Think about it... do you really care?

[Lucky]

I don't want to get into the Sherman/Stanford deal. It's a great school, and he had to do great work to get in and to get out. But while SAT scores have reliability issues, GPAs have inflation/deflation issues similar to Patriots footballs.

[bryanbutler]

It's pretty close to the best school in the entire country. What you're saying is just not true. While they make concessions for athletes, the bar to even get accepted at Stanford is far beyond pretty much any major college program. Just recently Stanford had the highest incoming cumulative GPA for its football players of any D1 school in the country. It had the highest average SAT scores of any ranked DI program in the history of college football back a couple years ago (it was something close to 1200, iirc). They also consistently have the highest "APR - Academic Progress Rate" of any DI school in the country.

are we saying sherman is smart compared to other football players, or smart in general? i think the former is true; not the latter. none of the facts you present above is pertinent to the discussion of sherman in particular. stanford does have top 10 in the nation median SAT scores, but that doesn't mean sherman is smart.

Sherman finished 2nd in his high school class with a 4.1 GPA.

agree with lucky here - GPAs mean very little since there is no normalization from school-to-school.

He was the first Dominguez High kid to get a scholarship from Stanford in over 20 years.

athletic, not academic. so not relevant.

SAT scores? I'm sure you're familiar with their failings. Sherman is clearly very smart, even if you think he's a punk or whatever.

come on, he took it twice. SAT scores do have their failings, and have been demonstrated to have cultural and other biases, but that's not going to change a 1000 score into a 1250 one (which is what dubya got).

i maintain that he is of average intelligence. again, as stated above, smart for a football player (and has a lot of savvy, methinks, since many of his shenanigans seem almost calculated), but average for the entire population.

is it great that he succeeded with his background? sure. i applaud that. but he can shut his mouth and play hard and act like an adult instead of an adolescent, and he'll make a much better impression on me (and many others).

[Gregg]

Hmm... I don't care and haven't really followed it except in here. I think you all made some good points and some entertaining reading on a topic I don't give a crap about. So thanks for that.

The only thing I will add to this discussion is that when my team is not in the playoffs I don't pay attention to much of the outside pregame noise. When my team is in the playoffs I pretty much read and listen to as much as I can get. I suppose it is my way of savoring the moment.

[Hornsby]

is it great that he succeeded with his background? sure. i applaud that. but he can shut his mouth and play hard and act like an adult instead of an adolescent, and he'll make a much better impression on me (and many others).

This is always something that I just can't wrap my head around...why should he shut his mouth and just play hard? Why isn't it enough that he's obviously a leader on his team, one of the best players in the game, and hopefully, someone who'll go on to make a difference in the world, if he already hasn't? Why must all athletes fit into a neat little box that looks like something out of the "Aw Shucks" teen sports books of 50 years ago?

My opinion is that his actions speak louder than his words...he's done things against all odds, come from a background that none of us can imagine, and is at the pinnacle of his profession. If he wants to shout it out, let him, he's earned the right to do so.

[Pogues]

This conversation about Richard Sherman and his intelligence is quite interesting. Two thoughts come to mind:

1) Intelligence comes in many different forms. Some people are intelligent in particular areas, others are intelligent in other areas. See Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

2) For a bunch of men who I consider pretty intelligent, at least from what I've seen here, you all are being quite judgmental of a man you've probably never had a conversation with, much less interact with on a daily basis.

[Papa Deuce]

It's pretty close to the best school in the entire country. What you're saying is just not true. While they make concessions for athletes, the bar to even get accepted at Stanford is far beyond pretty much any major college program. Just recently Stanford had the highest incoming cumulative GPA for its football players of any D1 school in the country. It had the highest average SAT scores of any ranked DI program in the history of college football back a couple years ago (it was something close to 1200, iirc). They also consistently have the highest "APR - Academic Progress Rate" of any DI school in the country.


