Did Roger Goodell Get To Warren Sapp?
April 9th, 2012
The past couple of weeks haven’t been pleasant for former Bucs great Warren Sapp.
The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle found himself embroiled in a national controversy when he fingered Jeremy Shockey, perhaps wrongly, as a whistleblower in the Saints bounty scandal.
Then, news was released that Sapp had filed for bankruptcy, owing millions of dollars to various creditors, including the IRS and child support payments.
Hours later, word leaked that Sapp, who hasn’t been on NFL Network in recent days, likely will not be retained by NFL Network when his contract expires in August. The thought is he’s gone, in part, because of the Shockey controversy, which some believe violated federal statutes protecting whistleblowers.
Not a good last couple of weeks.
Now, Joe has learned that Sapp is changing his Twitter handle. On face value, this may be nothing at all. But consider his Twitter handle was “@QBKilla.” Not exactly politically correct in this current world of the NFL as we know it.
When pundits, fans and very likely NFL warden commissioner Rogeer Goodell were left blanched by the Gregg William audio of him encouraging his Saints troops to maim various 49ers offensive stars, touting a Twitter handle that glorifies destroying quarterbacks may not be kosher any longer for an NFL employee.
So now if you go to that handle, Sapp admits he is shutting it down.
@QBKilla: Changed my handle to @WarrenSapp
This makes Joe wonder if Sapp, trying to win back favor with suits in the NFL and the NFL Network, decided to go PC and change his handle, to show he is sensitive to the changing NFL standards and does not advocate violence against signal-callers.
The timing of Sapp’s move is very curious indeed.
April 9th, 2012 at 8:07 am
Defensive End??
April 9th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Lol
April 9th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Bobby:
Sigh. This is what happens when Joe posts at 2 a.m. 🙁
April 9th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Very interesting article… Now where is the newest article on Claiborne vs Richardson? I’m ready!
April 9th, 2012 at 9:14 am
Sapp was great presence on the field representing the Bucs. He was the foce of a rejuvinated and powerful team. Since retiring, he has not blossomed into the media presence other have. His calling Shockey a snitch was very bad form. After all, the accusations against Greg Williams and his players involve intentionally injuring other players. If Sapp truly was the type of player that would’ve vocally questioned a coach delivering those kind of words (and I believe Warren would’ve spoken out in said meeting), he shouldn’t view Shockey, or whomever blew the whistle on this, as a snitch/rat, but as a good person.
Sapp is in over his head and thinks everyone wants him to act on TV that way he conducted himself on the field. Sapp is a smart person, but in this situation, he has been terribly misguided.
April 9th, 2012 at 9:18 am
@QBDisrupter was already taken by GMC.
April 9th, 2012 at 9:22 am
@miguel
Hilarious
April 9th, 2012 at 9:26 am
Sapp is Sapp, always good for something we can argue about. If sacking a QB is not killing his game, I don’t know what is. As for the bounty, what is going to happen to the players that collected or tried to do it? Not one word has been said, why?
I watch him to see what he is going to say next. As for the so called outing, will we ever know what really happened and, in my opinion, the person that did it is a hero because wrong is wrong. I wonder if the Saint’s coach who had his leg broken was retaliation for this scheme? This could be another Sappism. I like him.
April 9th, 2012 at 9:43 am
OB:
Goodell is negotiating with the NFLPA for the penalties. Good bet Jonathan Vilma is screwed, otherwise, why would the Saints go shopping for so many LBs?
April 9th, 2012 at 10:03 am
I feel bad for him.. he’s my second all time Buc (Derrick Brooks is my first), but there are no excuses for wasting all that money!… come on Sapp
April 9th, 2012 at 10:05 am
Has been making 45K per month with NFL Network.
Amazing that guys cant make stuff like that work.
Id be singing the company tune (no matter what it was) from the top of my lungs to protect that kind of gig.
April 9th, 2012 at 10:26 am
Joe, isn’t it possible that Sapp changed his twitter name in order to gain more name recognition in preparation for a move to espn, radio or his own thing?
Personally, I think people are being too sensitive on him ousting Shockey. I haven’t missed that Pro Football Talk is now doing everything they can to shoft blame away from the Saints players or the organization.
April 9th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Pete:
Do you really believe Sapp needs name recognition in order to get another sports gig?
April 9th, 2012 at 10:33 am
“The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle found himself embroiled in a national controversy when he fingered Jeremy Shockey, perhaps wrongly”
Wow Joe, did you really have to say that?!?!?
April 9th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Joe & Pete
When you have to go to a union to see what kinds of penaties you can give for, what I believe borders on criminal actions, this type of action, says what is wrong with the country today, lack of b*lls and leadership.
April 9th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
His twitter handle doesn’t matter. It’s what inside the tweets.
Take Morris Claiborne, for example. He tweeted “$$$$$ :-)”. That right shows how immature he is and why the Bucs should not draft him.
“$$$$ :-)” may have been acceptable, but “$$$$$ :-)”? That just goes too far.
OK, maybe “$$$$$ ;-)” would be acceptable too. But it doesn’t amtter. He tweeted “$$$$$ :-)” and that’s that. The Bucs need to look elsewhere.
April 9th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Sapp is a shrewd businessman with a lawyer. Odds are Sapper knew he was going to be sued for defamation of character or worse from Shockey and likely not retained by NFL network. A pre-emptive bankruptcy claim minimizes the cash Shockey will be able to demand and not having a $500K plus job should make any lawyer take a second look at the benefits of suing.
April 9th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
FloridaGirl:
Joe thought the same thing and asked a heavy-hitter attorney about this.
1. Shockey doesn’t have much of a case.
2. Sapp’s debts are very real, as is his lack of income.
The fact that Sapp owes more than he is worth much less what he makes proves he’s anything but a shrewd businessman.
April 9th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
I just hope I don’t see Sapp on tv wearing a dress selling weight watchers. Im looking at you Barkley…
April 9th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
@Joe
“Do you really believe Sapp needs name recognition in order to get another sports gig?”
–
I think we know him pretty well as QBKilla…but the rest of the sports fans? Maybe not. Having a twitter the same as your name simplifies things so that fringe fans can find you. It’s also what many of the established media pros do.