Richard Sherman Asks: Why Was the Media More Sympathetic to Jim Irsay than DeSean Jackson?

Richard Sherman and DeSean Jackson were Little League teammates in LA, and Sherman empathizes with Jackson regarding the media narrative that he is just supposed to entirely disassociate himself from those who had his back when he was younger. In his MMQB column today, Sherman juxtaposes the media treatment of Jackson and Jim Irsay:

"Commit certain crimes in this league and be a certain color, and you get help, not scorn. Look at the way many in the media wrote about Jim Irsay after his DUI arrest. Nobody suggested the Colts owner had “ties” to drug trafficking, even though he was caught driving with controlled substances (prescription pills) and $29,000 in cash to do who-knows-what with. Instead, poor millionaire Mr. Irsay needs help, some wrote. But DeSean Jackson is the menace, right? He’s just as bad as those guys he parties with because he threw up a Crip sign in a picture and he owns a gangsta rap record label. If only all record label owners were held to this standard, somebody might realize that Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg weren’t the bosses behind NWA. Jim Irsay lookalikes in suits were."

The purported gang ties were probably an excuse for the Eagles to release Jackson, rather than the prevailing reason they did it, but Sherman definitely has a strong overarching point about perception biases in the mainstream media. Even if you ultimately disagree with his column, the whole thing is worth a read.