Marshall apologizes to Sapp ... sort of

SHARE Marshall apologizes to Sapp ... sort of

Some schisms just can’t be repaired.

Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall admitted on Wednesday that he tried to reach some sort of resolution with former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Warren Sapp in their social media war of words from earlier this week, but it’s a cold war that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

“That thing started like a year ago,” Marshall explained in his weekly press conference. “It was actually Sterling Sharpe that made a comment and I made a comment back last year. It took me by surprise last year.

“I will say that if I could do it again, I really meant everything I said, but I think it would have helped [Sapp] more if I would have kept it private. I apologize to Warren Sapp for saying that publicly. Like I said, I meant everything I said, but where I’m at in my life, you know, I need to learn from that and keep that privately. It started off as something he said publicly, and then I talked to him a little bit privately over e-mail, and it didn’t go the way we wanted it to. We’ll both learn from this and be better men.”

Sharpe questioned Marshall’s effort on a play last season, and after Marshall fired back on the former player, and NFL Network analyst, it seemed like that was the end of it. But last week on the “The Dan Patrick Show,” Sapp, also with the NFL Network, called Marshall a “retard” for even going back at Sharpe.

According to Marshall, he sent several e-mails to Sapp to discuss the matter, but whatever was said in those e-mails must have simply added fuel to the fire. That’s when Marshall took to his Twitter account and posted two videos, with the first one providing the most damage on the scorecard.

“Listen, I got a very disturbing heads-up on something, Warren Sapp called me retarded,” Marshall said in a video. “That’s really disappointing to hear that from an NFL legend, but I’m going to take this as a lesson, and I think we can all learn from this: Be very careful who you take advice from. You want to surround yourself with good people, Godly people. When I look at Warren Sapp, I can’t go to him and talk about finances because he filed for bankruptcy. I can’t go to him and talk about my marriage because he filed for divorce. I can’t go to him and talk to about being a great father when one day I have children because he’s not active in his children’s life. So the lesson we should all learn here is surround yourself with good people and be careful who you take counsel from. I’m not saying he’s been there on my side giving me counsel, but that’s not a guy that I can go to. You know, football doesn’t make us. There’s more to life than just playing football, so make sure you have a great balance in your life and surround yourself with good people. And guys like Warren Sapp, you know, I feel sorry for. Hopefully one day he’ll change his life, we’ll pray for him and instead of using words to destroy, he’ll use words to uplift. So God bless you guys and have a great day.”

Marshall reiterated that he did try talking to Sapp in e-mails before posting the videos, but has not spoken to him since.

As far as the Bears receiver following that television personality road Sharpe and Sapp have taken, this experience has maybe soured that.

“Some people say I have the talent to do that job when I’m maybe done, but it will be really tough for me because I know that when it is all said and done, I wasn’t perfect. I didn’t play perfect football,” Marshall added. “You definitely have to critic and give constructive criticism, but when criticize guys like you’ve never made mistakes before it just puts you in a bad position. I wish there was another way to do it, I know there is another way to do it, but would expect a lot from guys that have played the game before and understand how tough it is mentally and physically week in and week out, so like I said, we definitely need to use our words, whether you are a football player or not, to uplift and not to destroy because our tone is so powerful.”

The Latest
Glass-facade buildings can disorient birds in flight. The city is expected to update and revise rules for new developments and rehabbed buildings next month. But bird groups say the proposed guidelines need to be mandatory.
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.