Jerick McKinnon joins 49ers on4-year deal
Running back could earn as much as $36.9million from the contract.
Shouldn’t there be more outrage?
I remember a time not too long ago when everything Richard Sherman did was kindling for the fire of rage that burned inside of seemingly every 49ers fan.
That time was a week ago.
But it seems as 49ers fans have forgotten sevenplus years of vitriol and villification.
Because, you see, Sherman is wearing the “right” jersey now.
It’s so simplistic and yet so strange — it seems that now that Sherman is a member of the 49ers, he’s no longer public enemy No. 1 of the red and gold.
That’s one hell of a 180- degree turn, but it’s illuminating, too. We’re getting to see the true nature of professional sports and its fandom reveal itself, live.
Hopefully, we can all take away a few lessons from this bizarre experience.
Just a reminder: Sherman signing with the 49ers isn’t akin to Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors two years ago — Warriors fans didn’t have a visceral animosity towards Durant before he signed here — it’s equivalent to Draymond Green signing with… well, any other NBA team.
In this instance, let’s just say it’s Thunder on the other end of the deal.
Oklahoma City fans hate Green. Their dislike is so strong it’s considered a core part of that fanbase’s identity now.
There’s no begrudging respect for Green in the Plains, no conversations that start with “I wish he were on my team.” No, there’s is a true, unfiltered loathing.
I didn’t get the sense that Niners fans had a begrudging respect for Sherman when he was a member of the Seahawks, either. That 49ers-Seahawks
rivalry, when at its peak, was the angriest in the NFL, and perhaps in pro sports. Before the Niners fell apart, every time the two teams played, it was must-see TV.
And that vitriol seems to be the main reason behind Sherman signing with the Niners.
As Peter King detailed in Sports Illustrated this week, the 49ers played directly into Sherman’s vengeful side in contract negotiations. You know, the vengeful side that made him such a great villain.
Sherman, serving as his own agent, took a deal that is laced with incentives that are unlikely to be reached and a term that’s two years too long. Why?
Because he wanted to play against the Seahawks twice a year. He was blinded by turncoat rage.
Apparently, that’s all 49ers fans needed to overlook years of negative narrative.
I have no problemwith this, by the way. I’m glad there aren’t protests outside of Levi’s Stadium and that fans aren’t threatening to boycott the team. That would be a ridiculous overreaction.
And personally, I’m excited for Sherman to be
a member of the 49ers — he’s smart, insightful, and unafraid to speak his truths. In other words, he makes my job a whole lot easier, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a superstar who will no doubt have people reading more 49ers stuff.
But I do hope that cornerback’s arrival in the Bay Area and the surprising lack of pushback to the signing is remembered the next time a fanbase wants to make an opposing team’s player their own version of Magneto or the Joker.
Sports is the entertainment business. Now, it’s an incredible, human drama and a useful lens through which we can both view society and celebrate humanity’s achievements. But it’s really just a soap opera with a ball, a scoreboard, and sometimes full-contact play.
Oh, and all the actors are just trying to keep their roles or get more lines before a younger, more attractive actor comes along.
But that’s big picture. As for the day-to- day? Well, Jerry Seinfeld was right, everyone is just rooting for laundry.
The athletes, bless them, have recognized that it’s all just laundry
for years.
We should get on their level.
Niners fans aren’t wrong for welcoming Sherman without incident — that’s just good manners. And I’m not chastising — I’m just as bad when it comes to the Missouri Tigers or Liverpool — but I do hope that we, as the forward-thinking, open-minded, logical people we champion ourselves to be in the Bay Area, can admit there’s something deeply irrational about hating a guy one minute and then loving him the next, only because he changed uniforms.
I don’t think the anger toward Sherman was fake, but I don’t believe the positive reaction to signing him was either.
Something has to give. We can’t go on living this way.
It seems the universe always seems to find a way to call out those little hypocrisies in the sports world — whether it’s LeBron returning to Cleveland, Bill Romanowski playing for the Raiders, or Richard Sherman signing with the 49ers.
Perhaps we should learn from the ridiculousness of it all before it happens again.