RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 1

Transcription

1 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 1 Donovan Campbell Rhetorical Critique of Richard Sherman s Athletic Performance Dr. Christy Mesaros-Winckles Senior Tutorial

2 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 2 Well I m the best corner in the game, and when you try me with a sorry receiver like (Michael) Crabtree that s the result you gon get. Don t you ever talk about me said Richard Sherman after he was asked by reporter Erin Andrews about his game clinching pass break-up which propelled the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Andrews then asked Richard Who was talking about you? Crabtree responded Richard emphatically, and he continued, Don t you open your mouth about the best, or I m gon shut it for you real quick (Hanzus, 2014). From Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali, to Allen Iverson and now Richard Sherman, black athletes have been ostracized and stereotyped for many reasons. I argue that this is in large part due to how the media focuses on experience and language used by black athletes, which is the competitive vernacular but often portrayed by the media outlets as a black athlete being a thug. The Portrayal of Black Athletes Jackie Robinson was viewed negatively just because of his race. He, of course, broke the color barrier in professional baseball. Allen Iverson was judged badly in the media because of his past, and was stereotyped as deviant as opposed to being judged as a professional basketball player. The deviant stereotype sees African-American male athletes as uncontrolled, excessive and addictive (Davis and Harris, 1998). Muhammad Ali was definitely perceived negatively because he ran his mouth too much instead of letting his boxing do the talking. Ali though, was one who could talk the talk and walk the walk. Until this day he is still considered one of the greatest boxers ever. Even today Richard Sherman is being ostracized because he is proclaimed to be the best cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). Davis and Harris (1998) note, For much of the history of the United States, people openly articulated stereotypes that African

3 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 3 descendants are ignorant, lazy, happy-go-lucky, savage and animal-like (157). Sherman, like Ali, is a trash talker. This is where the two would be placed into the category ignorant, savage and animal-like because of their brashness and hard-nosed mentality. This is the exact opposite of how white athletes are portrayed in the media. There is a conscious attempt to cast white players in a positive light (Davis and Harris, 1998). Richard Sherman definitely has the play and the numbers to back up his trash talk and proclamation, and being on the winning Super Bowl team also adds credibility to his rhetoric. Understanding Richard Sherman Richard Kevin Sherman was born on March 30, 1988 in Compton, California. Sherman went to Dominguez High School where he played football and was a track and field athlete. He played wide receiver and cornerback. He was named one of the nation s top triple jumpers in high school by Track and Field news. Richard Sherman graduated high school with a 4.2 grade point average. Richard got offers from top programs in the country even local powerhouse USC. Ultimately I chose Stanford University to make a statement importance of education. This decision made me the first athlete in over 20 years qualified to attend Stanford on both academic and athletic merits (richardsherman25.com, 2014). Richard Sherman was a Freshman All-American in 2006 as a wide receiver. He led Stanford in receiving with 34 receptions for 581 yards and 3 touchdowns. Sherman s junior season is when he switched to cornerback and his last two seasons at Stanford and he flourished on the defensive side of the ball as well. His senior season he racked up 50 tackles and defended 13 passes which includes four interceptions. The Stanford Cardinals football team went on to win the Orange Bowl that season against Virginia Tech (gostanford.com).

4 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 4 Richard Sherman was drafted in the fifth round that April to the Seahawks. I can still name all of the cornerbacks drafted ahead of me. Being picked in the fifth round provided the fuel that has driven me to become the best player I am today (richardsherman25.com, 2014). Recently finishing his third NFL season, Richard Sherman has 20 career interceptions, which is the most among active players in that span. He is a Pro-Bowler, and an NFL All-Pro selection (nfl.com, 2014). So him proclaiming to be the best is not really self-appointed and arrogant as some may think because the proof is in the pudding as they would say. In sport s it is always said that two things never lie, game film and numbers (20 interceptions in three seasons). Judging by Richard Sherman s numbers I would say him being the best cornerback in the league is accurate. Literature Review According to a statistic conducted in 2011, 97, 86, 86 and 90 percent, respectively of sports editors, columnists, reporters and copy editors in the media world are white (sportsinblackandwhite.com). This illustrates that the media world is still predominantly white. Yet many of the major sports are played by black athletes. For instance take a look at the NBA and NFL now. Both of these professional sports are predominantly black. The Racial and Gender Report Car done for both sports for the season says that this is true. Of the 459 players in the league that year, 350 of them were African-American which makes up over half of the NBA at 76.3 percent. Of the 2, 721 players in the NFL, 1,804 of them were African- American which again makes up half of the league at 66.3 percent (tidereport.org). The idea can be brought to mind that maybe the reason that the media normally portrays black athletes in a negative or thug-like way is because media coverage of sports tries to pretend that racial differences do not exist. Yet, because the reporters, editors and sports

