Sports Daily: Richard Sherman, Social Media, and Race
 

We're a mere two days past the annual commemoration of civil rights martyr Martin Luther King Jr., and like many "holidays" much of the world has moved past the thoughts we conjured up on Monday. Race isn't an issue we discuss in sports very often because the larger barriers were torn down over fifty years ago.

MLK's famous 'I Have a Dream' speech rocked the United States back in 1963, but in many ways sports was also walking the path of social justice during and before that famous oration.

Jackie Robinson broke the 'color barrier' in 1947 when he stepped onto an MLB field on a spring day in April. And on this day in 1962 (almost two years before King's speech) Robinson was voted into baseball's Hall of Fame -- the first black player to receive the honor. But how much has changed since then? When an educated graduate of Stanford University bares his emotions after an NFC Championship clinching play and many respond with thoughts of "Thug!," it can make us question if we've hit a wall culturally and in sports when it comes to racism.

Sound Off: What impact do you believe sports have had on racism or civil issues in your lifetime?

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It is definitely an issue when a player shows that type of emotion and people call him a thug...yet he didn't curse, threaten, or physically attack anyone but then I realize it's the internet where everyone you don't like is either average, overrated, thug, racist , or some other would that people use too much.

I posed the question on Yahoo "How many Thugs do you know with a Masters degree from Stanford University ?" Of course I never received an intelligent answer that wasn't full of hate for this man simply based on his appearance and a bunch of down votes. So that should tell you how this internet social media age is a joke really.

Re: Sports Daily: Richard Sherman, Social Media, and Race
 

I honestly wonder how different the reaction would have been had Pam Oliver been the one conducting that interview.

The reaction to Sherman's rant had nothing to do with Racism. If he had been a white guy or a Hispanic or Asian, he would have been called "thug" as well. That's how people react when people go off on a tirade, screaming like a fool, arrogantly proclaiming himself the best cornerback in the NFL and calling out another player. No one knew the situation, no one knew what had gone on between he and Crabtree. All we knew is that here's this angry man screaming and hollering like a crazy nut. The reaction to his rant was natural.

And the "thug" comment was because of his lack of sportsmanship, especially the gesture toward Kaepernick.

Actually that's not true....Richie Incognito threatened a fellow teammate and intimidated him but he was considered a bully. Richard Sherman does the choke sign (basically telling Kaepernick he choked) and he was still amped up from making the biggest play of the Seahawks season and is talking about a guy that he was trash talking with all season yet he's a thug...? Unsportsmanlike...yea. Immature...yea. Loud Mouth trash talking fool...yea. Thug LMAO!!! If people really knew what Thugs were that would be that last word they use to describe Sherman.

LOL!!! Alex Rodriguez made threats to people involved in his PED Case no one called him a thug...? So I don't get the "If he was white or hispanic he would get the same reaction," seeing that in the past that hasn't been the case.

Thug has become a replacement for the N word in my opinion. How often do we call hockey players that fight 2 seconds after the face off thugs? Check the comment section of any Yahoo news story involving a black person, the racism displayed shows that the country hasn't changed as much as some would like to think.

If that was a white dude this wouldn't even have been a big story. A white dude would have been called a cocky A-hole while a black dude gets called a thug and even worst names on Twitter.