Richard Sherman may have to choose between Super Bowl or birth of first child
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Version 0 of 1. Amid the silliness of Tuesday’s Super Bowl Media Day — Bill Belichick’s flip-flops, Marshawn Lynch’s non-answers, Rob Gronkowski’s erotic fan fiction, etc. — came some meaningful news. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and his girlfriend are expecting the birth of their first child, a son. And, I mean, expecting the birth sometime over the next week. A week that happens to include — hello — the Super Bowl. What if Sherman’s girlfriend goes into labor on Sunday? Sherman expressed confidence to ESPN that there would be no conflict. From that report: Sherman said Wednesday a recent visit to the doctor gave him faith his son will not arrive in the next few days. But just in case, Sherman said [girlfriend Ashley] Moss is in Arizona with Super Bowl XLIX around the corner. If she goes into labor before Sunday, Sherman said the plan is to have her give birth at a local hospital. But if his son decides it’s time to enter the world on Sunday, Sherman may be faced with a career-defining decision. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Sherman said. “We’re not thinking about the possibility.” Sherman said Wednesday a recent visit to the doctor gave him faith his son will not arrive in the next few days. But just in case, Sherman said [girlfriend Ashley] Moss is in Arizona with Super Bowl XLIX around the corner. If she goes into labor before Sunday, Sherman said the plan is to have her give birth at a local hospital. But if his son decides it’s time to enter the world on Sunday, Sherman may be faced with a career-defining decision. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Sherman said. “We’re not thinking about the possibility.” Sherman certainly has plenty on his mind these days, such as preparing for whatever Belichick and Gronk have in store, but it’s hard to believe that he’s given no thought whatsoever to the huge choice he may have to make. “Not thinking about the possibility” doesn’t make the possibility go away. Over the past couple of decades, athletes have increasingly recognized the need for, and been granted, time away from their sports to attend the births of their children. However, rarely does that time away come at the expense of an opportunity to compete for a championship. For many readers, this will probably seem like a no-brainer: You go and be by the new mother’s side. In Sherman’s case, he already played in, and won, a Super Bowl just last year, so shouldn’t the birth of his first child take precedence? On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that Sherman will ever again have the opportunity to play on this stage, while it’s likely that he and his girlfriend could produce many more children if they so choose. And doesn’t he owe something to his teammates? Of course, chances are that Sherman won’t have to make this choice. But what if he does? What would you do in his situation? Tell us in the comments, and take our poll! {{answer.mediaCredit}} This is a non-scientific user poll. Results are not statistically valid and cannot be assumed to reflect the views of Washington Post users as a group or the general population. Take the poll on its own Web page. |