This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.
The photo above shows the scrum of reporters and photographers surrounding Richard Sherman at Super Bowl XLVIII Media Day on Tuesday.
After a preceding week-and-a-half in which the outspoken Sherman became a media sensation and, in the words of and many, "broke the Internet," the shot by Associated Press photographer Charlie Riedel perfectly captures the Seahawks star's status as pro football's man of the moment.
See also: Inside Mavericks, Big-Wave Surfing's Gnarliest Contest
But it's nothing compared to this photo that Sherman himself snapped from the interview stand, then posted to Twitter:
Media Day was a blast! pic.twitter.com/5nNwtOQQmv
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 28, 2014
Sherman one-upping the media pros at Media Day should come as no surprise, however. It's just the latest example of him owning the press since transforming from Richard Sherman The NFL Star to Richard Sherman The American Lightning Rod with one epic speech following the Seahawks' NFC Championship win over the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 19.
You've surely seen the footage by now, but here's a quick recap. Sherman made the game-saving defensive play against the 49ers on Jan. 19 to put his squad in the Super Bowl. Interviewed immediately after the game by Erin Andrews, Sherman did not stick to the typical post-game playbook of humble appreciation and compliments for opponents. Oh, no. Here's video:

"Don't you ever talk about me!" he hollered. "Don’t you open your mouth about the best or I’m gonna shut it for you real quick!"
The rant immediately lit up Twitter, with many fans and media members labeling Sherman as a thug. Opinions and criticisms came from well outside the sports media bubble, too, making Sherman's character (or perceived lack thereof) a full-on national story.
Sherman expressed regret for deflecting attention from his team's huge win, but did not apologize. In fact, he responded to the insults in about the smartest, smoothest way possible.
In a press conference a few days later, the Compton, Calif., native and Stanford graduate contrasted the criticism he received with the all-out brawling that's commonplace in NHL games. Then he went a step further.
"The only reason it bothers me is because it seems like it's the accepted way of calling somebody the N-word nowadays," he said, adding later about the T-word: "You fight it for so long, and to have it come back up and people start to use it again, it's frustrating."
You may not agree with Sherman's assertion there, but it's certainly an intellectually developed and thought-provoking response to the controversy.
Indeed, of late, Sherman's media presence more resembles a puppeteer pulling marionette strings than some crude street thug.
Consider this: The day after after Sherman's post-game rant, Sports Illustrated's website recorded its highest traffic day in history, attracting more than 4.3 million unique visitors behind a powerful column reflecting on what we'd like to call Shermquake.
The author of that column? Richard Sherman himself, writing his regular installment for SI's NFL-only site.
"I show passion on the football field — but that’s only a small part of who I am," Sherman wrote. "If you want to judge me, I can handle it."
That's a fairly sophisticated line of thought compared to some of the drivel Sherman had to deal with from reporters in Tuesday's media scrum that he so perfectly captured on camera. One reporter asked him something about NFL players "making it rain" on strippers. Again, Sherman delivered a measured, thoughtful response in the face of an off-the-mark sentiment:

But Sherman may have saved his best bit of media mastery for last, in a column he penned for Sports Illustrated this week titled "10 Things I Learned After America Learned About Me." In the piece, Sherman is thoughtful, analytical, insightful — even contrite.
Sherman's first "lesson" quotes the Austrian car designer Irvin Himmel and brings the entire narrative back to where it all started with Sherman's shocking post-game rant. "No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is," reads the quote from Himmel.
"If I could pass a lesson on to the kids it would be this: Don’t attack anybody," Sherman writes afterward. "I shouldn’t have attacked Michael Crabtree the way I did. You don’t have to put anybody else down to make yourself bigger."
Pretty remorseful and compassionate coming from someone critics are so quick to call a "thug."
Here's one more thing Sherman could have added to his "10 Things I Learned" piece if he wasn't so busy being introspective and humble: Richard Sherman owns the media. All of us. He jumps, we freak out about how high, then he brings back sanity and perspective. He's the star on the field and the star off the field, whether writing, talking or even photographing.
It's Richard Sherman's world and the rest of us are just his puppets — at least, that is, until Super Bowl Sunday, when what happens on the field matters again.