Social media is on fire talking about Richard Sherman's interview with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, during which he reads, writes and erases the latter for attempting to minimize his achievements.
As a fellow former college athlete and Stanford graduate, the exchange between Sherman and Bayless resonated with me personally. Whenever I tell someone that I went to Stanford, I typically omit the fact that I was on the women's track team because the face of the person I'm talking to generally takes on an "it makes sense" look, as if the only way I could have possibly attended and graduated from such a prestigious and academically rigorous institution was if I'd been recruited to be some kind of college gladiator.
Even after I disclose that my admissions application included National Merit Semi-Finalist and National Achievement Finalist awards, three elected student offices (including the student body presidency during my senior year), a varsity letter in three sports and a transcript that included both high school AP and junior college classwork. Even after disclosing that I'd also been courted by West Point, MIT, Berkeley and CalTech, I still feel as if the person I'm talking to has put an invisible asterisk next to name to remind him or her that my athleticism somehow proves the implausibility of my proclaimed intellectualism and that my academic achievements are somehow fraudulent.
While black graduates from prestigious universities regularly face skepticism regarding their qualifications and achievements, those of us who were scholar-athletes at these institutions are treated like world recordholders with asterisks besides our names. To people like Bayless, our accomplishments and intellect are never afforded the same level of respect and regard as those of our white peers, and are often as discounted as a world record finish in the 100 meters, accomplished below sea level and with a strong tailwind.
Instead of acknowledging Sherman's athletic and intellectual exceptionalism, people are looking for reasons to discredit and diminish him. If he wasn't one of the best at what he does, he wouldn't still be in the league and his team wouldn't be going to the Super Bowl. And if he wasn't smart, he wouldn't have been able to get into and graduate from Stanford, or have been accepted into one of the school's graduate programs.
Richard Sherman is absolutely justified in being proud of his accomplishments, and in taking umbrage at anyone who dare dismiss them as anything but exceptional. In less than a quarter of century he has accomplished more than some people do throughout their careers. Not only has he managed to pass through the filters of being one of the best high school football players in the country, being one of the best college players in the country and being one of the best professional players in country, he has become part of the academic elite, having attended and graduated from one of the top academic institutions in the world.
In a few weeks, Richard Sherman and the Seahawks will take the field and attempt to bring home their team's first Vince Lombardi trophy. Win or lose, Sherman's detractors will be hard pressed to prove that he didn't deserve to be on that field or that his success warrants any type of asterisk or disclaimer.
The next time someone questions my qualifications or looks at me with incredulity when I tell them I went to Stanford, I'm going to take a page out of Richard Sherman's book and tell them that not only am I alumna, I am also a former student athlete which makes my accomplishments all the more exceptional and not less.
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