First Person

Warren Sapp, Raiders Defensive End

"This team has never had a guy like me." Pablo Aguilar/NFL

• Sapp on loyalty

No such thing between a team and a player.

• On how the Bucs treated him

Contract honored. No more no less. I had nine great seasons in Tampa. I made the all-rookie team, I made seven straight Pro Bowls, and I collected $40 million. There's no animosity. The only thing that sets me on edge is that for all the time me and Gruden spent face-to-face, he didn't have the nuts to say, 'Warren, you just ain't in our plans anymore.' I would've took that a lot better than no call at all.

• On moving

I got out here and my six-year-old girl, Mercedes, said, 'I miss my old school.' It broke my heart. I said, 'Well, Momma....' and looked to my wife, and she said, 'Well, you get two sets of friends.' We tell Mercedes she gets two sets of everything. And we're going back to Tampa to finish the school year.

• On his ex-teammates

We sweat and bled together. Ronde, Alstott, Brad, Lynch, Booger, Jurevicius. We went on too many long journeys together to all of a sudden not talk anymore just because I'm wearing the Silver and Black.

• On living in San Francisco instead of Oakland

Why would I not live in the city? It's like New York instead of New Jersey. It's a reverse commute too. The best part is the food. There's a sushi spot in the Castro I like. I want to be treated like every other customer. It's why I go to sushi restaurants. They don't care who I am.

• On whether he's over the hill

How can I be? Any O-line that's playing the Raiders, I guarantee they put 99 on the board and say this is the man we must block. That's why I play. The respect of my peers. Whether I'll get into the Hall of Fame is for someone else to decide. I'm just going to keep laying the bricks in the road and hope the road leads to Canton.

-- As told to Josh Elliott

SAPP, 31, IS SIXTH IN SACKS AMONG ACTIVE PLAYERS. (HE SHARED ONE LAST WEEK.) OAKLAND (1-1) HOSTS THE BUCS (0-2) THIS SUNDAY.

Issue date: September 27, 2004