those comments were in keeping with the unapologetic theme of Sherman’s first media appearance since his televised rant after the Seahawks’ 23-17 NFC Championship win Sunday over the 49ers caused an enormous backlash — much of it racial — while sparking a national debate on sportsmanship.
Sherman said some of his comments to Fox Sports’ Erin Andrews were “immature” and “could have been worded better,” but the All-Pro cover man wasn’t taking anything back he said or did toward the Niners’ Michael Crabtree and Colin Kaepernick.
Asked about the choke sign he flashed at Kaepernick following the game-deciding interception in the end zone, Sherman invoked a certain star participant in the Pacers-Knicks feud of the 1990s as his defense.
“No, I don’t regret [the choke sign],” Sherman said during a 20-minute media session that was shown live on CNN and Fox News. “It’s Reggie Miller versus the Knicks. These are rivalries, right?”
Sherman added the intense backlash — even from fellow athletes in other sports such as Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander — “surprised” him and, at least in his opinion, is misguided.
“We’re talking about football here, and a lot of people took it a little further than football,” Sherman said. “Some people showed how far we’ve really come in this day and age.
“I mean, I was on a football field showing passion. Maybe things were immature or could have been worded better, but this was on a football field. I wasn’t committing any crimes or doing anything illegal. I was showing passion after a football game.”
Others, including baseball legend Hank Aaron, came to Sherman’s defense. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson joined them, saying his teammate is misunderstood by some in the public.
“He just got excited,” Wilson said. “He didn’t mean to blow it all up.”
Sherman also turned the table on his critics, saying he was troubled by the frequent use of the term “thug” to describe him on social media and even in the mainstream media.
Sherman, who grew up in Compton, Calif., and is pursuing a Master’s degree in communications at Stanford, said he feels thug has become just a convenient code word for some.
“The only reason it bothers me is because it seems like it’s the accepted way of calling somebody the N-word nowadays,” he said. “That’s where it takes me aback. What’s the definition of a thug, really? Is it a guy on a football field just talking to people?”
Sherman pointed at video he saw of last week’s celebrated hockey line brawl between the Flames and Canucks to back up his claim that use of the thug label is selective.
“I saw a hockey game where they didn’t even play hockey, they just pushed the puck out of the way and started fighting,” Sherman said. “I saw that and was like, ‘I’m the thug? Really?’”
Sherman had apologized for the postgame interview and for a column he penned Monday for Sports Illustrated’s The MMQB website for taking the attention away from his team.
That Sherman’s apology was at the urging of coach Pete Carroll seemed obvious the longer Sherman spoke on Wednesday, though. Not only did Sherman say he planned to embrace Super Bowl Media Day next Tuesday in Newark, he also insisted he will hold nothing back.
And don’t even think about using the villain label.
“No, I don’t think I’m a villain,” he said. “People are judging a book by its cover. They’re judging me on the football field during a game and right after a game, and not by who I am.
“If I’d been arrested 10 times or gotten suspended for fighting off the field, then I can accept being the villain,” Sherman added. “ But I’ve done nothing villainous.”