I want to say this first...I don't feel that any athletes should have to answer any questions from the media. Having said that, there is some straight bullshit in this thread. This man went to Cal Berkeley...forget that this man went Cal he went to college and he cannot communicate at a basic level? How does the 'plight of the black man' excuse someone from having basic communication skills? 'white/black gap' ? how does this affect the ability of an adult to answer basic questions or offer some insight on himself - thoughts. It's like a built in excuse...you wouldn't understand.
I agree.....maybe it's a front. I went to school with a very good black friend of mine which we played ball together from early on. He wasn't the smartest guy, but a very good person. His neighborhood growing up was in the poverty section of town. Even though he had to "represent" his neck of the woods, there was something real about him. When we moved off to play ball he begin to change his society landscape. I decided to hang up the cleats once I lost love for the game, but he played through his career in college. Now he is a very successful banker back in our hometown. We JV'd in a housing development for the less fortunate a few years back. He is now a role model for the kids in the area and I think it's all him to help change the culture. Very surreal moment when we handed the the keys over to three families of homes we built for his community and the families. He still is very active in those parts of town giving the younger kids a glimmer of hope. It's a great story. Hopefully beast mode is doing the same.
While there are some valid points social perceptions that other posters have stated earlier, I just think he prefers not to be in front of the camera/media and would rather have his entire team shine. Even though he is good friends with his FB Michael Robinson and knows that his YouTube videos (The Real Rob Report) are not actual media interviews, he actively tries to avoid the camera (albeit in a playful manner) whenever he puts on the camera on him. In fact, it has become somewhat of a funny gag in that there's a segment called "Messin' with Marshawn".
Lol you think the media wants to or would allow the perception to change? If he is well spoken and clean cut his interview is played one time and forgotten within a day. If he uses slang and is stumbling all over his words saying "nah mean" or "and um know what im sayin" every sentence it gets 1 mil hits on youtube and is played every hour on Sportscenter.
i think it's a constant struggle for identity and a balance.
the very things they currently embrace are also looked down upon as behavior of those who are unintelligent and poor.
with the history of slavery in america, they don't hold the roots that other immigrants do. they don't have a foundation of practices or ideologies to identify with from africa. everything they know is unfortunately connected to the perception that what they do is of lower class.
i don't blame them to struggle with balancing what they self-identify with and what is culturally acceptable or to them is acting "white"
the media has had a major influence on the perception of blacks today. they have made the perception of black culture so transparent that even black people who are educated and articulate are considered uncle tom's by their own poeple. that is a fucking disgrace imo and is truly unfortunate.
Does the media create the perception? I guess they could depending on the questioning, but the Sherman deal was just a basic question and he made a mockery out of it. What would happen if Wes Welker acts like that in a postgame interview? People think he's an idiot and that's how Sherman came off. That's a different story than why Lynch doesn't deal with the media. I understand the reasons why he/others don't want to deal with it. It's probably in the NFL's best interest not to force someone to talk if they are uncomfortable with it.
