http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000316756/article/sherman-crabtree-micd-during-nfc-championship
The video is very illuminating.
Yes, Crabtree is a jerk. But after the rebuff Sherman calls himself a "n-word" and then descends into Compton-talk (not Stanford talk) when he shouts at Crabtree's back, "Go yo' ass home! Go yo' ass home!"
Hardly the type of talk you expect from a victor who is magnanimous in his victory. And from someone who, the following day, begs that the media consider him to be a Stanford gentleman.
A football player that descends to that in the supercharged moment after a game is letting his true colors show.
There’s no reason to be magnanimous in victory to a guy that just shoved you. He started magnanimous, Crabtree went the other way, too bad for Crabtree. His true colors seem to be that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, nothing wrong with that.
You have to realize that Sherman’s run-ins with Crabtree go back to last summer, where Crabtree tried to start a fight with Sherman after another attempt at a hand shake. I think this latest attempt was the last straw. I think Sherman used the “Compton-talk” as a thing between two “brothers.” I think Sherman was using language as a way to get to Crabtree on his level—the way his father would talk to him for being late to dinner. I think it is pretty funny when you look at it that way.