michael crabtree richard sherman

49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree reportedly tried to fight Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman at a charity event last year. A source who was there says it was the other way around.

(Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

There's a story making the rounds about a confrontation Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman had last year with 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree.

The fuss took place after a charity softball game hosted last April by Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Sherman has since cited it as a catalyst for his fire-and-brimstone postgame rant toward Crabtree following Sunday night's NFC championship game.

According to the story, which was first reported by the Seattle Times, Crabtree tried to fight Sherman after Sherman approached him to shake his hand. At least that's what Sherman's brother, Branton, told the Times.

But a source who was at the Fitzgerald charity event—and who has no familial or professional relationship to Sherman or Crabtree—witnessed part of what happened and said it looked more like it was the other way around.

"The handshake part is legit," the source said, "but it was Sherman who tried to start the fight with Crabtree. I remember 'cause Sherman kept getting in his face and Crabtree was just laughing about it."

The incident took place at the charity game's after-party at the W. hotel in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"It goes back to something he said to me this offseason in Arizona, but you'd have to ask him about that," Sherman wrote Monday in his weekly column for the MMQB.

That's more or less what Sherman also told Michael Silver of NFL.com:

The source isn't sure what was said to trigger the kerfuffle—or who had said what. Whatever may have started it, the source said, Sherman was the one who was visibly angry that night.

"I can't shed a ton on it because I didn't hear any of it," the source said. "I actually like Richard and he was a real nice dude at the event and the game. I can only say it appeared from body language that Sherman was the instigator in it, not Crabtree."