You probably stumbled upon this video at some point yesterday, maybe you were even lucky enough to see it live. Richard Sherman, Seattle cornerback, absolutely dumping all of his rage, excitement and rivalry on ESPN’s Erin Andrews, declaring himself the ‘BEST CORNER IN THE GAME!’ and ridiculing San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree in the process, in one of the great post match interviews of all time! Here’s the video in its entire internet inflaming glory:

(By the way, L.O.B. which he yells at the end, stands for Legion of Boom, a nickname for the hard-hitting Seattle defence)

So what leads a grown man, a human being, to act this way in public? Well the interview came after Sherman broke up what would have been the winning touchdown pass to Crabtree, whom he’d been marking all day, leading to an interception and putting his team into the Superbowl. It was undoubtedly a brilliant play, and Sherman kinda had a point over the decision making of SF49ers QB Colin Kaepernick to throw that pass. Still, that if anything only encouraged him to act like an enormous douchebag. It turns out that the Crabtree/Sherman beef goes back a lot further than just this tight tussle though.

Richard Sherman is a known nutcase. He’s always been outspoken and arrogant. Just not in the way that a lot of other NFL players are. Sherman is very intelligent, he must be aware of what he’s doing when he seemingly lets his passion cloud his judgement. I mean, the guy graduated from Stanford.

Initially a WR in college, he made the switch to CB after injuries messed up his original path, yet excelled enough to be picked in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft (156th overall). In three years in the league, Sherman has made 20 interceptions, including a league high 8 in 2013. He makes the argument that he’s the best corner in the game and, love him or hate him, he makes a pretty solid case for the title. Crabtree meanwhile, aged 26, is a year older than the Shermanator, and was drafted 10th overall in 2009. He’s been a highly touted receiver for a while now, and came off his best ever season in 2012 with 85 receptions for 1105 yards and 9 touchdowns, though injuries kept those number much lower in 2013. Now, Seattle and San Francisco just so happen to be bitter rivals, so this was always gonna be a feisty relationship, but off field feuds have driven this to new levels of vitriol.

In the last offseason, both Sherman and Crabtree attended a charity function held by Arizona star wideout and all round good guy Larry Fitzgerald. That much is known for sure. Then the story goes, according to Sherman’s brother Branton, that Sherman upon being introduced to Crabtree offered to shake his hand, only for Crabtree to refuse and start jawing about this or that, eventually threatening to fight Sherman. This is from the mouth of Sherman’s brother, so not exactly impartial, yet it more or less proves the ongoing feud. The teams played three times this year, Seattle winning all of them, though Crabtree only played in two, catching 4 passes for 40 yards in round 13, and 4 for 52 in this last playoff game. Not dominating numbers, but not exactly shut out either. In his career, he’s never had a 100 yard receiving game vs Seattle, and has never caught more than 5 passes vs them in the Sherman era (and that’s not to say that Sherman was necessarily marking him either). These two seem to hate each other, though the origin of the beef is yet to be revealed. Maybe it’s just a case of clashing egos? A heated, competitive rivalry?

Whatever it is, Crabtree made things worse when he had this to say in the leadup to this game:

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

Those words may well have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. They were said in response to a question from a CSN reporter over whether Richard Sherman was the best CB in the game. Well, we know how Sherman feels, he made that clear. In fact, he seems pretty sensitive over the possibility of anyone not rating him that highly. Here’s a pretty funny video he did before Superbowl XLVII where he hit Bourbon Street to asked people who they thought was better, Sherman or then-Jets CB Darrelle Revis:

That CSN interview and those few words were what Sherman was loudly referring to in his rant over ‘people talking about me’. Flash back then to the interception itself, where Sherman makes a great play to get up and parry that ball away and put his team into the Superbowl:

Colin Kaepernick has said that he has no regrets over the throw, that he’d back Crabtree one-on-one with anyone, but Sherman clearly thought it was a mistake (Kap had already made one especially bad throw for an interception a few minutes earlier in the game). So in an act of classless celebration, Sherman runs over to Crabtree, who keep in mind has just had his Superbowl dream shattered, pats him on the ass and offers his mock condolences.

Naturally, Crabtree slaps him in the face, and Sherman despite obviously antagonising him, starts complaining. A meaningless flag is thrown and the game is over. Sherman runs around making choking gestures to 49ers. Cue postgame interviews.

Being a highly paid footballer, Crabtree went to the NFL player’s weapon of choice for angry retaliation, twitter, where he once more questioned Sherman’s abilities. Sherman was having none of it.

Film don't lie... @nflnetwork @espn pull up the tape of that game and show me where this guy is the best? #fake #fake #fake
— Michael Crabtree (@KingCrab15) January 20, 2014

A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of a sheep.
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 20, 2014

There was a lot of talk before the game.... Now I'm the bad guy lol.... Well if u judge my character on the field ....So many glass houses
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 20, 2014

Sherman did however make a few statements today in a well written column for Sports Illustrated where he makes some dubious statements about the previous day’s proceedings, but is surprisingly judicious over any backlash. He doesn’t like Crabtree, though he doesn’t get into the Arizona story beyond allusions, he doesn’t at all rate Crabtree, and he was pretty pumped on adrenaline (Off topic - He was pumped on Adderall last season too, but he dodged that bullet through a clerical error – ala Ryan Braun). Basically, he defends his character, but allows people to think what they want of him (so long as they respect his considerable talent). Then he finishes with a humble shoutout to the Denver Broncos. Whoever’s working his PR is doing a damn fine job.

Sadly we have to wait until next season till Crabtree and Sherman meet again. Sherman may be a bit of a dick, but think what you want of the guy, he’s nothing if not entertaining. And I for one cannot wait for media week with this guy!

PS – here’s Sherman celebrating an interception by dancing with cheerleaders earlier this season (vs the Niners):

PPS – he also destroyed Skip Bayless on ESPN once:

PPPS – oh, and he lost his shoe here but still made a pick-6! HAHA!