The Story Behind Marshawn Lynch

[Music] [Applause] maneuvering and peterson tries to strip [Applause] when you hear the name marshawn lynch what do you think dominant marshawn lynch still on his feet enigmatic i'm here so i won't get fined hilarious i told you man give me the blame me bruh now i'll pop it from right here does the that rope really help beast mode the beast there are only a few figures in the history of football who have been able to invoke so many emotions and be just as captivating off the field as they are on it lynch is second to none in that category from day one he faced constant hurdles on the road to nfl stardom first navigating a troubled childhood in north oakland then a series of legal issues and a friction-filled relationship with the media but despite the challenges lynch persevered as one of the most popular and exhilarating players in the game [Music] this is the story behind marshawn lynch [Music] marshawn tyrell lynch was born on april 22nd 1986 and grew up in the tough neighborhood of goldenville in north oakland california his mother deliso worked two jobs to make sure that there was food on the table for lynch and his three older siblings devonte david and marisha and throughout his childhood his father maurice sapp bounced in and out of jail and eventually would serve a 24 year sentence for burglary delisa's job was now threefold her two jobs to pay the bills and the other making sure her children stayed out of trouble they weren't allowed to go outside of the gate i'll just put it like that we lived in apartments where they had a front gate and a back gate and they were not allowed outside of either one that's how tough it was sports ran through lynch's dna his uncle lorenzo lynch was a running back for the arizona cardinals in the 90s and delisa was a track star at oakland technical high school where lynch would continue his family's legacy in athletics lynch was a four sport star at oakland tech playing football basketball running track and competing and wrestling in basketball lynch helped lead oakland tech to the state semifinals with future nba player leon poe in track he recorded a personal best 10.94 second hundred meter dash as a senior while also competing in high jump and long jump and in football well he dominated and earned what would be his nickname for the rest of his life beast mode [Music] look at this guy [ __ ] he breaks the tackle oh my goodness he's got touchdown what is this he's a grown man tonight he's a grown man tonight in his senior year lynch amassed 1 722 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns in only eight regular season games and an additional 375 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in two postseason games he was voted a prep star and super prep all-american and was also voted as the san francisco east bay player of the year lynch even experimented with other positions playing quarterback wide receiver and defensive back where he registered 20 interceptions in his senior year by graduation time lynch was ranked the number one defensive back in the country and the number two running back behind adrian peterson and despite all of his success lynch was really a quiet introverted kid what questions can you ask roland wins that could possibly help you since you're only a sophomore educational-wise playing running back stretching wise anything give me a question for roland williams your uncle told me to ask you this question talk to him earlier today man don't be shy bro got no question give me something i got a question for you i got okay i got a question for you then figure something ask me what kind of shoes i wear man what's up man be hot yeah tv got to put you on the spot man it's real tv show up in the lights the lights is on show up show up player he was highly recruited out of high school getting offers from schools like oregon and washington state but instead decided to stay close to home 15 minutes to be exact at the university of california berkeley where he would also play with his two cousins after running behind starter j.j arrington in 2004 lynch took the starting role in year 2 running for over 1200 yards and 10 touchdowns to cap off the season he earned las vegas bowl mvp honors with a 194 yard three touchdown performance in a win over byu marshawn lynch what an effort touchdown seven days a week [Applause] before his junior year lynch was named the eighth best player in the nation by sports illustrated and continued to prove his worth running for over 1200 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns including a game-winner against washington that led to this memorable celebration across the field lynch was named to the 2006 all pac-10 team and was the all pac-10 offensive player of the year and to this day still holds the record at cal for most 100 yard rushing games at 17. lynch then opted to forgo his senior year and enter the nfl draft [Music] with the 12th pick in the 2007 nfl draft the buffalo bills select marshawn lynch [Applause] for a 21 year old moving from oakland to buffalo was a culture shock for lynch who admittedly didn't know how far the city was from the big apple so i thought it was gonna be on and pop i thought i was gonna be out there with jay-z and then when i finally landed in buffalo oh man it was like slush on the ground just finished slowing uh i ain't nothing about no snow it took some time for lynch to get adjusted but once his mother moved to buffalo he started to feel at home and it showed on the field lynch ran for consecutive thousand yard seasons in his rookie and sophomore years earning him a pro bowl appearance in 2008 and he was embraced in buffalo like he was one of their own getting showered with skittles after every touchdown by his mother and becoming a mainstay at applebee's [Music] hey i love the ambiance i love the deck tour i spend a lot of time trying to figure out which one i like more the ambiance or the decor [Music] they let me pour my own drink i love the sound and make so much power [Music] lynch was establishing himself as one of the best backs in the league and making buffalo football exciting again but legal troubles were constantly becoming roadblocks to an otherwise successful start to his career in june of 2008 lynch pleaded guilty to a hit and run charge and his license was revoked after hitting a woman with his porsche in the bar district of buffalo asked about the incident lynch said it was raining really hard there was a dancing pedestrian in the middle of the street i slowed down to let her go and continued on my way home i didn't know my car hit anyone or anything and in the summer of 2009 just months before lynch's third season with the bills he was arrested in culver city california for having carried a concealed weapon in his vehicle he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor gun charges and the nfl suspended lynch for the first three games of the season lynch tried and failed to appeal the suspension and even apologized saying i have made mistakes in the past although i have learned many lessons over recent years i obviously hadn't learned enough despite that many in the buffalo media and fans turned on lynch it was reportedly discovered that multiple fans had been using racial language toward lynch on a bill's internet message board recently lynch's former teammate bruce hall spoke about the media's turbulent relationship with lynch and a piece from the athletic saying but here they are painting this picture of him as a troublemaker but do not understand or only have snippets of the story and do not have the full picture while in the same story former bill's vp of player personnel john guy added i think he took a beating in the press i think the press in buffalo taught him lessons that he never forgot i would like to see them grow up in project housing authorities being racially profiled growing up sometimes not even having nothing to eat sometimes have to wear the same damn clothes to school for this for a whole week and then all of a sudden a big ass change in their life like they dream come true to the point where starting their career at 20 years old when they still don't know i would like to see some of the mistakes that they would make lynch would soon be replaced by running back fred jackson as the starting rusher and his relationship with the bill's front office began to sour four weeks into the 2010 season lynch was traded to the seattle seahawks for two future draft picks in his first season in seattle lynch and seahawks earned a wild card spot facing the defending super bowl champion new orleans saints as heavy underdogs in what was his first playoff game of his career with the seahawks up 34-30 in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter and the ball in seattle's possession lynch ran for a 67 yard touchdown which is arguably the greatest run in nfl history crowd silent now as opposed to when the saints have the ball oh look at this run what a run marshawn lynch still on his feet has blockers now he's dancing his way for the touchdown what's now called lumen field became so loud that 100 yards away from the stadium a seismograph registered it as an earthquake that run by lynch would forever be known by fans as beastquake despite losing in the next round beastquake catapulted lynch into stardom he instantly became a sensation both on and off the field him and his skittles obsession is this on how you doing big daddy how are you doing sweetheart i'm so glad you're here my uncle told me man you disrespectful if you call them skittles you say they power pellets [Music] and the crowd went crazy skittles were flying out of the crowd and then they had to get their skittle scoopers out and come pick it all up [Music] in his first full two seasons with the seahawks the sugar rush helped lynch rush for over 2 600 yards and he earned two all-pro selections including being selected to be first-team all-pro in 2012 at the end of that season after rushing for over 1500 yards a career high link signed a four-year 31 million dollar contract extension with seattle at this point in his career lynch was dominating on the field and while he was one of the funniest people off the field as well he and the media were still at odds through the 2013 season lynch ignored media availability causing the nfl to find him 50 thousand dollars seahawks fans actually fundraised the amount which lynch later donated to charity that season with a formidable defense led by richard sherman and an offense led by lynch's ferocious running ability and a young quarterback and russell wilson the team was dominant finishing 2013 at 16-3 and beating the saints and the san francisco 49ers on their way to super bowl 48 but the attention was always on lynch and his stance towards the media except for this classic interview with legend dion sanders you kind of shy you just don't want to talk really i'm just about that action boss you rather go get it you just like to do it that's what it is i ain't never seen no talking with me nothing yeah being like that since i was little it was raised like that well i respect it yeah it's gonna be the same you go get it it's no need to talk about it you excited about the game hell yeah [Music] lynch and the seahawks prove they were about that action too absolutely dismantling peyton manning's denver broncos 43-8 on their way to the franchise's first championship he's not here today but we got to give props to beast mode marshawn late i am sorry that marshawn's not here because i just wanted to say how much i admire his approach to the press as for his interactions with the media lynch started the 2014 season the same way silence and on november 19th lynch was fined one hundred thousand dollars causing him to change his methods sort of yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah maybe i don't know yeah still having fun yeah thanks for asking what's that i said thanks for asking i appreciate it thanks for asking i appreciate you asking my stomach thank you y'all want to try again huh so y'all gonna try again that's what we're gonna do we're gonna try one more time i'm thankful talk about your performance in the second half the big run i'm thankful lynch's bad boy persona was furthered by a series of nfl finds including for lynch's signature crotch grab touchdown celebration which to be fair wasn't allowed but he also got fined for wearing his own green cleats and even for wearing his own beast mode merchandise when the seahawks made it to their second consecutive super bowl where they would face tom brady in the new england patriots lynch's bitterness toward the media was on full display hey i'm just here so i don't get fined so y'all can sit here and ask me all the questions y'all want to i'm going to answer with the same answer so y'all can shoot if y'all please i'm here so i won't get time hey look i mean all week i don't told y'all what's up and for some reason y'all continue to come back and do the same thing that y'all did i don't know what story y'all trying to get out of me i don't know what image y'all trying to portray of me but it don't matter what y'all think what y'all say about me because when i go home at night the same people that i look in the face my family that i love that's all i really that matter to me so y'all could go and make up whatever y'all want to make up because i don't say enough for y'all to go and put anything out on me but i'll come to your event y'all shove cameras and microphones down my throat but when i'm at home in my environment i don't see y'all but y'all mad at me and if y'all ain't mad at me doing what y'all here for actually i'm not mad i ain't got nothing for y'all though i told y'all that so y'all should know that but y'all will sit here like right now and continue to do the same thing i'm here preparing for a game and y'all want to ask me all these questions which is understandable i could get in with that but i told y'all i'm not about to say nothing so for the remainder of my what's that three minutes because i'm here i'm available for y'all i'm here i'm available for y'all out on top all of my requirements are fulfilled so now for this next three minutes i'll just be looking at y'all the way that y'all looking at me thank you the best explanation for lynch's distaste for and approach to the media came from himself in a 2018 sit down with former nba player matt barnes lynch discussed how what happened in buffalo laid the foundation for his behavior in seattle i said bro i got i got drafted at 20 years old so 20 years old they set me in a situation of some [ __ ] that changed my life for forever so all of the [ __ ] that i had on my mind cause i was still young and as a young boy you think as a young boy so now that i got chicken in my pocket and i'm doing young boy [ __ ] yeah somewhere you gonna find some trouble along the way but what i learned through it was not that the trouble was the [ __ ] that followed me it was the [ __ ] who was hating on me and what they said had followed me and then i realized that it was the media that was doing that kind of [ __ ] so then therefore i've just learned like the same [ __ ] that i sit here and talk to and you want to laugh in my face because the situation is good the same [ __ ] that's gonna go ahead and write that story and tell me that everything is all bad it wasn't all bad though amidst all the media antics lynch went on the conan o'brien show and seemed like he was enjoying himself super bowl 49 was competitive throughout a tightly contested game came down to the wire with the seahawks down four in the dying seconds and at the one yard line head coach pete carroll made a call that would become the worst decision in super bowl history by malcolm butler unreal and i'm sorry but i can't believe the call me neither i cannot believe the call you've got marshawn lynch in the backfield you've got a guy that's been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field i can't believe the call the decision to pass instead of giving the ball to one of the best running backs in the sport sent the seahawks locker room into a tailspin it was a devastating loss one that sherman wilson and carol all admitted changed the dynamic of the team it also didn't help that marshawn was doing commercials poking fun at it last one just hand it to me and i'll run it over to him now i'll toss it to him just hand it to me no need to throw it man come on nah it's really easy i'll just throw it to him he'll catch it come on man we're so close i could run it over it's just right here i just want to be here come on man i can sleep walk that thing to him but come on all right ah i think i'm gonna throw it what's the worst that could happen what catch what no no no no no no [Music] there's even a conspiracy theory that the reason the seahawks decided against giving the ball to lynch was because they wanted wilson to win mvp something that lynch even gave credence to saying to be honest with you i would be a liar if i didn't tell you that i was expecting the ball yes i was expecting the ball i think it was more of a how do i say this when you look at me and you let me run that ball in i'm the face of the nation you know the mvp of the super bowl that's pretty much the face of the nation at that point in time i don't know what went into the call and maybe it was a good thing i didn't get the ball but i mean you know it cost us a super bowl seattle still decided to sign lynch to a two-year 24 million dollar contract extension that summer but lynch wouldn't see out that contract the years of running and breaking tackles had taken a toll on his body midway through the 2015 season lynch had sports hernia surgery and missed half the season by the time he returned for the seahawks divisional playoff game versus the panthers he was a shell of himself on the day of super bowl 50 just one year removed from having a chance to be a back-to-back champion lynch hung up his cleats announcing his retirement in a cryptic tweet lynch spent most of his time in his first retirement starting up business ventures including opening a retail location for his beast mode brand at home in oakland he became a mentor and a youth coach for inner city kids in oakland and at cal and did charity work in his community and when it was announced that the raiders who had spent the last 60 years in oakland were planning on moving to las vegas lynch came through for a city one last time when did you know you're gonna come back what did you decide you wanted to play football again uh when i found out they was leaving lynch's accomplishments on the field in two seasons in oakland paled in comparison to his time in seattle and buffalo only rushing for 376 yards in six games by year two but he brought an energy to the city once again with his enthusiasm on the field and in the locker room and of course there was controversy after the white supremacist rally in charlottesville virginia in the summer of 2017 lynch and former teammate michael bennett opted to sit for the national anthem lynch later said that he had been doing this for his entire career but tensions grew further when in the nfl's annual mexico city game lynch stood for the mexican national anthem but sat for the american anthem you don't have to agree with everything lynch has done in his life but you can probably notice a trend in the relationship between him and the media even as a young introverted kid in oakland lynch wasn't one to go out and seek attention for the most part whatever attention he received was thrown his way and he definitely made the most of it throughout his career both on and off the field he even mended his relationship in seattle returning for three games in the 2019 season and rushing for four touchdowns lynch has also made an effort to pass on what he's learned throughout his career to younger players you know i had a couple players that i played with that you know i mean they no longer hear them all day no longer so i mean you feel me start taking care of your mentals your bodies and your chicken when y'all you know ready to walk away you walk away and you'll be able to do what you want to do lynch is seemingly enjoying retirement he struck a deal with online retailer fanatics to operate his beast mode retail website he's partnered in a business venture for diamond infused marijuana products to be sold in the bay area and he even made a cameo appearance in season 3 of hbo's west world and he hasn't ruled out returning to the game of football so the door is still open for him to add more to an already impressive resume lynch's 29th all-time in career rushing is one of just 31 players to reach at least 10 000 yards rushing and sits eighth on the nfl's all-time playoff rushing yards list he was also named to the league's 2010's all decade team lynch's place in football history is undeniable nobody was ever as captivating as lynch when he wanted to be even his silence spoke volumes and you can see the impact it's had on the relationship athletes have with the media now and when it came down to it lynch approached football the same way he approached all the obstacles in his life that's when it just clicked in my mind that if you just run through somebody's face a lot of people ain't gonna be able to take that over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again they're just not gonna want that i think there's a deeper metaphor there run through a [ __ ] face then you don't have to worry about them no more thanks for watching if you like this video and want to see more content like this hit that subscribe button you

Channel: theScore

Views: 191,139

Keywords: Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks, NFL, Documentary, Beast Mode

Id: 1Pk_zwNt0Fs

Length: 24min 20sec (1460 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 27 2021