Lynch Speaks

The only NFL team representatives that routinely appear before the media throughout the season are the head coach and the quarterback. There might be a day of the week when the respective coordinators make a brief appearance. Adrian Peterson has been the face of the Minnesota Vikings since he was drafted in 2007. Except for the 2009 and 2010 seasons the Vikings quarterbacks since 2007 have been fairly anonymous. Even Tarvaris Jackson was called upon more than Peterson. Unless Peterson had one of his earth-shaking games, Jackson or Christian Ponder usually appeared before the media. Few in the media ever want to talk to a running back. Unless that running back doesn't want to talk to them.

I really don't blame Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch for not talking to the media. They sound like a herd of geese honking the same questions over and over. I'd lose my mind if I had to answer their ridiculous questions. They say that they have a job to do. They say that the fans want to know the answers of the questions that they ask. I'm not so sure. I've heard interviews where the interviewer is simply reading questions on a list without once considering the answers that the interviewee is giving. In this day of instant news the media only seems interested in a drama. They would rather create a story than report a story. What's the point of an interview when the media usually takes quotes and answers out of context to create what they want. There are terrific reporters and writers out there. They are just becoming more difficult to find. It's no wonder that Lynch doesn't want to take part in these pathetic games. He has his own reasons for not cooperating with the media and I really don't care what they are. Just leave him alone.

Rumor has it that there are reporters in Seattle whose sole purpose is to get Lynch in trouble. Nice. They are poking the tiger. They are demanding interviews with him. Complaining when they don't get them. With an environment like that is it such a surprise that Lynch does what he does.

They call it "Media Day" during the week before the Super Bowl. It's a fairly stupid name as there are three, even four, days that players are supposed to play this stupid media game. To a avoid a stunning fine of $500,000 Lynch has appeared before the geese on each of the past three days. He had one response, repeated 30 times, on Tuesday:

"Just Here So I Won't Get Fined"

On Wednesday, the one response was

"You know why I'm here"

Yesterday he questioned why the herd was even there when they knew that he wasn't going to give them anything. Excellent question.

Rich Eisen said that players should talk to the media so that we, as fans, can get to know them. He says that these players might have a story to tell. Well, I can't think of a worse idea than trying to extract a story from someone that doesn't want to tell it. Harassing someone into talking when they don't want to talk or feel uncomfortable talking is a stupid thing to do. Leave the man alone. Let him play football. Let that do his talking for him.