NFL needs more rants like Richard Sherman's [View all]

[Scuba]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/nfl-needs-more-rants-like-richard-shermans-b99190370z1-241752861.html

Right up there with a job I once had sweeping a textile mill, covering the NFL is one of the most tedious gigs going. Almost as regulated as the airline industry when it comes to managing media access, the league, unlike MLB and the NBA, doesn't allow reporters to talk to players before games. Weekday "open" locker-room sessions virtually amount to the long-snapper and a few rookie special teamers milling about.

The NFL regulated fun right out of pro football a long time ago, about the point when franchise irrelevancy crushed all those delightful free spirits who played for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. Who needs Ambien these days when a Tom Brady interview is available?

That's why this whole Richard Sherman debate seems so misguided. Forget the sociopolitical smoke screens pundits have floated since the Seattle cornerback's delightful rant last Sunday. I don't care if Sherman went to Stanford or was Otis Sistrunk's teammate at the University of Mars. Bless his heart for remembering in a brilliant moment of clarity that the NFL, beyond anything else, is an entertainment business, not that far evolved from professional wrestling.

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In fact, this whole Super Bowl buildup has become far too much of a morality play for something as ethically sketchy as a football game. Sherman vs. All-Around Good Guy and Pizza Salesman Peyton Manning. Heart Patient Survivor John Fox vs. Shady Pete Carroll. The New Jersey Meadowlands vs. The Civilized World.