OT-Marshawn Lynch at media day

This is all on the media. It's borderline harrassment what they are doing to him, and it's disgusting. He doesn't want to speak to them, get over it - why are they so desperate? Marshawn seems like a good dude, doesn't cause issues, and is one of the most entertaining players in the league to watch. Just let him be, and go make up some other story.

Equally annoyed at how awful media members are, and how childish he is being with this.

I think he just wants to stick it to the league at this point. They fined him for grabbing his crotch before diving into the endzone against Green Bay, then they went and sold the picture of him doing it on NFL.com for $150 a picture. I think he sees the bullshit that is the NFL and wants to piss them off as much as possible.

And Im sure he hates the media too. 

And to be honest, I would probably do something similar if I had a crowd of 30+ grown men/women surrounding me asking me pointless questions. I would give a ton of one word answers and be as boring as possible so that they just leave me alone. If nothing else, it would piss them off

Worth the 13 minutes if you have it. Touches on why he doesn't interact with the media like we expect a star would.

Here's the issue: Press conferences have been meta-fied into being media events unto themselves.

Think about it. A press conference or a media day are events of convenience for both parties involved. Players and coaches go to a single place to be interviewed all at once instead of having to juggle a thousand interview requests, and media members get their quotes all at once so they don't have to set up a million appointments. As collective events, they're essentially pointless to take as a whole--media folks are asking specific questions of specific people to write specific stories. If you watch a Michigan press conference, for example, you're getting a cliff's notes version of what the stories in the Freep, News, MLive, etc. are going to be that week.

When you turn a media event into a media event, essentially watching two sides of the media market do their jobs, it adds a layer of ridiculousness to the whole thing. And guys like Lynch are just pushing against that, it seems.

Surely you can make the argument that part of the gig is to conduct yourself professionally but we're talking answering questions here. It's clear he doesn't want to talk yet these "journalists" keep playing into his game rather than going out and getting real news. They're the ones who look silly here. He says the same thing over and over yet they expect different results. The very definition of insanity.

Media is just provoking him. Leave the man alone. I don't care if he is a millionaire who just "entertains us". The media and NFL should respect his right to choose to not speak publicly to the media. 

He's generating more media attention by not answering the questions than by answering them, even controversially...he's a media genius in my mind...

Reading people demand that Lynch talk to the media because he's paid millions of dollars and he's part of an entertainment industry and he owes it to the NFL and etc and so on reminds me of that David Foster Wallace essay review of Tracy Austin's memoir (LINK to PDF). In which, Foster ponders (among many other things) why we as spectators demand that athletes not only perform world class physical feats, but that they also be articulate and interesting speakers. The idea that it's not good enough to be one of the best professionals within an outrageously highly competitive environment and literally be capable of doing something only a few people in the world can do, but that it is also demanded that you be eloquent and insightful (and in Lynch's case, as with people like Ricky Williams as well, open and willing). And that ultimately that these dual expectations are completely insane.

Personally, I find most athletes to not be terribly interesting to listen to and think that the sense of entitlement the media (and by extension portions of the media's consumer base) feel towards athletes is a little gross. Lynch works extremely hard to be extremely good at playing football. He doesn't want to talk to the media? So be it; book Sherman for twice the time, I'm sure he'd be happy to fill it.

What's up with all these "meaningless questions" responses on the board? Last time I checked, uh... it's the fucking Super Bowl? It's the pinnacle championship game in US sports.

Yeah, not every question is going to be written by Sir Isaac Newton but if I'm a Seattle Seahawks fan, I actually would be interested in what Marshawn has to say about the Patriots or the come from behind win vs Green Bay. IMO, those fans are getting robbed because Lynch has the social skills of 6 year old.

If Calvin Johnson responded to media questions with "I'm only here because I'd get fined if I wasn't", we'd be outraged. But because Marshawn is a dick all year long and feels slighted by NFL conduct policy, it's ok because we shouldn't expect anything else from him. 

Marshawn Lynch is a pretty good dude.  He goes to many charity camps that nobody knows about.  This media thing is out of control.