A full transcript of the Richard Sherman responses

Last week I asked readers to share their thoughts and feelings about former Seattle Seahawks icon Richard Sherman playing in the Super Bowl for the rival San Francisco 49ers, and boy did you come through big time. Between emails, comments directly on the story, Twitter and Facebook we received more than 100 responses. The email responses in particular were well thought out.

Anyway, I said I’d share people’s responses, so here they are:

EMAIL RESPONSES

My favorite player when a Seahawk. Still a favorite and wish him well. Patrick Mahomes is also a favorite of mine so I’m torn about who to root for at the Super Bowl.

– Dorothy Harper, no hometown given

Outstanding, stand out.

– Steve Miller, no hometown given

I say more power to you Sherm! He is a great cornerback that I wish was still here! The 49ers took a chance on him when the Seahawks wouldn’t!!!

– Michael T. Carlton, no hometown given

We’re from the Seattle area and are avid Seahawk fans. We now live in central Oregon.

I liked Richard Sherman back in the Legion of Boom days. But then he started exhibiting signs of an exaggerated sense of self importance, culminating when he thought he knew more than the coaches and went into a sideline temper tantrum verbally attacking their coaching decisions. He continued to be a distraction and a know-it-all conceited blowhard. The Seahawks needed to get rid of him. Pete Carroll does not like disruptive influences in the locker room!

I’m glad he’s doing well this season for the 49ers. However, I’m rooting for Kansas City to win the Super Bowl so we don’t have to listen to Richard gloat.

– Helen Willis, Prineville, Oregon

My opinion of Richard Sherman is: He is great. I cannot understand why the Seahawks let him go. I didn’t like it in 2017 and I still don’t like it in 2019/2020.

I wish the 49ers all the success and hope they win the Super Bowl. We’ll be rooting for them.

We screwed up. That decision was the worst decision the Seahawks made next to the wrong decision in the 4th quarter of the 2014 Super Bowl.

– Bob and Judy Brown, no hometown given

My favorite team on any game-day is whichever team is playing the 49ers.

Was delighted when Sherman signed with them. He was a massive disruption and distraction while here. Yes he was/is talented but that never overshadowed his negatives in my mind.

Go Chiefs!!!

– Pat Haugen, Marysville

I think we forget that this is a business. Players go where they can get the most money. He was a great player with a lot of opinions. I’m sure his attitude has not changed. I’m sorry he is no longer a Seahawk, he was fun to watch.

Sheila Lester, Bothell

I don’t really care who wins this Super Bowl but I hope Sherman has a good game. He made the Seahawks a better team and he is making the Niners better as well. Russell Wilson traded jerseys with him after the game last November so if Russ can “forgive” him, can’t we all?

– Doug Gemmell, Everett

Richard Sherman is a credit to intelligence and sportsmanship and effort and the human race. Emotional, caring, with an expansive consciousness, world view, and the ability to see the Big Picture. Go, Sherm!!

– Robert Van den Akker, Monroe

As a Certified Athletic Trainer who has rehabilitated a number of high profile athletes over the past forty years, I am thrilled to see Richard Sherman headed back to the Super Bowl. To watch Richard come back from what often times is a career ending injury and work hard to return to his former elite level of performance is nothing short of miraculous! It is what all of us in the sports medicine world work hard to help our players achieve. I wish him well. As for who I will root for? My prayer is the same before every game. “May no athlete suffer a significant injury, may everyone play to the best of their ability and the best team win.”

– Connie Klagge, Everett

Having grown up in this area and observing many sports stars I find it very sad when one that so many kids love becomes so angry. Richard Sherman is very smart and articulate and an exceptional football player. Most evident is his need for attention and to try and prove his worth, he could be such a role model if he could get that chip off his shoulder. To be so educated and to come off sounding like the world is about him and him only. It is his stage right now but that is also coming to a close.

– Phil Gassman, Everett

Thank you for the write-up on Sherm. On a personal level I have no problem with him signing with San Francisco. The Seahawks decided it was time to part ways and he chose to sign with a different organization that was willing to offer him a job. He’s also a West Coast guy who went to college at Stanford, so by that metric, his signing with the Niners is somewhat of a homecoming for him.

Speaking as an avid Seahawks fan, it does sting immensely to watch one of our former franchise cornerstones compete for the Lombardi Trophy for someone else, and a division rival at that. The LOB Seahawks were a dynasty that never quite was, and for the sake of myself and anyone else reading this, there is absolutely no need to rehash the turning point that precipitated the end of the era.