5 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 5 commentators consciously and unconsciously refuse to examine the difference in their coverage of white and black athletes there is an underlying racist portrayal of competitive, vocal athletes such as Richard Sherman. A study by USA Today in 2013 found marked differences in how authorities handled black NFL players vs. white players during traffic stops. The overwhelming majority of the black players were arrested for charges related to their driver's license. No white players were arrested for the same thing. Black players were pulled over for playing their music too loud. No white players were stopped for this. And white players were almost never arrested on charges after a search of their vehicle. A number of black players were (Hutchinson, 2014). Richard Sherman was permanently labeled a thug after his postgame interview of the NFC Championship. The media was so sold on the thug-like perception of Sherman that the Monday after the game he was referred to as a thug a ridiculous amount. the word "thug" was used 625 times during discussions about Sherman's antics on local TV and radio stations, according to iq Media, a company that monitors word usage in media by tracking closed captioning (Campbell, 2014). Sherman responded to this fact with the following statement, The only reason it bothers me is because it seems like it's the accepted way of calling somebody the N-word nowadays (Campbell, 2014). Dexter Rogers, who is a freelance journalist and sports columnist thought this to be a very valid point in the dispositions of black athletes in the media. Back in 2011 Rogers was interviewed by CNN s Rick Sanchez, and he talked about how Ben Roethlisberger wasn t getting the media attention and scrutiny for an alleged rape of a 20 year old woman because of how the media is set up racially. He felt that Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant and even Tiger Woods all received a ton more attention media wise than Roethlisberger. I think Ben Roethlisberger is getting a pass basically because of media structure, and because of race, said Rogers. He

6 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 6 continued, so you have a situation where you have the NFL who the vast majority of the players are composed of African American players, and the same thing in the NBA. So you have a lot of white writers writing about people who largely they don t understand. SO they are left to write stories based on assumptions and opinions, and theories and stereotypes (Sanchez, 2010). To explain Rogers phrase of media structure furthermore, he simply is referring to the makeup of the media which is, according to Rogers about 90 percent (89.7 percent). It would be safe to say that the person that wrote an article about Richard Sherman after his rant didn t fully understand his passion, or his approach or attitude toward himself and the way he performs. Here is a guy who grew up in Compton, California, graduated at the top of his senior class, and received a Master s Degree from Stanford University while maintaining a 3.9 GPA, and played football. Where is the thug in that? A comparison was made of Richard Sherman and pop star Justin Bieber. Just a reminder to you Richard Sherman is a black athlete and Justin Bieber is a white pop start celebrity. Here was the list for Richard Sherman: All-Pro Cornerback graduated Stanford with a 3.9 GPA, no criminal record, called himself the best at what he does professionally and is referred to as a thug. Justin Bieber: International pop star, caught peeing in a mop bucket screaming F*ck Bill Clinton! arrested for DUI and resisting arrest, stood on a balcony to spit on fans, and he gets referred to as a misguided teen. Where is the parity? With this, one is forced to think that the people who write these media stories on black athletes don t understand them and how they operate. Again, Richard Sherman comes from a blue-collar type of background. His dad was and still is a garbage man for the city of Los Angeles which he has done close to 30 years now (Edwards, 2014). So Sherman is no stranger to hard work. He mentioned in an interview, Every day since I ve been capable of understanding my father woke up at four o clock in the morning and went to work. He even works on holidays

7 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 7 because he gets overtime I sent him and my mom and a trip to Cancun for their anniversary, and they had to come back early because he had to go to work. That kind of hard work, that kind of work ethic, that kind of blue-collar mentality has gotten me where I am (Edwards, 2014). There is a chip on Richard Sherman s shoulder that he loves to work hard because of his desire to become the best. With 20 career interceptions in three seasons, those are quite the numbers. The conclusion of this topic is simply this, the perception of black athletes automatically turn into racial biases because of the racial difference in the athletes and the media. Who is to say that a black would not understand how a black athlete comes off, it is possible. Numbers don t show or support that. About 90 percent of media related positions are white. Now you mix that with the two sports with the most black athletes. You ll get the assumptions and stereotypes all day long. It comes down to understanding the subject and what they are really about rather than categorizing or generalizing a race. The Real Richard Sherman Richard Sherman is arguably the best cornerback in the NFL. Since 2011, Sherman has the most interceptions among active players with 20, with back to back eight interception seasons in 2012 and One would think that he s a fan favorite, and maybe he is if you are a Seattle Seahawks fan. Richard Sherman is infamously known around the NFL for his brashness and trash talk. From his NFC Championship postgame interview, to his confrontation with Redskins lineman, Trent Williams, Sherman is a highly scrutinized player in the NFL. That isn t all Sherman is though. Underneath all the trash talk and hard-nosed football play, something that the media and others fail to see is that he is an actual person.

