What Richard Sherman Taught Us About First Impressions

Who's ready for the Super Bowl! I'm ready for a little football especially since "my team" the Broncos will be playing. I was in Denver (for the Stock Show) the big AFC and NFC weekend. Since one of my coworkers is a big 49ers fan we made a stop in the Cowboy Barn to watch the game before supper that night. Unfortunately, the 49ers lost and at the end of the game we saw the now famous Richard Sherman post game interview.

I didn't care for the interview very much. He rubbed me the wrong way. He rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I thought he was arrogant, brash and handled himself unprofessionally. I admit I judged Richard Sherman. However, after doing a little more reading or research on Mr. Sherman you might decide he's a decent guy. They have been numerous articles commenting on the other side of the story, you can read them here, here, and here. 

Sherman is lucky. He has great PR people, and there are journalist know that this is a story that they can continue to capitalize on. The other story is getting shared. That's the thing Richard Sherman isn't like you and me. 

Have you ever done something in 20 seconds that you wished you could take back. That you wished someone was there the next morning to write a nice little article on the true you or share the other side of the story. The fact is that first impressions matter, a lot. And they matter even more when you are an average joe like you and me. 

And that's why I don't like the Sherman Richards interview. Social media was a buzz with people standing up for him, defending him and trying to share the truth. However, more often than not there isn't going to be anyone to fix your first impression error. 

So what you do think? Had your opinion of Sherman changed? Should we not judge people? Or should we remember that our rants, poor judgement calls or unflattering pictures likely will be judged and no one might hear the other side of the story?