U MAD BRO?

While I was at work two weeks ago Friday, I kept waiting to hear any news regarding Richard Sherman's appeal to overturn the 4-game suspension assessed to him by the NFL. Having heard not a thing all day, I went to Google that night to get the details. But instead of finding out about the appeal (it had been postponed), all I found out was that Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks' 2nd year CB, was just mad. Mad at Tom Brady. Mad at anybody who dares to disrespect the Seahawks' defense. Mad at the NFL for trying to suspend him. Even mad at 49ers Coach Harbaugh (his coach while he played in college at Stanford) for accusing the Seahawks' DBs of using illegal tactics. But the thing Sherman is mad about the most? It's that he wasn't selected until the 5th round of the 2011 NFL draft. 

Sherman (who I'll admit is probably in the top 5 of my favorite pro athletes of all time) is a player who definitely lets his mouth do his talking for him as much as his play when he's on the field. But playing out in Seattle, he had managed to mostly stay out of the national spotlight during his rookie season and the first few weeks of this season. But that all changed when the Seahawks played the New England Patriots on Oct. 14 (Week 6).
It seems that Sherman and Brady had a few words during the game. And after the game, which the Seahawks won and in which Sherman had an INT to end Brady's long streak of passes without an INT, the AP got a shot of Sherman making sure he got the last word in (photo below). Sherman, as you might already know, posted the picture on his Twitter account, accompanied by the caption "U MAD BRO?". If there was anybody who hadn't heard of Sherman before then, there wasn't anymore.

The "U MAD BRO?" was meant as a taunt of Brady. But the question really applies more to Sherman. You bet he's mad, and he's using that anger to help him become a better player. The article I came across (link below) is from Yahoo! Sports, and it's a lengthy one. Unless you are a speed reader, it'll take 10-15 minutes. But it's an excellent article, well worth the time - even if you're not as big a fan of Sherman as I am.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--seahawks--richard-sherman-wants-to--destroy--the-nfl-and-become-the-best-cb-all-time-170800233.html

I became 'hooked' on Richard the first time I ever saw him, when he was competing in the triple jump at the California HS track and field championship. I didn't know it then, but at that time he also was busy proving it was not an oxymoron to be smart and be a student at Compton Dominguez HS. When he started his career at Stanford in 2007 as a WR, I was hoping by now we'd be talking about him making TD catches in the NFL, not preventing them. I was kind of disappointed when he made the switch to CB. But he certainly knew what he was doing. And now he's well on his way to becoming one of the best DBs in the league. And whether or not he attains his goal of being the best ever, it's going to be a lot of fun watching him try.