By ,
Published May 02, 2016
(SportsNetwork.com) - Marshawn Lynch won't be joining Lech Walesa on the list of most famous dissidents but the Seattle Seahawks' star running back is always ready to fight the power that is the NFL.
Lynch is often difficult, a moody, distant man who doesn't seem to enjoy the microscope professional athletes find themselves under.
And plenty of people have made excuses for Lynch's behavior over the years, including yours truly who doesn't believe dissing the media should be labeled as a federal offense.
Most recently Pete Carroll was busy jumping on his sword for the misunderstood Marshawn.
"First off, let's not miss that he is a very unique individual and he has a way that we have embraced, that we understand Marshawn and we support him every way that we can," the Seahawks coach said. "But he is a very unique guy, and he's got his own way of looking at things, and he's also a very private person, too.
"That's why the media thing is as it is. It's not something that he is going to express a whole lot to you. I've said this before, that there's a great deal spoken in his silence as well."
To his enablers Lynch gets a pass because he grew up in a tough neighborhood in Oakland with an absentee father. Of course, plenty of people have overcome far bigger hurdles in life and when it comes to the fork in the road where it's time to be a professional or a professional troublemaker, they chose the right path.
Lynch, on the other hand, always seems to speed down the left lane of dissension boulevard, intent on creating trouble where none exists.
It's easy to make fun of the NFL's rules at times and point out the absurdity of preventing a grown man from wearing gold spikes or fining him tens of thousands of dollars for impudence toward reporters.
But, unlike the tuck rule or the Calvin Johnson rule there is a method to the NFL's madness when it comes to Lynch's chutzpah.
Sponsors pay big money to make sure there products are worn by NFL teams and everyone, including Lynch, seems to enjoy the heavy paychecks they receive because of it so the "No Fun League" label everyone likes to throw out when the NFL makes a big deal out of a seemingly trivial issue has sound business sense behind it.
The same applies with Lynch's shrinking-violet persona when it comes to the microphones. We can all stipulate to the fact that if Lynch doesn't talk, it's no great loss to our national discourse but if the NFL lets him get away with it without a significant punishment, plenty of others could follow suit and access would then become a real problem.
All that said, Lynch's flouting of uniform standards or insolence toward nameless, faceless reporter No. 266 at Super Bowl media day means little on the football field, where he remains the Seahawks' offensive MVP.
Contemptuous people, however, can rarely keep their effrontery caged while protesting their uneducated goals strategically.
Lynch has already been fined twice for grabbing his crotch after scoring touchdowns, first during a backward dive into the end zone in a game against the Arizona Cardinals in December, and most recently after scoring a touchdown late in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers.
If the officials happened to notice Lynch's Degeneration X-like celebration, though, they would have thrown a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, making the ensuing two-point conversation against the Packers untenable, you know the one which made Mason Crosby's field goal in the closing seconds of the NFC title tilt for the tie and not the win.
That's how close Lynch came to throwing away a second straight trip to the Super Bowl for the Seahawks. all because of a complicated mixture of ego, vanity and smugness.
And now Lynch has a target on his back as Super Bowl XLIX approaches with the NFL's head of officiating, Dean Blandino, confirming that if Lynch does it again in the big game, his team is getting punished.
"If he does it after scoring a touchdown, "That means they will kick off from the 20-yard line," Blandino told ESPN.
Instead of getting the message Lynch took to Twitter to complain about his teammate, wide receiver Chris Matthews, getting fined for the same gesture after Lynch's touchdown against the Pack.
"I feel embarrassed to work for a particular organization that fined a teammate of mine for shaking my hand after a touchdown," Lynch wrote.
Yeah, Marshawn, that's why the NFL fined Matthews.
You can now add disingenuous to the list of adjectives to describe Lynch's childish behavior.
Carroll of course is most concerned about winning a football game and took a little time off from sanctioning Lynch's tired act to hear the NFL's warning loud and clear.
"I haven't talked to him about the thing that just came up from the league and the things about the game and all that yet, but that will be addressed and I expect him to have a great Super Bowl week," Carroll said.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/lynch-needs-to-temper-his-tired-act