Warren Sapp Has An Opinion Or Two

I got an email the other day about Warren Sapp being on the radio with Dan Patrick for a 20 minute interview. I hadn't heard about it since I don't listen to Patrick, but was happy to learn that he archives his shows as mp3 podcasts so that I can go through them and listen to as little of his voice as possible. Here's the one with Sapp on it. There's other non-football stuff on there, too, but you can skip over that. Sapp's segment starts at 14:23. If you don't feel like downloading the whole thing, here's a very abbreviated and summarized version of it. But you really have to hear Sapp's voice to get the full experience.

Will Sapp come back?
No, not for Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Rod Marinelli... no one. Not even as just a third down pass rusher. "Thank you but no thank you."

Funniest thing that happened between him and Brett Favre?
Favre used the number 99 as part of a play call last year against the Raiders. Sapp could read his lips in the huddle and couldn't believe Favre was so brazen as to actually name the play after him, knowing he was going to run it to his side. Sapp called out that the play was going left before the ball was snapped and Favre busted out laughing.

Spygate:
"If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying." Sounds like he spent one too many seasons in the Raider locker room.

Then Patrick starts in on Sapp about him falling in the draft because of cocaine and Sapp lays into him hard. This is such old news; I can't believe Patrick even brought the subject up. "And if it wasn't for Brady Quinn and Aaron Rodgers ... I'd still be the poster child for a draft day fall." This is a fascinating part of the interview because despite Sapp's assertion that he doesn't mind talking about it, it's obviously a sore spot with him.

Then he backhandedly threatens Chris Mortensen.

On whether Al Davis is still really in charge of the Raiders:
"Don't kid yourself because you see the man with a walker; it's just his legs. There's nothing wrong with his brain."

On why Randy Moss is no longer a Raider:
The game had passed Art Shell and Tom Walsh by (the Raiders did not even have a three step drop in their playbook that year.) Tom Walsh is the reason Randy Moss is not with the Raiders anymore.

On Chad Johnson:
He disagrees with what Chad is doing but he understands why he feels like he has to do it. "At some point you have to realize that you're just an empty red wagon making a lot of noise and you did sign a legally binding contract. So either go to work or shut up."

Biggest career regrets:
"Didn't finish it in Tampa, didn't get 100, didn't catch Lee Roy."

Does he like Jon Gruden?
"Love him."

Why didn't he finish in Tampa?
"Monte Kiffin made a decision that he and Rod Marinelli picked McFarland and Gruden asked if they were sure and they said yeah, so they signed him."

Did he ever feel bad after a sack?
One time he and Steve White sacked Chris Chandler and he accidentally kicked Chandler in the head while standing back up.

They covered a couple other topics that I didn't touch on here, so when you have a few free minutes, listen to the whole thing. I especially like Sapp's answer to whether or not he liked Gruden. Members of the Tampa media (you know who you are) love portraying Gruden as a guy who can't get along with players and that the players secretly hate. And time and again, they keep coming back saying Gruden is a good guy.

Anyway, Sapp sounds happy with his decision and really needs to pursue a career in television somewhere. Maybe ESPN. That way he'd get to share an elevator with Chris Mortensen, who very likely would have to start carrying a change of underwear in his briefcase.