By John Boyle
When President Barack Obama welcomed the Super Champion Seahawks to the White House in May, he noted that Russell Wilson “became only the second African-American quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl. And the best part about it is nobody commented on it, which tells you the progress that we’ve made, although we’ve got more progress to make.’’
And while Wilson has been asked about race on a couple of occasions during his time in Seattle, it is noteworthy how much of a non-issue his ethnicity has been when, as the President and many others have noted, he joined Washington’s Doug Williams as the only African-American quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl.
Wilson wrote about that topic for TheMMQB.com, and in a very thoughtful piece covers everything from his upbringing in Richmond Virginia to the fact that Seattle had five African American quarterbacks on its roster during the offseason (Keith Price has since been released).
Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is part of the top 10 being unveiled by the NFL Network tonight in its Top 100 players of 2014 list. Sherman will also appear tonight on the Discovery Channel’s “American Muscle” and according to this USA Today article, he apparently had some interesting comments about 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree, saying “It’s not going to be something that goes away. I hope to play him every year for the rest of my career and choke him out. There’s not much else I can say about the subject. Nobody will understand it but him and me. That’s all that needs to understand.”
On a less controversial note, Sherman told NFL.com why he thinks the Seahawks can be even better this season than last year.
ESPN’s Terry Blount came up with three nominees for the most memorable play in Seahawks history, and today he looks at Marshawn Lynch’s “Beastquake” run. The other two nominees are Steve Largent’s big hit on Denver’s Mike Harden following an interception and Richard Sherman’s tipped pass that led to Malcolm Smith’s game-clinching interception in the NFC championship game. For my money, while Sherman’s tip was the most important play, Lynch’s run is the “most memorable” in that it was just so spectacular and hard to believe. We’ve actually seen Sherman make very similar plays in practice and games, so as big as that play was in the moment, it lacks the wow-factor of what Lynch did to the Saints.
USA Today calls Seattle’s re-signing of Sidney Rice one of the overlooked moves of the offseason.
ESPN insider KC Joyner wrote an article saying the Patriots would have a better secondary than the Seahawks this year. Here’s ESPN’s Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith discussing that topic. You’ll notice Bayless seemed to have learned his lesson from when he took shots at Sherman last offseason.
And since it would be silly to focus only on the Seahawks when two local teams are currently in-season and playing well right now, let’s add a couple more non-football links.
Grantland.com takes a look at Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager finally getting some deserved attention after long playing in the shadow of more heralded prospects.
Sounders star/US national team captain Clint Dempsey will be on with Letterman tonight if you’re up late or want to set your DVR.
Tonight! Men’s U.S. Soccer Team Captain @clint_dempsey, @poppymontgomery (#Unforgettable) &music from @_SLEEPERAGENT pic.twitter.com/6aU7vbCekA
— Letterman (@Letterman) July 9, 2014
