Marshawn Lynch: ‘I’m here so I won’t get fined’

Seattle Seahawks offers same response in five minute Super Bowl media appearance

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch attending a pre-Super Bowl media appearance so he wouldn’t get fined. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch attending a pre-Super Bowl media appearance so he wouldn’t get fined. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Marshawn Lynch, the Seattle Seahawks running back who shuns the media the same way he avoids tacklers, is a man of few words and he had just seven of them at his Super Bowl Media Day appearance on Tuesday.

“I’m here so I won’t get fined,” Lynch said in response to every question he faced during his mandatory session, which he abruptly cut off after about five minutes.

For a player who maintains an intense dislike of the media spotlight Lynch found himself the centre of attention at Media Day as hundreds of reporters surrounded his podium.

Wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglasses that hid any hint of expression, Lynch was greeted with a loud ovation from fans who paid to watch the Super Bowl sideshow before the player known as “Beast Mode” on the field slipped into silent mode.

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Lynch spent nearly five minutes repeating the same answer to 30 different questions before shouting “time” and walking away from the microphone, apparently confident he had fulfilled his Media Day obligation.

While the Seahawks are willing to tolerate Lynch's silent treatment of the media the NFL has shown it does not take a similar view.

Twice before Lynch has been fined $50,000 for refusing to speak to reporters and was fined another $20,000 for making an obscene gesture after scoring a touchdown in the Seahawks’ NFC championship game win over Green Bay Packers.

There was certainly not the slightest hint of any enjoyment in Lynch’s latest run in with the media and it is almost certain that the NFL will not be impressed with his farcical display.

"First off, let's not miss that he is a very unique individual and he has a way that we have embraced, that we understand Marshawn and we support him every way we can," Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said this week. "But, he is a very unique guy and he's got his own way of looking at things and he's also a very private person too.

“That’s why the media thing is as it is.”