Friday night, at the hilariously named Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Undisputed host Shannon Sharpe got into a verbal altercation that nearly turned physical. Sharpe, who sat courtside, was seen jawing off with a handful of Memphis Grizzlies players, including Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Ja Morant, and Morant's father, Tee. Apparently, Sharpe said Brooks was too little to guard LeBron James, the two exchanged expletives and that’s how the ruckus got started. After the game, a reporter asked Brooks about the kerfuffle and he called Sharpe a “regular pedestrian” and a “blogger.” A photo of an irritated, cardigan-sporting Sharpe taken after the commotion quickly got the meme treatment.
Sharpe is far from what most might consider a “regular pedestrian”—he’s a Hall of Fame NFL tight end, one of the best to ever play the position. Not to mention, he revolutionized the tight end’s role in the passing game akin to how Steph Curry revolutionized the three ball in basketball. If you’re gonna trash Sharpe, you can’t act like he’s a “regular pedestrian”; you just sound foolish. Just ask DK Metcalf.
You could call Sharpe a has-been. An old man. A number of things—but we gotta stop acting like he’s not a whole-ass legend, even if today he’s a host of one of the worst sports programs on the air. Another thing to consider before engaging in a war of words with Shannon Sharpe is that he was also a Hall of Fame shit talker. The thing about running your mouth is you’re just as good at it whether you’re 54 or 24.
Urban legend has it that Sharpe once got the late great Derrick Thomas to commit three personal fouls in a couple of minutes because he recited the linebacker’s girlfriend’s phone number to him. There’s also a pretty brutal story about a comment he made when a student in one of his classes had trouble reading. Those are a lot worse than getting the “too small” taunt, which probably happens more over the course of your average NBA game than players flopping. It doesn’t seem like that’s cause for a potential fight.
Sharpe has since apologized for his part in having tempers flare to a point where some bows might get thrown, saying he should have “lowered the temperature in the arena.” He was wrong for allowing things to boil over to a point where a fight could have possibly ensued and doubly wrong for the fact that it looks like he was welcoming of the possibility in the heat of the moment. Many men have succumbed to Sharpe’s poetic venom, but what he allegedly said definitely wasn’t worth all that.
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