'Hell of a game:' Hear the exclusive audio that Richard Sherman says validates him

SEATTLE -- For the first time, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman's side of the story is revealed in an exclusive recording the public hasn't heard from the field.

Q13 FOX News was given exclusive access to audio recorded from a microphone Sherman was wearing during the NFC Championship on Sunday. That microphone captured what happened moments before the interview with FOX Sport's Erin Andrews that sparked a national firestorm.

Sherman wrote an editorial for Sports Illustrated on Monday. Sherman explained he approached San Francisco 49ers Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree, patted him, and reached out his hand saying, "good game, good game." Crabtree responded by shoving Sherman in the face.

From what we see and hear, it appears Sherman was trying to be a good sport.

Listen to the interaction:



The entire Richard Sherman MIC'ed Up segment will air on Seahawks Saturday Night at 9:30 p.m. on JOEtv and 10:30 p.m. on Q13 FOX.

Sherman says he's surprised by all the attention his postgame comments received and that he would have approached it differently because it took the focus away from his teammates.

In the recording, Sherman says, "Hell of a game. Hell of a game."

That audio seems to corroborate what he wrote in Sports Illustrated -- that he was trying to reach out to Crabtree and shake his hand, only to be shoved in the face.

Sherman says he has not reached out to Crabtree since the game.

"They'll understand that there wasn't malice or anything when I was running up to him," Sherman said. "Obviously it was bad timing I guess, but I knew that was the game and after those games there wasn't a lot of handshakes."

From the scene at a Seahawks press conference Wednesday, the attention on Sherman is at an all-time high -- with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away.



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