Michael Strahan Blasts Warren Sapp for Hall of Fame Comments
Michael Strahan Blasts Warren Sapp for Hall of Fame Comments

Cesar Tordesillas

New York, NY

Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan voiced out that doesn't care if Hall of Fame member Warren Sapp doesn't think he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

"The tiger does not pay attention to the opinion of the sheep," he quipped.

Strahan, one of 15 finalists for Saturday's Pro Football Hall of Fame election, blasted Sapp's attitude as cowardly for not directing the issue towards him.

"If you have a problem with me, I'm the type of guy you come and talk to me. 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." Strahan said via the New York Daily News.

Strahan also fired back against Sapp's assertion that his Hall of Fame candidacy is hyped up by media.

"I am. I'm all hype," Strahan said. "I lasted 15 years, all hype. I had 141.5 career sacks, all hype. I was always a starter. I played left end, and that made me get sacks. My coaches kept putting me in the game because they felt it gave us the best chance to win, and that was all hype."

He also dismissed Sapp's comments as irrelevant since he doesn't have a vote.

Sapp, who was elected to the Hall of Fame last year, spoke at Super Bowl Media Day in Newark on Tuesday and said Strahan's résumé is not impressive enough.

He has been critical of Strahan's single-season sack record of 22.5 since Strahan set it in 2001 on a play on which Packers quarterback Brett Favre appeared to take a dive.

"Four straight Pro Bowls and a mythical sack record. When you really measure it up, he comes up short, except you all are giving it to him," noted Sapp, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass-rusher.

He added that Tony Dungy, Walter Jones, Marvin Harrison and Derrick Brooks are more deserving candidates on this year's ballot.

Strahan insisted that he's not giving much thought to Saturday's election and that he wasn't crushed last year when he failed to make it into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

"Football was part of my life, but it is not my entire life," . "So for some guys, maybe that's their entire life and that's all they have to hold onto. Playing football, sacking quarterbacks, that was part of my life, and I did it and I moved on."

He points out that he's extremely busy co-hosting his ABC morning talk show, "Live" with Kelly Ripa and Fox Sports' Sunday NFL pregame show.

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Michael Strahan Blasts Warren Sapp for Hall of Fame Comments