Book Review - Sapp Attack: My Story By Warren Sapp
First a big thanks to Thomas Dunne Books for setting us up with an advance reading copy and giving us the opportunity to read Sapp Attack by Warren Sapp and David Fisher. The cover of the book really says it all "Big Man, Big Mouth, Big Laughs" Warren Sapp was definitely a great football player and most likely a future hall of famer, but I think most non football fans have heard of Warren because of his "big mouth"
I was afraid to put this book on my bookshelf in fear it would intimidate the other unread books waiting for me to read, similar to how Warren intimidated opposing offensive lineman and Quarterbacks. The book is just over 300 pages and even with me being a slow reader I finished the book in just 5 days. As a 27 year old male who was a Vikings fan I grew up watching Warren terrorize our QBs so I was pretty familiar with the early part of his career, never forgetting the time the Bucs beat the Vikings for their only regular season loss in 1998.
The book goes a little more in depth of what most of us already knew. He loves Tony Dungy and Derrick Brooks and thought Keyshawn Johnson was a diva. If you were a Bucs fan growing up this is a must read, but I think the same goes if you were a football fan in the late 90's and early 2000's. The book sometimes was hard to follow because it jumped around a lot, but it was definitely a lot of fun to read.
Anyone who has seen Tony Dungy on TV or read any of his books knows that Dungy is a strong Christian who seems like a great guy, Warren felt no different about him. At one point in the book he says “I’d take a bullet for Tony Dungy, but I wouldn’t take a paper cut for Wyche”, referring to Sam Wyche who was the Buccaneers coach during his rookie year. Like many other football fans Warren also acknowledged that Dungy had a huge part in the Buccaneers Super Bowl win in 2003, saying, "I always said that Tony Dungy put the damn cake in the oven, and then Jon Gruden came in and put the icing on it. Of course, Sam Wyche couldn't even get the mix out of the box."
If I have one big complaint with the book it's that Warren was quick to throw the media under the bus when it came to his failed drug tests and them not seeking out the facts, but he was quick to label Jeremy Shockey as a snitch when it came to the New Orleans Saints bounty program going public.