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Seahawks' Marshawn Lynch talks without saying much

 
Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch makes his third straight media appearance during Super Bowl week to avoid a fine. But this time instead of repeating the same sentence in response to questions, he makes a short speech about why he doesn’t like to talk to the media. “It don’t matter what … y’all say about me,” he says. “My family … that’s all the really matter(s) to me.”
Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch makes his third straight media appearance during Super Bowl week to avoid a fine. But this time instead of repeating the same sentence in response to questions, he makes a short speech about why he doesn’t like to talk to the media. “It don’t matter what … y’all say about me,” he says. “My family … that’s all the really matter(s) to me.”
Published Jan. 31, 2015

PHOENIX — Marshawn Lynch participated Thursday in the last league-mandated media session of the leadup to the Super Bowl. Talk might be cheap, but not talking this week could've been expensive for the Seahawks running back, who avoided fines but still did not answer questions.

Instead, in what was his longest outburst of the season, Lynch offered his perspective in a statement before leaving after five minutes timed on his smartphone.

"Hey, look, I mean, all week I told y'all what's up," Lynch said. "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.

"When I go home at night, the same people that I look in the face, my family that I love, that's all that really matter to me. So y'all can go 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.

"I'll come to y'all 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 you ain't mad at me, then what y'all here for? I ain't got nothing for y'all, though. I told y'all that. 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 these questions, which is understandable. I could get down with that. But I told y'all, I'm not about to say nothing. So for the reminder 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. I talked. All of my requirements are fulfilled. For the next three minutes, I'll just be looking at y'all the way that y'all looking at me. Thank you."

Though he hasn't said much, Lynch's "Beast Mode" baseball caps are making noise. The two caps Lynch wore this week at media appearances have sold out on his website, beastmodeonline.com, home of his Beast Mode apparel line.

REF SIGNALS: Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said referees will use hand signals to identify eligible receivers who check into Sunday's Super Bowl as ineligible, a tactic deployed by the Patriots that confused the Ravens and Colts in the playoffs.

"I know the league is absolutely committed to getting that right and doing that well," Carroll said. "The Patriots have brought that to the forefront because they've been using some stuff like that lately. We've been preparing for it every day because we don't want to be caught in mishandling on our end.

"It's really on us to see it. The officials do what they do, but we still have to find it because it could happen like it did to the Colts. We're very much in tune with it. It's just been part of the preparation so it's not a big deal to us now."

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Though Carroll says the hand signals — pointing at the eligible receiver checking in as ineligible by waving his arms like an incomplete pass — are new, the league insists referees used those identifiers in previous playoff games, including the AFC Championship Game.

ALL GOOD: NFL officiating chief Dean Blandino said referee Walt Anderson's inspection of the footballs before the AFC Championship Game was handled properly. He also said the process of checking the balls and the security surrounding the inspections will be enhanced for the Super Bowl.

"My major concern is did we follow proper protocol?" Blandino said as the league's investigation into the Patriots' use of underinflated footballs moved along. "Everything was properly tested and marked before the game. … Officiating is not part of the investigation."

Super Bowl referee Bill Vinovich and his staff will look over a lot more balls this week. Normally, 12 per team are taken before a game to the officials' locker room, where the referee tests and marks them. For the Super Bowl, each team gets 54 balls — many are given to charity after brief game usage — and all will be taken into custody by the NFL on Friday after the Seahawks and Patriots have prepared them. The balls will be inspected by Vinovich three hours before kickoff. Security will be added "because of the environment we are in for this game," Blandino said.

Hmm: A fire alarm sounded for the second time in three nights at the hotel where the Patriots are staying in nearby Chandler. The early morning false alarm lasted two minutes and went off in one wing, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa said. The alarm was caused by a stairwell smoke head and was being investigated, it said. The first false alarm occurred on the Patriots' first night.

Information from Times wires was used in this report.