Warren Sapp: Michael Strahan falls short of Hall of Fame
Warren Sapp said he doesn't think Michael Strahan is a Hall of Famer -- at least on the first ballot. Credit: AP
NEWARK -- Warren Sapp was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year, and Michael Strahan is among the favorites to join him when this year's class is voted upon Saturday.
But if Sapp had any say in it -- which he does not -- his fellow defensive lineman would have to continue waiting.
"I don't think his resume stacks up when you put Tony Dungy, Walter Jones, Marvin Harrison and Derrick Brooks up," the NFL Network analyst told Newsday on Tuesday. "Those are four first-ballot Hall of Famers."
Strahan and Sapp have a history dating to at least 2002, when the summer after Strahan set the single-season sack record at 221/2 on what appeared to be a dive by Packers quarterback Brett Favre, Sapp called the record a "travesty" and Strahan called Sapp "a jackass."
The tensions have simmered since, and flared again on Tuesday.
Said Sapp: "When you stack it up and he only has four straight Pro Bowls and a mythical sack record that y'all still walk around like it's something to be praised -- I mean y'all have got to get off your high horse in New York and speak about the real.
"And when you really measure him up, he comes up short."
Sapp wasn't through, adding, "Y'all don't take that same critical eye as when you're looking at somebody else. Oh, it's Michael, aww, he's our guy, he's on TV with Kelly [Ripa] and oh, he's such a good guy!
"I thought you got into the Hall because your resume stacked up with the echoes of the game, not just the good, the great. And four straight Pro Bowls [is good], but it ain't great."
Strahan, appearing later with fellow FOX analysts, mostly declined to return fire but did say, "I don't respond to him because the tiger does not pay attention to the opinion of a sheep."
Informed that Sapp suggested he is a product of New York media hype, Strahan said sarcastically, "I am. I'm all hype. I lasted 15 years on all hype, 1411/2 career sacks -- all hype . . . Yeah, I was all hype."
Strahan added, "I'm not a coward to talk to somebody else when I have somebody's number. I'm going to come to you and tell you if I have a problem, so I don't understand what this whole thing is about."
