Richard Sherman is in his first year as an analyst for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video and even though he is no longer a player, he does think the media can try to do a couple of things better in order to have a better relationship with the players.
Sherman was a guest on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Tuesday as one of the owners of the Fan Controlled Football League. Le Batard asked him what the media gets wrong about trying to have a cordial relationship with an athlete that can allow the athlete to be themselves.
“They are under the impression that they know the guys. I think that’s the biggest difference. You don’t know the guys. Unless you try and make a conscious effort to get to know them, you won’t know them. Asking them personal questions or expecting depth or brevity from them is a long shot. There are media members that go over and beyond to get to know guys and try to get to have that relationship. There aren’t a lot of them.”
Two of the topics that Sherman thinks the media understands the least about life as a NFL player is the discipline that it takes and to overcome injuries.
“I think the discipline is the part most people don’t really understand. They don’t understand the discipline that it takes to be at this level and consistently push through. It takes a lot to stay at it and stay disciplined, work out year-round, keep your body in shape, train yourself. It’s about the days you don’t feel like doing anything and you got to do it anyway….You have to say no and you have to say that a thousand times in your career. That’s the part that’s the hardest for people to understand because they don’t see that.
“Overcoming injuries is a part that people don’t understand. People are like oh, ACL, man he’s out 6 months. We’re not going to have him till next year then he is out of sight, out of mind for most fans. In reality, that guy goes through a ton mentally just trying to figure out if he’s ever going to be the same….You see the cool stories when guys come back and they are able to play like they played before and you don’t hear about the guys coming back.”
Le Batard and Sherman also re-visited Sherman’s interview with Erin Andrews after the NFC Championship win over the 49ers in 2014 that made him well-known from a national level.
“That was definitely the moment that changed for me. It was definitely the moment that I think I was prepared for at that point because of what I had went through the year before and the year before that, just kind of understanding the ups and downs of words and fans, the media, the criticism, the praise. That’s why I wanted to stay around the game. Even once I was done, I wanted to be a broadcaster, I wanted to be a commentator. I wanted to help with the FCF (Fan Controlled Football).”
