National Football League

Bob Kraft defends partying with Goodell, mocks Sherman's Stanford education

Published Jan. 28, 2015 7:10 p.m. ET

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Lost in the Media Day commotion over Deflategate, Marshawn Lynch trying not to speak and Gronk erotica may be the juiciest Super Bowl week battle: the war of words between the fearless Richard Sherman and the proud Patriots owner Bob Kraft.

Sherman, the loquacious Seattle Seahawks cornerback and unofficial team spokesman, arrived in Arizona with his teammates Monday and immediately shot a verbal dig at what he termed the chummy relationship between Kraft and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — telling reporters he was skeptical over any heavy penalties being levied against the Patriots over the apparent underinflation of footballs in New England's AFC title game win vs. the Colts.

"Not as long as Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell are still taking pictures at their respective homes. He was just at Kraft's house last week for the AFC championship," Sherman added. "You talk about conflict of interest.

"But as long as that happens, it won't affect them at all. Nothing will."

Sherman seemed to touch the nerve of Patriots owner Kraft, who defended his relationship with Goodell at Media Day on Tuesday.

"I think Richard Sherman is a very smart marketing whiz," Kraft said according to the New York Post, explaining that the party was held for league sponsors and Sherman himself gets richer off those relationships. "If you go into the facts of what he said, the NFL always used to pay for a big party for the AFC championship game. We've been privileged to own the team for 21 years, and this was our 10th championship game. When the league stopped giving the parties, we started doing it. This is our third one."

Then Kraft took a veiled shot at Sherman's Stanford education.

"I think Mr. Sherman understood that he's the biggest beneficiary, because [the players] get over 50 percent of the revenues. So he didn't go to Harvard, but Stanford must be pretty good because he figured it out," Kraft said.

Sherman, who originally cited a photo of Kraft and Goodell together taken at the Patriots owner's home the night before the AFC championship game, also hit Goodell at Media Day Tuesday.

"How many other owners has he hung out with, taken pictures with?" Sherman asked the media masses.