Marshawn Lynch goes into Beast Mode on the gridiron. Everywhere else he pretty much goes into Meek Mode.
The Seattle Seahawks running back skipped the team’s obligatory visit to the White House yesterday. “No particular reason was given to me,” Lynch’s mother told the Seattle Times. “He just said he didn’t want to go.”
To loosely paraphrase what Obama said about his own father in his autobiography, Lynch was present in his absence. “I am sorry that Marshawn is not here, because I just wanted to say how much I admire his approach to the press,” the president said to laughter. “I wanted to get some tips from him. It’s about the action.”
Lynch skipped out on Super Bowl Media Day after staying for six minutes and 47 seconds behind dark glasses and beneath a hoodie. The next day, his cardboard name plate appeared after the player disappeared at a second media session at a New Jersey hotel.
Whereas Bruins goalie Tim Thomas drew attention for boycotting the Bruins White House visit for political reasons after winning the 2011 Stanley Cup, and David Ortiz generated controversy by hoodwinking the president into a selfie for Samsung, Lynch wanted nothing to do with the media spectacle. He likes Skittles more than cameras.