While I am happy for Richard on a personal level in that he recovered from an Achilles injury and has continued to be able to do what he loves at the highest level, as a Seahawks fan, in absolutely no way, shape or form can I root for him or the 49ers on the football field next Sunday in the Super Bowl. If SF (and Sherman) captures the trophy, it would only serve as another painful reminder of how an era of Seahawks football that was truly special ended way too painfully, and way too soon.

Go Seahawks! Go Chiefs (at least this coming weekend)!

– Jeff Brown, Everett

I wore the #25 jersey. To this day, I can’t say he isn’t one of the best and doesn’t deserve a place in the HOF. I’ll always appreciate the crucial part he played in the SB 48 and 49 seasons.

Early on, his mouth and his irascible ways were endearing, a sign of his passion. But he got cockier and cockier, and turned a lot of his passion against his own teammates, starting sideline fights and such. I thought his days with the Seahawks were numbered before he ever ruptured his Achilles, and I was glad when he was cut. I thought he and his antics were bringing the team down; he had become the antithesis of the Pete Carroll philosophy of positivity and healthy competition.

For me, the final straw was the disparaging remarks he made against Pete Carroll and the organization after he left. Words meant to bite, and they did. It wasn’t the same as Earl Thomas flipping the sideline the bird as he was carted away with a freshly-broken leg. This was a petty, spiteful diatribe that bit the hand – and the town – that fed him.

I’ll keep the jersey. I won’t wear it; I’ll pass it down. I’ll never forget where I was or how I felt when he tipped that pass in the NFC championship game for the win. He’s a big part of Seahawks history.

But, whether Sherman is on the 49ers or not, but more so because he is, I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs on February 2.

– Kathie Savelesky, no hometown given

I’ll be cheering for Richard and the 49ers.

The Seahawks made a good business decision when they decided to not re-sign Richard after his serious injury. He made a good decision to sign with the 49ers and continue to receive a paycheck.

How many fans would do the same thing, if they were laid off? Could they afford to go without a paycheck? If they were laid off from Boeing and Airbus was hiring for the same or better pay and paying moving expenses? How many second thoughts, past the non-disclosure agreement documentation would any of our ‘loyal’ fans have?

Sherman still does things for our community.

Now if he had done something similar to A-Rod’s mercenary move, then I might have a little animosity, but not much.

However, I was brought up to be loyal to the company which is paying me, unless another company is willing to pay a lot more or better benefits or … then I would give my current company a respectful notice and leave. The current company would probably let me go the same day that gave notice on & without any benefits — so not much ‘loyalty’ exists in business.

I don’t wish ill on any former employee of any business.

May the Red & Gold win and nobody, on either team, be seriously injured during the game!

– Steve O’Brien, Seattle area

COMMENT RESPONSES

I’m excited to watch him do his thing! I admire the man for his honesty and his love of the game of football, so I’ll enjoy watching him, but no way can this 12 root for the 49ers! lol Go Seahawks!

– Cathy Young, no hometown given

Sherman is a guy worth respecting no matter who he’s playing for. Just because Sherman now wears red and gold doesn’t mean I’ll be retiring my blue RS25 jersey.

– Highlander Yank, no name or hometown given

My boys favorite player. … We miss ya bud.

– Smooth to Operate, no name or hometown given

TWITTER RESPONSES

Good for Richard Sherman! People need to remember, he was dead to the Seahawks after he tore his Achilles

— Daniel Thompson (@CoachDTfor3) January 22, 2020

Good for him!

— Wishing i was 18 again… (@scollan_ruth) January 22, 2020

Emotional IQ is in question at times but nonetheless is one heck of a great player. GREAT competitor, super talent. Deserving. Winner.

— Greg Rielly – 5⭐️���� (@MyLoanGuyGreg) January 23, 2020

Love Sherm and will always be a fan. He has history with Seattle and still lives here and donates to many charities. Good for him! ✌️��@RSherman_25

— John Blutarsky (@PopsAllen) January 23, 2020

I will always be a Richard Sherman fan, but there is no way in hell I'm ever going to root for the 49ers to win anything.

— Coach Tyler �� ���� (@CoachTyler_13) January 29, 2020

FACEBOOK RESPONSES

I’m not going to type out all 91 twitter comments, and most of them were brief anyway. If you want to check them out you can visit our Facebook page (we had two different posts, one that generated 49 responses and one that generated 42). What I can do is provide a breakdown based on my interpretation of the comments:

Pro-Sherman: 62

Anti-Sherman: 6

Conflicted: 7 (Most of these were happy for Sherman, but rooting against the 49ers)

Indifferent: 4 (How can one say that “nobody cares” when there’s 40 other comments on the chain that show people clearly do?)

Unknown: 12 (These were largely comments I couldn’t be sure I was interpreting correctly, plus two that were deleted)