SHERMAN THANKS

Marshawn Lynch showed up for the Super Bowl’s Media Day on Tuesday. He didn’t stay long and he didn’t say much.

Notoriously guarded, Lynch simply told the assembled questioners at Podium 6: “I’m here so I won’t get fined.” He used several variations of that, nodded as questions were asked, and repeated it again. He has been fined before for failing to make himself available, if not useful.

Now, if the NFL made Media Day optional, many players wouldn’t show up. Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas said he certainly wouldn’t be there. And the standard player contract mandates cooperation with the media (however that is defined).

Leave it to the voluble Richard Sherman to raise the ante. If players must be available, why not the NFL’s honchos? Especially, the Seahawks cornerback said, Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Every one of the NFL’s personnel should be obligated to speak weekly,” Sherman said.

Great idea. Good luck ever seeing it implemented, but great idea.

As the Washington Redskins staggered through their season, where was general manager Bruce Allen? Not available to the media. Owner Daniel Snyder almost never comments on anything in public. As the Seahawks rolled to their second consecutive Super Bowl, where was general manager John Schneider? He did not do any interviews until late in the playoffs.

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is always in the locker room after games, has his own radio show and will talk at any time. John Mara of the New York Giants couldn’t be more helpful to reporters. Good luck trying to get anything out of the Carolina Panthers’ front office. Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti rarely steps up to a microphone, though he was forced to say a few words by the Ray Rice crisis. Stan Kroenke, the owner of the St. Louis Rams, might try to move his team to Los Angeles, but he won’t talk about it.

Don’t fans have the right to know what’s in these folks’ minds, if they have the same right to the players’ thoughts (or at least their words?)

The NFL is an entertainment property (and the NFL knows it). Time to open up for interviews. There’s no reason Goodell can’t have a midseason press conference, like the one he will hold on Friday of this week at the Super Bowl, though he does speak to the media at league meetings. There’s no reasons general managers can’t do a periodic presser. Owners as well.

Good call by Richard Sherman. Keep it up.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .