Armour: Marshawn Lynch gives fans silent treatment, too

PHOENIX – Marshawn Lynch can be funny, engaging, even chatty.

When it suits his purposes, that is.

Lynch's standoff with the media has become the cause celebre of Super Bowl week. He does the five minutes that's required every day of him, giving the same answer to every question – Wednesday's phrase of choice was "You know why I'm here" – and the Seattle Seahawks give him their full support.

The Seahawks say Lynch is "uncomfortable" in the media spotlight. They say he feels like a zoo animal with all those eyes on him, and reporters just waiting to bait him into saying something that will get blown out of proportion.

Perhaps the Seahawks should sell "Free Marshawn" T-shirts, or hold a fund-raiser for him. That way Lynch could blow off his obligations without fear that the NFL is going to take more of his money.

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"He's trying to do the best job he can of being him, and maybe you don't feel that that's what he should do, but that is what is going on," coach Pete Carroll said. "I understand that people would like to see him do different things. He's not comfortable with that, so that's what he's telling you. He's doing it exactly the way he knows how to do it best.

"He's an incredible team member," Carroll added. "This environment just isn't one that you get to see him in the way you want to see him."

What Carroll failed to mention is that media duties are part of Lynch's contract. He is getting paid for these daily sessions with the NFL media, same as he got paid to do fake interviews in his new Skittles and Progressive commercials.

Therein lies the hypocrisy of Lynch's shtick: If he's so uncomfortable, shy away from all forms of public attention. But he wouldn't dare shut out his sponsors.

Whether Lynch likes the media, or vice versa, isn't the point. Nor is the fact that most of the public probably doesn't care.

Even in an age when Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and individual websites have made players seem more accessible than ever, it's their interview sessions and day-to-day dealings with reporters that give a window into who these guys are off the field.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a well-known curmudgeon, and the three-ring circus that is media day can't be high on his list of favorite activities. But his hour-long session showed a much different, far more likeable side. He wore flip-flops. He admitted to being a Home Alone fan -- the original AND the sequel. He let it be known that he golfs and he's played Pebble Beach.

They're small details, but they humanize the people who are on the field and along the sidelines. They give a face to players who are normally hidden behind helmets.

They provide a connection to fans – you know, the folks who keep this money mint running at full speed.

Seahawks owner Paul Allen may sign Lynch's paycheck, but it's the fans who buy his jersey and Beast Mode gear. Shell out hundreds to watch him play. Support the companies who sponsor him, his team and the NFL. Pay the subscription fees for DirecTV and NFL Network.

And on and on.

Lynch said last year that he didn't like talking because the NFL was forcing him to do it, making his silent act seem more like an act of civil disobedience.

"If you're forced to do something, it's not as good as if you choose to do it," Lynch told NFL Media before last year's Super Bowl. "When you're forced to do something and you know it, it kind of just takes away from the whole experience of what it could be if (it were) natural."

But there are aspects of all of our jobs that we don't like, and we do them anyway because we have to. I'm sure Lynch doesn't like sitting through endless hours of meetings, either, but we don't see him skipping out on those.

The funny thing is there are athletes in other sports who would love to have Lynch's spotlight, even for one day. But the NFL has become so big that Lynch and some others have lost sight of the people who made them the stars and millionaires that they are.

Lynch doesn't owe the media anything. But he does owe the fans, and they deserve better than the silent treatment.

Follow Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.