Where in the world has the locker room reporter gone wrong? Aftershave too strong, maybe not strong enough? The answer to this question still eludes me, but it seems athletes throughout the professional ranks know something I do not (besides how to jump 42 feet in the air).

The concept seems silly to me: an overpaid man in an overpriced outfit answering questions with a single word, or in some instances, nothing at all.

Spoiler alert, Marshawn Lynch and company, this activity of talking to the media is in your job description! While the NFL may regulate players in a frustrating manner on and off the field, this, gentlemen, is not one of them.

This is your chance! Your chance to let your voice be heard. Your chance to state your opinion. Your chance to set the record straight. Your chance to stand up for what you believe, what is right.

Look at the men in the league who use the media as a pawn; for example, the dreaded hawk Richard Sherman.

This man has done many things in life, things he will not hesitate to tell you about, but the one thing he has never done is shy away from a microphone.

Sherman, like every person has heard 500 billion times by now, came from a tough environment, an environment that bred him to be the man he is today. And with study and intense preparation, he achieved what many would have thought impossible on the football field.

But for Sherman, the picture is bigger.

The man sees the things around him for what they are and is willing to step outside the box to say how he feels about them.

He will rub you the wrong way if he feels that is the appropriate action, and in a world where everything is predicated by political correctness, damn it, I respect that.

These men who refuse to speak are stifling not only their careers’ potential prosperity, specifically off the field and after sports, but they are stifling change, because, like it or not, these men and women are the role models for our youth now.

Marshawn, you will never stand for anything if you cannot say something.

The recent events involving race, police and the other facets in society that need our attention, we have seen what saying the right thing can do.

It can inspire, shed light and be the factor that leads to movements and change.

We have read “just breathe,” but now let’s just speak.