Super Bowl Media Day not the same without Marshawn Lynch

Super Bowl LI is four days away, which means that we have endured the offbeat madness of Media Day. While there was the expected amount of insanity running rampant throughout the duration, there seemed to be one element missing from the clamor of reporters and athletes: Beast Mode.

Beginning in 2013, Marshawn Terrell Lynch’s Seattle Seahawks went to consecutive Super Bowls, winning one and losing the other. But we aren’t here to dig into the actual football that transpired on these fateful days. No. We are here to relive the beautiful silliness and down-to-earth genuineness that Lynch gifted us during these sessions.

Super Bowl XLVIII Media Day occurred before the league went after Lynch and his desire to avoid press conferences, meaning the Beast did what he wanted and essentially gave one sole interview.

Deion Sanders was on the receiving end of this interview and, to this day, it is one of the realest and most respectable dialogues I have ever seen:

When asked if he was shy, Lynch replied with his now-legendary statement, “I’m just ‘bout that action, boss.” Simple, succinct, and to the point. That’s what it is.

“You go get it. Ain’t no need to talk about it.”

Deion asked Lynch if he was excited about the game, who responded with a smile and a “hell yeah!” The mutual respect between Marshawn and the rest of the 2013 Seahawks shines through as he bluntly states, “they gonna have to stop all of us. I’m a piece to it, but we’ve got some dawgs.”

The following Sunday, those dawgs tore apart the most prolific offense the NFL has ever seen.

With a final “yes Lawd,” Lynch finished up arguably one of the most straightforward and genuine interviews ever. Not a single Media Day exchange since then has found a way to surpass this one, and I don’t expect one to anytime soon.

The following year was a different story. The league had cracked down on Lynch’s unwillingness to give press conferences following games, setting a minimum duration that he must interact with media members.

To combat this decree, Beast Mode would pick one phrase that he would repeat until the required time had been reached.

Be it “yeah...”

...or “I’m thankful...”

...Lynch would supply absolutely no material to reporters.

All of this culminated at Super Bowl XLIX Media Day, where Marshawn, once again, kept it real and told reporters exactly how it was and how it was going to go down:

The gist of Lynch’s words was that he truly believed that this interview was a waste of time. He didn’t want to be there and he wasn’t going to say anything that the media would have any interest in printing (despite his reluctance to speak sparking monumental levels of internet traffic).

“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 are trying to get out of me; I don’t know what image y’all are trying to portray of me, but it don’t matter what y’all think, what y’all say about me.”

“I’m here trying to prepare for a game and y’all want to sit here and ask me all these questions, which is understandable. I can get down with that. But I told y’all. I’m not about to say nothing.”

Keeping it real is Lynch’s forte. Nobody does it like him and nobody will. He is truly the personification of the phrase “Greatest of All Time.”

While there were some pretty hilarious occurrences in preparation for Super Bowl LI, Fake Brady can’t hold a candle to Beast Mode.

Super Bowl Media Day will never be the same without Lynch, and that’s okay.

A video of Marshawn was recently released by Skittles, showing his travels to the other Houston... in Scotland:

Lynch is still finding ways to endear himself even more to us, but now they’re on his own terms.

Yes Lawd.