I'm truly baffled by the outrage and how you've judged Sherman, Carroll and an entire fanbase as being horrible human beings over this relatively minor thing.[/quote[Have you been reading this thread? It isn't a "relatively minor thing" -- it is a pattern of behavior that goes back to Carroll's USC days. Ask them what they think of him? He's a liar, a cheat, and morally corrupt. He has infected his entire team and an entire city. Sunday proves that.
He scolded them yesterday, as he should have. Those fans were stupid.
And they can thank Carroll, Sherman and the organization for that stupidity. Monkey see, monkey do. They are so starved for a winner, they'll take it at any cost, including losing their moral compass as a fan base. It's great to be enthusiastic about your team. Throwing food at a severely injured player is not "enthusiasm" but thuggery. But they're just copying their team, so what's the big deal, right?
Here's a newsflash. You ready for this? Every fanbase has stupid fans. I could say the same, exact thing about Kansas City Chiefs fans that you say about Seattle fans.
No you couldn't.
- Our fans have never thrown food at an injured player.
- Our organization has never refused to offer tickets for sale to opposing teams.
- Our organization has never hired a coach from the college ranks whose availability is due only to his knowledge that he's about to get hammered by the NCAA.
We have a huge rivalry with both Denver and Oakland. But fans from both those teams know when they come here, and we know when we know when we go there, it might get rowdy, but not thuggish. We enjoy the game, so do they. Seattle fans think they're part of the team. They're not. They're fans, and should keep in mind that the whole country sees them differently because of Sunday.
But, I don't have an axe to grind and I don't tar every Chiefs fan, Bears fan, or Packers fan over the actions of a few stupid people.
I have no axe to grind either. But what I see in Seattle is a repeat of what happened in Los Angeles with USC when Carroll coached there, and as I counselor in behavioral psychology, I can confidently say that this could have been expected, but no one wanted to know about it. The Seattle management was only interested in winning. This is the price they're going to pay for winning this way. We'll see if they are still as enthusiastic about it in another two or three years. It gets worse. With Carroll, just as with Switzer in Norman and Dallas, it always does.