Mike Sherman and racism are just noise - simplify it and look at the real issue. Sapp deliberately targeted a player who was obviously not going to have an impact on the play, and delivered a vicious hit. Spare me the bull**** about it being legal - it was gutless and dangerous. I don't care about all these other hits that occur every week in the NFL, or in NFL Classic films - we are talking about THIS one. Clifton was jogging towards the play which was half the field away and was completely blindsided. He is an O-lineman who is not used to playing in the open field, further out of his comfort zone because there was a turnover. The celebration after the play is just sickening. Clifton is still in Hospital in Tampa. There are lots of things in life that are wrong but still within the rules.
The hit was legal. Sapp was celebrating that his teammate had just made a big defensive play. I think everybody has there underwear in a bunch because Clifton got hurt. Over a month ago, the bucs played th rams on MNF. Towards the end of the game Kurt Warner threw a INT to Brooks. Sapp was covering Brooks while he tried to go for the endzone. Meanwhile Warner was going to tackle Brooks and Sapp delivered the same exact hit to Warner that he put on Clifton. Warner got up and was fine,Sapp celebrated that his guy made a big defensive play, and Mike Martz didn't run after Sapp once the game ended. Nobody complained.
So you're saying a poor guy can blindside a rich guy and nearly paralyze him because the rich guy has money? Or you don't see anything wrong with a cheap shot because both guys have money and poor people get abused? What's the logic in that? Sherman didn't challenge Sapp, he told Sapp to screw off, and who could blame him? Just because there is no penalty doesn't mean it wasn't dirty.
If they want to get Sapp back, they should chop block him. Have on guy block him high and hold him up, and have somebody else come and cut him.
Sapp went up to Sherman to shake his hand and Sherman cussed him. Not only was there no penalty, more importantly there was no fine or suspension from the league office. I still haven't seen one former player on television say it was a dirty hit.
Here's the response from the Packer's offensive line coach: http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2002/1126/1467121.html Beightol: Pack won't cut Sapp any more slack -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESPN.com news services Packers offensive line coach Larry Beightol agreed that Warren Sapp did not break any NFL rules with his hit on Chad Clifton on Sunday. Beightol, however, was livid about the hit and believes it was unnecessary. And Beightol went a step further, saying that when the Packers play the Buccaneers again, they will retaliate against Sapp -- in a legal manner. Sapp made an aggressive -- and legal -- hit on Clifton during an interception return in Sunday's game. Clifton, a standout left tackle, will miss the rest of the season and may have spinal damage. The NFL declined to discipline Sapp, ruling the hit was within the rules. After the game, Packers coach Mike Sherman confronted Sapp about the hit, and the two had to be separated. The Bucs won the game 21-7. Beightol says he called Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin to let him know how upset he was -- and still is -- with Sapp's hit. "It's not a cheap shot, but there has to be something where these players look out for each other," Beightol told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday. "There will be other games. There will be other times. Like the saying goes, every dog has his day. We'll see about him. "Everyone is fair game. When we see him again, we'll see how that dog fares. We'll cut him every single time. I want him to know that." Beightol said in the past he told his linemen to block Sapp up high and avoid high-risk cut blocks that could lead to injury. He said that went out the window when Sapp hit Clifton in what he considered an unnecessary play. "There's no need for that," Beightol told the newspaper. "If he's a big, tough, hard-nosed guy, then mix it up in the trenches. I told Monte that we didn't cut him because we didn't want to ruin their season. If we play them again, he's fair game. Somewhere we'll see him." The Packers and Bucs are not scheduled to meet again during the regular season. However, they may very well square off in the playoffs.
Damn, what do you guys want me to do take it back? My response was to the general nature of the thread, Warren Sapp is not the classiest, but is far from an embarrassment. That's all...nothing else.
"You will admit that you have consorted with Sapp, that you fly on a broomstick, and that, in short you are a witch! Otherwise, this court will have no choice but to burn you and your sinful flesh at the freethrow line. Now, sir, admit your crimes!" Or, um, NO, don't take it back, because I and a bunch of other people agree with your very basic original points, actually.
All this thread has done is make me want to suit up and hit somebody. And this after I thought I had it out of my system.
Ahhh creativity, that's the thing that I miss most about this place, verrrrry nice Bob (I think I'll change my vote!). As for you RIM... DOWN...SET...
Sapp wasn't celebrating an injury. In any case, I'm not sure I approve. But I can't help but notice... ....the majority of players who have commented don't seem to put Sapp in the wrong.
Interesting piece on Sapp in CNNSI. Gotta say I agree with the authors sentiments. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/dr_z/news/2002/11/27/drz_insider/
Found this on ESPN's website, take it for what it is worth: Report: Sapp says he didn't celebrate hit -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESPN.com news services Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said on his weekly radio show he didn't mean to cause Packers left offensive tackle Greg Clifton to miss the rest of the season, according to a report Thursday from The Tampa Tribune. "You know I don't want the man in the hospital or anything like that,'' Sapp said during his weekly show on WQYK, 1010-AM. "This was the second play in my career that I wish the man would have got up and walked off the field under his own power. I would have loved for the guy to have gotten up and walked off the field.'' Sapp was referring to the block he made on Clifton during Brian Kelly's return of a third-quarter interception that set up Tampa Bay's go-ahead touchdown this past Sunday in the Bucs' 21-7 victory. Clifton was pursuing Kelly, but was not close to him. Sapp admitted on his show that he didn't celebrate after delivering the hit on Clifton, the newspaper reported. "I didn't dance over the man,'' Sapp said. "I'm not over the top of this man. It wasn't like I was standing over this man doing a dance. I didn't know he had numbness and all this going on in his life. I never gloated. "When I hit this man, I knew I had delivered the shot. But I didn't know to that extent. I don't want that. I wanted him to feel it cause that's why I delivered the shot. But it's not about malice.'' ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli reported Tuesday that Clifton would miss the rest of the season, according to Green Bay officials and a source close to the third-year veteran. Packers coach Mike Sherman, who confronted Sapp after the game, hinted in his postgame interview that the team's starting left offensive tackle might be out for a prolonged period. Clifton remained in a Tampa-area hospital Wednesday with a serious pelvis injury. He is in severe pain and can't yet walk, but fears of spinal damage have being alleviated, Sherman said. "The numbness that he has may have been the result of spasms or possible disc (damage),'' Sherman said. The NFL has ruled the hit by Sapp on Clifton was legal.
