We have more confirmation that Richard Sherman is a bonafide geek.
The Seahawks star cornerback is apparently a diehard Pokemon fan, according to a story in Mashable today. Growing up in California, Sherman was an extremely committed Pokemon trading card player, even trading candy for his friends’ cards. He also played Pokemon Game Boy games and retold a story of his brother deleting a game file after a fight between the siblings.
Sherman told Mashable he still plays Pokemon today with his Nintendo DS handheld device and occasionally battles against teammate Doug Baldwin, a fellow Stanford graduate and self-proclaimed nerd.
“It really sets you up to train hard for things later in life,” Sherman told Mashable.
This all explains why Sherman has been tweeting so much about Pokemon for the past week. It appears he has some sort of sponsorship deal with Pokemon, which celebrated its 20-year anniversary by paying for a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday.
Having a blast talking about @Pokemon today! Celebrating 20 years! #Pokemon20 #SB50 pic.twitter.com/lPRsvTT9yz
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 5, 2016
On desk with @jimrome talking about my favorite @Pokemon. #Pokemon20 #SB50 pic.twitter.com/VhZ09Qylkv
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 5, 2016
Chilling with my boy @Bwagz54 on @SBNation. His favorite @Pokemon is Pikachu. #Pokemon20 pic.twitter.com/Cnksshffkl
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 5, 2016
Had a great day celebrating 20 years of Pokémon. Thanks @Pokemon for making it happen. Train On. #Pokemon20
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 6, 2016
Beyond his love for Pokemon, Sherman’s geeky gamer and business-savvy side has certainly shown off the field for the past several years. The Stanford graduate appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 15, was a keynote speaker at Adobe’s big Summit conference in 2014 , and even has his own smartphone game. He also writes for Sports Illustrated, has a clothing line, counts more than 1.5 million followers on Twitter, and has endorsement deals with companies like T-Mobile and Beats by Dre. Entrepreneurs can probably learn a thing or two from the Compton, Calif. native.