I’m OD’ing on Marshawn Lynch right now. Blame it on the Bay in me. But in the runup to this weekend’s Super Bowl, he’s put his blackness — and, by extension’s, Oakland’s — on full display. He sees right through the NFL’s media spectacle, and he’s making it his own. It’s a strategy that’s helped him win over plenty of NFL fans like myself, who are fed up with the league’s hypocrisy.

As Andrew Sharp pointed out at Grantland, "None of this is proof that Lynch is some kind of saint, but he’s never pretended he is. That alone makes him more honest than dozens of professional athletes… What we know about Marshawn Lynch already makes him more three-dimensional than almost anyone else we’ll hear from over the next few days." Here’s a collection of my favorite moments:

"Shout out to my real Africans out there!"

 

"Shout out Oakland, California" "Shout out Westbrook" "Shout out my teammates" "Shout out to my real Africans out there" – Marshawn Lynch

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 29, 2015

 

"I’m just here so I won’t get fined."

 

The next day: "You know why I’m here."

 

Today: "I care about my family, not you."

 

Stay true to your roots, Mr. Lynch.