Sapp Flaps Yap

Warren Sapp is always a good interview, and this one he did with Rick Stroud is no exception despite who was asking the questions. He covers a lot of ground, but maybe the most interesting piece is what he wrote about his relationship with Monte Kiffin.

So who was responsible for you having to leave the Bucs?

It was all of them, but Monte (Kiffin) led the charge. He said, "We can do it without him." Me and Monte had the rockiest relationship -- a stepson-to-stepfather relationship. It was always his defense, and he barked people out of the building. It was too much about him.

Kiffin always seemed like a ballbuster to me. He's throw his hat down and jump up and down to make a point, kind of like when Elmer Fudd would get tricked into shooting himself in the face for the tenth time. But I wouldn't have thought it would affect a guy like Sapp. Regardless, he handled his dismissal well at the time and still doesn't hold a grudge against the organization for letting him walk.

So how did it go down?

We've all talked about it. Monte wanted to go with Mac. Jon looks at (Rod) Marinelli, who has full faith in McFarland. What can he say? I can't fault them for what they did. I was like 30 at the time. I'd take the younger dude who looks like me on tape. What they failed to realize is they only make someone like me once in a lifetime.

When did McFarland ever look like Sapp on tape? Did he mean "in tape", as in they both got their ankles taped the same way? That's all he could possibly mean. McFarland went from promising nose tackle to terrible under tackle faster than you can say "fore!"

Sapp covers several other topics including the reason he retired, his Hall of Fame credentials and his time with the Raiders. NFL Adam covers those last two items, although he doesn't think Sapp has the resume to make it into the Hall. Hey, they can't all be Rams and Chargers.