Sherman finished 2nd in his high school class with a 4.1 GPA. He was the first Dominguez High kid to get a scholarship from Stanford in over 20 years. SAT scores? I'm sure you're familiar with their failings. Sherman is clearly very smart, even if you think he's a punk or whatever.

I don't know if it ( Stanford ) is the best school in the country, BUT, I do know they only accept 6% of all applicants, which is the lowest of any college or university in the USA. Harvard accepts 7%. I know this from helping my daughter look for a college. The one she wants to go to accepts somewhere around 25%, which makes it one of the top 100 hardest schools in the country to get into.

[bryanbutler]

This is always something that I just can't wrap my head around...why should he shut his mouth and just play hard? Why isn't it enough that he's obviously a leader on his team, one of the best players in the game, and hopefully, someone who'll go on to make a difference in the world, if he already hasn't? Why must all athletes fit into a neat little box that looks like something out of the "Aw Shucks" teen sports books of 50 years ago?

My opinion is that his actions speak louder than his words...he's done things against all odds, come from a background that none of us can imagine, and is at the pinnacle of his profession. If he wants to shout it out, let him, he's earned the right to do so.

i'm a firm believer in good sportsmanship. that kind of behavior is not good sportsmanship. i wouldn't tolerate it in my kids, and i don't like to see it in so-called professionals. he doesn't have to fit into a particular niche - there are many behaviors that display good sportsmanship. he can choose any of them.

[bryanbutler]

This conversation about Richard Sherman and his intelligence is quite interesting. Two thoughts come to mind:

1) Intelligence comes in many different forms. Some people are intelligent in particular areas, others are intelligent in other areas. See Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

agreed. perhaps we're just disagreeing about what folks mean when they say he's "intelligent" or "smart." but using things like his GPA and his graduation from stanford puts the discussion in a particular context.

2) For a bunch of men who I consider pretty intelligent, at least from what I've seen here, you all are being quite judgmental of a man you've probably never had a conversation with, much less interact with on a daily basis.

oh, so we can't form opinions about anybody unless we spend a day chatting with them? i guess we'd better stop discussing politicians, actors, etc., as well.

he's in the public eye. his writings and what he says in interviews are a matter of public record. i may have a different opinion of him if i could spend a day with him, but since that's never going to happen, i'm going to use the information that is available to form an opinion.

[Lucky]

You know, I got us way off track, and onto this intelligence issue by being critical of his doing something I thought was a little arrogant, which was ranking the five smartest QBs. And I stupidly followed up with the smart-aleck comment "I don't know if he can rank his five smartest toes," which was obviously hyperbole.

I then went on to talk about how he had picked Brady as his target of opportunity, so as to ensure that the idiot electronic media would cover every thought he cared to express.

I also opined that Sherman was a punk, and that Marshawn should be left the hell alone if he didn't want to talk to the press.

So basically, out the six or so points I tried to make, the only one that had legs was the smart-aleck throwaway line about counting toes.

Maybe this is why Marshawn doesn't want to talk to the press.

[Lucky]

And I read somewhere that Roger Goodell makes $44 million a year. $44 million! Forget the deflated footballs. There is your scandal.

[madducks]

Maybe Sherman wants to be the media's lightning rod so that his teammates (such as Lynch) will be able to focus more on preparing for the game. Sherman as a teenager was able to successfully navigate his way through all of the distractions in Compton. So in comparison these media distractions are probably nothing to him.

[chancellor]

And I read somewhere that Roger Goodell makes $44 million a year. $44 million! Forget the deflated footballs. There is your scandal.

Amen to that.

[Lucky]

Maybe Sherman wants to be the media's lightning rod so that his teammates (such as Lynch) will be able to focus more on preparing for the game. Sherman as a teenager was able to successfully navigate his way through all of the distractions in Compton. So in comparison these media distractions are probably nothing to him.

Taking one for a teammate would be a manly maneuver.