OFF THE WALL

Sherman still holds Harbaugh grudge

We just couldn’t let this stuff go …

Richard Sherman didn’t dare apologize Thursday for his feistiness back on the Seattle Seahawks when facing the 49ers. In fact, he more than double downed on his bitterness toward then-coach Jim

writes Cam Inman of The Mercury News.

Now in his second season since defecting to the 49ers, Sherman was asked to reflect on that 49ersseahawks rivalry (which resumes with this Sunday’s showdown in Seattle), and the topic promptly turned to the Sherman-harbaugh rivalry.

“I meant every single word of that, and I meant it to Harbaugh,” the cornerback said. “We’ve had our history. I don’t regret it. I second that, maybe more.”

Now in his ninth season, Sherman does not feel he’s too old to carry a grudge against his former Stanford coach.

“If he was (the 49ers’) coach and I was in the same position, it’d maybe be worse, now,” Sherman added. “There’s bad blood there. There’s history.

“That’s not me saying, ‘Oh man, the team’s bad.’ That was very personal. That was less on the 49ers and Seahawks. I didn’t care if he was coaching the dang Winnipeg Jets — he was going to get it.”

Sherman famously and loudly crowed after the 2013 Seahawks downed the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, ending the 49ers’ three-year playoff run.

Sherman didn’t specify what “bad blood” he has with Harbaugh, but some examples are out in the open, whether they trace from their Stanford days or the Seahawks-49ers rivalry when Harbaugh was the 49ers’ coach from 2011-14.

For instance, after that Nfc-title win, Sherman and teammate Thomas claimed to Yahoo Sports’ Mike Silver that Harbaugh honked his car’s horn at the Seahawks’ bus after a 49ers’ home win in the regular season.

Harbaugh later disputed that allegation.

Harbaugh took a jab at the Seahawks’ organization earlier in 2013 when it came to performanceenhancing drug suspensions, to which he questioned the legitimacy of players’ positive tests for their Adderall prescriptions. In December 2012, Sherman won an appeal of a four-game PED suspension, based on the botched handling of his urine sample.

Trivia question

Sherman began his collegiate career at Stanford at what position?

Bell on notice

Le’veon Bell vowed in November not to give the NFL any more of his blood.

Now we are about to find out what happens if he sticks to that vow, writes Andy Clayton of the New York Daily News.

The Jets running back posted on Twitter Friday the notice he got from the league saying he had been “randomly selected by the NFL drug testing program’s Medical Advisor to complete a doping test today.”

The NFL’S letter told him to report “immediately” to the team’s drug testing area.

Bell’s Twitter post made it clear he was having no part of the HGH test.

“I bet I don’t,” Bell responded to the league.

“It feels like they’re trying to clone me or something,” Bell then told reporters.

Bell would be subject to league suspension by refusing to take more tests.

He said Friday he would cross that bridge when he has to.

Stay tuned.

Traveling in style

The close relationship between Navy football and the New England Patriots reached new heights Thursday when the Midshipmen traveled to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl in the Patriots’ team jet, writes

of The Washington Post. Navy touched down a few days ahead of its New Year’s Eve matchup with Kansas State. The Midshipmen usually charter flights for games, but for this, Navy’s 15th bowl appearance in the last 17 years, the Naval Academy Athletic Association wanted something special. “We were all pampered for a little bit,” Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo

said.

The NAAA contacted Team 125, which operates the Patriots’ plane, leaning on a preexisting relationship with Patriots coach Bill Belichick to work out a deal (though Navy did still pay to use the plane). Belichick’s father was a longtime Navy assistant and scout; the famed coach spent his childhood breaking down film of the Midshipmen and watching Navy practices.

Trivia answer

Sherman began as a wide receiver, leading the Cardinal in receiving in 2006 while being named a Freshman All-american.