Things That Piss Me Off Tuesday ~ the thug life edition

I'm actually in a good mood.

Be cool, you guys. Be cool. It might not last, so I'm going to ride this wave as long as it lasts. It is still Tuesday though, so we need to address the things that fired me up this week.

Immediately after the Seahawks beat the 49ers Sunday, Erin Andrews shoved a microphone in Richard Sherman's face. The cornerback had just been involved in a scuffle with Michael Crabtree that resulted in an unsportsmanlike call in one of the final plays of the game. 

You know, the last game that they needed to win to get to the Superbowl. The game that, quite literally, came down to that play.

Crabtree and Sherman have a fairly long history of conflict and drama, both on and off the field, and this particular game was a very physical and brutal one, one that resulted in quite a few injuries.

In that moment, it's not hard to understand that he was emotional, that he was pissed, that there was a lot going through his mind. You've seen people scream at the television from the comfort of their home, and unless you've been on that field in that kind of moment, I don't think that most people can understand all the emotions of the game.

Anyway. He was brash and called Crabtree out, by name. My immediate reaction was whoa dude, slow your roll...you won. I wondered immediately whose idea it had been to shove a microphone in his face right then.

The internet exploded. Everyone had an opinion. Many people had the same gut reaction I did, which was that he was totally overreacting. When I understood more of the back story, it made sense though for sure. Sherman, in the heat of the moment, was venting. 

Like I do here all the damn time. No one calls me a thug.

I retract the statement I made about him myself, because it was unfairly based on that sideline interview alone. There's always more to the story. Always. We'd all do well to remember that, even and especially me.

What I saw happen in the hours after the interview, even through most of the day yesterday, though, was worse. Far worse than whatever he said. Some people decided that he was violent, that he was rude, that he was to be vilified, that he was a jerk, that he was an idiot, that he was a thug. There are worse things he was called, but I'm not writing them here because they make me sick.

How many people say the same thing about Philip Rivers when he bitches about other players? Not many, and certainly not the entire internet. Begs the question, then, of why did people react this way to him?

I certainly have my opinion why, and it's not a pretty one - people think it's acceptable to call a passionate, in your face black football player a thug, which says far more about the people calling him that than it ever will about him.

He's far from being a thug. Sherman graduated from Stanford. He's getting his master's degree. He started a charity to help keep kids in need dressed and outfitted with school supplies. He's articulate and is arguably the best corner in the game. He didn't have to explain why he was fired up, he didn't have to go public with a statement about the interview, but he did in a piece he wrote for MMQB on SI.com. You should read it if you haven't already. 

We can't demand that these guys are passionate and give 110% on the field, then the moment the clock runs down, expect them to act differently. People don't have on and off switches. 

And people sure as hell can't throw words like thug around the way they have been.

Keep doing your thing, Richard. You're the one going to the dance. Maybe just slow your roll a tad. Maybe.

The water contaminated by the chemical spill in West Virginia was declared safe last week.

Then why are hospital admissions almost doubled for chemical exposure? Why did the Governor, when challenged on the issue of safety yesterday, tell reporters this: