Arizona Cardinals veteran LB Larry Foote believes Seattle Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch is setting a poor example for the same demographic of inner-city kids that Lynch’s Fam 1st Family Foundation in Oakland aims to serve.
Lynch’s refusal to comply with media interviews in the week leading up Super Bowl XLIX was the subject of huge attention, though it has yet to be punished by the NFL after the league fined him $100,000 during the regular season for not speaking to reporters.
His on-field behavior during the regular season and playoffs also cost him.
Lynch was fined $20,000 by the NFL for grabbing his crotch celebrating his fourth quarter touchdown run in the Seahawks NFC Championship win over the Green Bay Packers. In a Week 16 win over the Cardinals, he was fined $11,050 by the league for doing the same gesture at the end of a 79-yard touchdown run.
“He always mentions the foundation and what he likes to do for the city of Oakland,” Foote said Tuesday during an interview on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. “I’m from the same type of urban environment that he’s from.
“The biggest message he’s giving these kids — he might not want to admit it — is ‘The hell with authority. I don’t care, fine me. I’m gonna grab my crotch. I’m gonna do it my way.'”
To Foote, a Detroit native who played for the Steelers (2002-08), the Detroit Lions (2009) and the Steelers again (2010-13) before spending last season with the Cardinals, Lynch’s behavior is uncalled for because some children are likely to replicate it.
“In the real world, it doesn’t work that way,” Foote said. “It just doesn’t. How can you keep a job? I mean, you got these inner-city kids. They don’t listen to teachers. They don’t listen to police officers, principals. And these guys can’t even keep a job because they say ‘F’ authority.”
In the interview, Foote agreed to the host’s assertion that Lynch is the “anti-Jerome (Bettis).” The former Steelers running back was elected Saturday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was recognized this year as the Walter Camp Foundation Man of the Year Winner. As with Lynch, Bettis has a foundation — Bus Stops Here — that helps inner-city youth.
Said Foote of Lynch:
“He needs to really to check himself and understand that you’re really hurting these kids, you’re not helping them.”
11 Comments
If Seattle had not been so DESPERATE for a champion, and arguably trending solidly to classlessness as it is, what with legal pot probably being the thing it is most excited about these days, at least with regard to daily news coverage, it would have seen that almost this whole team is an embarrassment, and that is probably putting it mildly. And even the purported second coming of one of the 12 Disciples, Quarterback Wilson, dumped his wife as soon as he won the Super Bowl. Nobody talked about that one, interestingly, while genuflecting at his alter. Class act all.
You, nor I have any idea why he “dumped” his wife, so how can anyone comment on it?
You mad bro? Sounds awful insecure and whiney, just sayin.
Troll. Ignore him.
He’s probably spewing from Roxbury or Jamaica Plain. Take him for what he’s worth.
Hard to argue with Foote’s logic, seeing that he grew up in at least as tough an environment in Detroit as Lynch did in Oakland. Larry kind of knows what he’s talking about from personal experience. Fam 1st probably does a lot of good things on behalf of underprivileged kids in his hometown and Marshawn should be applauded for giving back but whether he likes it or not, he IS a role model for kids who DO watch what he does.
Yeah, I don’t think the edge Pete and John want in their players dictates they have to be immature off the field to the point of excess. Crotch grabs, football defecation simulation and the like is playground stuff. These men have to rise above to have the impact they believe they want to have on the youth.
I’m actually impressed that Foote recognizes this. I agree with him but Marshawn is light years better than many other NFL players. In a league that has issues with domestic violence, child abuse, PED use, drug arrests and even a murder trial an occasional crotch grab and gruff manner with the media seems minor but Foote brings up good points.
Sure. Teach kids obedience to authority. March in a straight line. Blend in. That’s the ticket. We don’t want them to call attention to themselves or rub the majority the wrong way. That’s not how I raised mine, but do what you want. My kid is more like Beast Mode. She got her doctorate from UW three months before her 25th birthday. I’d pick Marshawn out as a role model for her ahead of nancy-pants Larry Foote.
So, would you have been more proud of her if she grabbed her crotch when her diploma was handed to her up on the stage? Or would the fact that she was smart enough to earn her degree have been enough?
She’s her own person following her own dream her own way. That’s enough for me.