1. It detracted from the Seahawks' accomplishment of beating San Francisco.
2. It made a lot of people aware of who Richard Sherman is.
The lasting effect will be No. 2.
Sherman suddenly has a national profile. He may be the best-known player among the Seahawks, who don't have a lot of names easily recognized by casual fans.
But everyone knows Sherman, thanks to his loud and hostile response to a basic question after the game.
Sherman came across like a pro wrestling heel, insulting his opponent and bragging about his own talent. He turned Erin Andrews into a blonde version of Mean Gene Okerlund. The only surprise was he didn't drop any profanity in his monologue.
Give Andrews credit for handling the situation. She asked a quick follow-up question, then threw it back to the booth when it was obvious a producer communicated it was time to end the interview.
For as overbearing as he was in the moment, Sherman rebounded and expressed regret about the way he approached the opportunity to speak.
By most accounts, he's an intelligent player who got caught up in the moment. It happens. Defensive backs play with a gunslinger mentality. The world sees when they fail.
It's a high-stress business, and it figures there's going to emotion attached, especially on the big stage. Interviewing players as soon as a game ends comes with risk.
Sherman's performance will live forever, thanks to the Internet.
But he'll probably get some commercial opportunities out of this, too.
You can debate whether he's the Seahawks' best player. There's no doubt he's now the best-known.
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--STORMY OFFSEASON
You'd think winning 94 games, reaching the postseason and ending a 20-year losing streak would create a happy offseason for the Pirates.
That hasn't been the case, though. Most of the attention has been focused on their inability to fill the holes at first base and right field, and the apparently one-sided game of phone tag with A.J. Burnett.
(People who can't remember their wife's birthday seem to be able to instantly calculate the current Pirates' payroll within $10,000).
If there's any consolation, it's two-fold: 1. The core of last year's team is still intact (although it will be a major challenge to make up Burnett's 191 innings) and 2. The other contenders in the National League Central haven't made significant improvements.
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--HE'S LIKE MIKE
It might be just a little too subtle for its own good, but the car dealer commercial that features a news conference setting is notably clever.
The guy answering the questions has obviously gone to school on Mike Tomlin's televised Tuesday sessions. He nails the stone-faced gaze, the dismissive tone, plenty of "obviously's."
Well done.
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--MOVING ON
John Seibel, who was co-host of the afternoon show on 93.7 (The Fan) from its inception until December 2012, has a new job.
Seibel starts Monday as co-anchor of the morning news on the NBC-TV affiliate in his home town of Dayton.
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--LEGEND SNUBBED
When concert promoter Rich Engler goes into the Pittsburgh Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame before Porky Chedwick does, it's obvious baseball isn't the only business with baffling hall of fame issues.
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