In a time of 24/7 media coverage, and reporters covering nearly every sport story you can think of, silence stands out among the crowd. In an era of wanting to know everything about a player, Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks has defied that, transforming him into a nationwide icon.

The media has painted Lynch as a rebel, someone who is purposely being rude and offensive to them on purpose, but looking at his upbringing, that is just not the case.

In an interview before the Super Bowl this year Lynch said, “I ain’t never seen anyone win the game in the media. But at the same time, I could see what it could do for you, if you wanted to be someone who talks a lot. But that’s not me.” Lynch credits his childhood growing up in rough streets in Oakland, seeing things a child should not see, to the way his personality is. “I’ve always been this way, even when I was little, just the way my mama raised me,” he told Deion Sanders of NFL Network.

Lynch did not have the upbringing that most of us have today. Growing up in Oakland, drug deals and gang shootings were weekly sightings for him and his family. His father is currently serving a 24 year jail sentence for burglary, and has been raised by his single mother since he was a little boy. Through these hardships it shaped him into the tough running back you see every Sunday. Through the pain of losing his father and living in a rough environment, Lynch gained toughness and wisdom that still impacts him to this day.

The media wants to shape Lynch into a “thug” or a “punk” just for failing to conform to the way the NFL wants its players to act. With answers of “Yeah” and “thanks for asking” to nearly every question the media asks him, Marshawn is just having fun at this point. The media knows he does not want to talk, but still continues to come to him post game after post game somehow hoping for something to write about. Marshawn isn’t a thug. He is not some smug punk who hates the people in the media. He is not conforming to the puppetry that the NFL has enforced upon its players.

With a league full of coaches and players giving the media and fans cliche responses game after game, Marshawn Lynch has become an icon for his silence. At the end of the day, his job is just to play football, because Marshawn Lynch will tell you, “I’m just bout that action, boss.

Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/politicalpulse/16383989285