8 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 8 It s nothing else that he loves more than Gushers says Sherman s cousin James J-Mo Raby. They (Gushers) are my pregame snack, postgame snack and in-game snack if I could get em, says Richard himself (Follow Channel, 2013). This shows some humility, and that Sherman is a regular guy with common likes of others which in this case is candy. People always see that side of him. The trash talk or whatever, they ll either love him or hate him. He s a different person off the field. He s a loving person, he s a caring person, he s a very easy going young man, says Beverly Sherman, Richard s mom. Kevin Sherman, Richard s dad added, Everybody who knows Richard, likes Richard. He just doesn t walk around town talking trash (Edwards, 2014). Conclusion The unparalleled media coverage of black and white athletes is a rising issue in our society. In an article for the Huffington Post, Dexter Rogers shed some light on the discrepancy in our sports media. He talked about the coverage of coverage Tiger Woods got for committing adultery on his wife in comparison to the lack of coverage Ben Roethlisberger got although he was accused of rape multiple times. Ben Roethlisberger continues to get the royal treatment from the media, NFL and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's yet to face suspension and his case in Georgia won't be prosecuted while the mainstream continues to cut him a break When Tiger Woods wrecked his Cadillac Escalade on Nov. 27, 2010, details about his infidelity began to leak out. Once things hit the fan the media feasted on Woods. Mainstream media was consistently on the prowl (Rogers, 2010). As one can see the parity of the two isn t on the same playing field. It is safe to say that Woods was a target of the media after he was exposed of adultery. Not that this is acceptable by any means, but he wasn t treated fairly in his media

9 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 9 coverage. Rogers expresses that some of the coverage Woods received was an example of pure hypocrisy: Tiger wasn't accused of sexual assault like Roethlisberger. He didn't invest in a dogfighting ring like Michael Vick, or shoot himself in the thigh like Plaxico Burress. Woods didn't break the law. He cheated in his wife. Yes, morally his behavior is deemed unacceptable but legally it's all good. Tiger was consistently covered by media giants like David Letterman, Howard Stern, Good Morning America, CNN and ESPN to name a few. Didn't Letterman cheat on his wife? Didn't Letterman have a variety of sexual relationships with co-workers? Then he had the audacity to crack jokes about Woods infidelity. Why hasn't Letterman cracked consistent jokes about Roethlisberger with the same frequency as he did with Tiger? This is the consummate example of hypocrisy. (Rogers, 2010) Now let us take this a step further into a more recent occurrence with 17 year old Trayvon Martin. He was walking home with some Skittles and an Arizona tea, and was spotted by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman. Martin was said to be suspicious and Zimmerman took action. Zimmerman ultimately ended shooting and killing Martin due the altercation the two had after Zimmerman followed Martin due to him trying to protect his neighborhood. As the media was trying to get a hold on the story and receive the ins and outs of it all, pictures surfaced on what Trayvon Martin looked like so the world could see. So initially the

10 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 10 pictures were of him with a nice smile, even him in pictures with parents and such. One of the more popular pictures was a football picture of Martin where he is fully dressed in his pads and uniform holding a football while taking a knee. As the story developed though, more pictures surfaced of Martin dressed as a thug, smoking, throwing his middle fingers us to the camera, and this was the depiction of who he was all of a sudden. So now aside from sports the same issue of the depiction of black males in the media. Trayvon Martin had no criminal record, and was an athlete at one point in his life. All because he was wearing a hoodie and he looked suspicious he was treated like a criminal in the media at one point. He was depicted as a doglike, savage-like individual much like Richard Sherman is depicted in football. It s more to someone than meets the eye. Sherman plays the game with aggression which is one thing you have to have playing the game of football. There is not any savageness in that. If that was the case every player in the NFL should be depicted as such. When Sherman was asked by ESPN s Kenny Mayne Who is Richard Sherman? he simply replied, To some people he s pretty simple. It s pretty simple to get a beat on him. To other people he s complicated because they don t try to get a beat on him they just try and judge him on the outside (Mayne, 2014).

11 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 11 References Rogers, D.. "Roethlisberger and Woods: Does the Media Cover White Athletes More Favorably?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Apr Web. 09 Dec "Does Roethlisberger Get a Pass from the Media?" (2011, April). Interview. CNN.com. Retrieved April 17, < nn%20>.rogers, Dexter. "Michael Vick and the Media Depiction of Black Athletes."Sports in Black and White. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr "Football - News - GoStanford.com." (2014, April 17). Football - News - GoStanford.com. "Official Richard Sherman Website." (n.d.). Official Richard Sherman Website. Retrieved April 17, "Richard Sherman." (n.d.) NFL.com. Retrieved April 17, Tate, J.. "Biggest Trash Talkers in Boxing History." Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 17, "Richard Sherman - Thug Life." (2014, Jan. 22). Interview. YouTube. YouTube, Retrieved April 17, < "Richard Sherman Explains: The Rant Heard Around the World." (2014, January 21). Interview. YouTube. Retrieved May 30, < "Richard Sherman - Post Game Interview." (2014, January 19). Interview. YouTube. YouTube, Retrieved April 17, <

12 RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL CRITIQUE OF RICHARD SHERMAN 12 Mayne, K. (2014, October 2). "E:60 Richard Sherman (Full Segment HD)." YouTube. YouTube, Retrieved December 9, 2014.