MIAMI – Media Day is a circus that has more rings than Mean Joe Greene. The barker with the loudest coat, the longest baton was Shannon Sharpe, so naturally we stepped right up to a Big Top performance that, frankly, not even Deion Sanders ever topped at the Super Bowl.
On the Dallas Cowboys: “They were considered America’s Team. Now they are considered America’s Most Wanted Team and we’re America’s Team. The champ is always America’s Team, When Secretariat was out 21 lengths, nobody was running to the windows to bet on the second-place horse.”
On his season: “Think about what I’ve done. I got a guy suspended [Derrick Thomas], one guy cut [Wayne Simmons]. One coach resigned [Marty Schottenheimer] and another thought about resigning [Jimmy Johnson]. I’m pretty good. I might need to go into politics.”
On what team’s skin he penetrated the most effectively: “Oh, Kansas City by far. We went 65 yards on that drive and 50 of them were in penalties. All we had to do was walk to the line and let the referee step off 15 paces. I’d say something again and [Thomas] would grab my facemask and they’d walk off 15 more.”
When the P.A. announced there were 30 minutes to go in the Broncos’ session and that media buses would be at Gate H: “I hate to be interrupted while I’m talking.”
On how it is in the home locker room at Pro Player Stadium, where, as he predicted, the Dolphins have been “run out of their own home” by the Broncos for Super Bowl Week: “They have some great facilities, state of the art. They locked up their drinks though. We can’t get to the Gatorade.”
On whether he is using the locker of Dan Marino, whom Sharpe now denies calling a loser after the Broncos’ 38-3 playoff victory: “No, I’m using [Terrell] Buckley’s, I think. He does all the talking.”
On Sharpe’s reception around the league: “Most fans of other teams don’t like me. I have given them good reason.”
On whether he expects a hostile crowd Sunday as a result: “No. we got 17,500 fans, they’ve got 17,500 fans. That’s 35,000. The rest will be so drunk they don’t care who wins.”
On Falcon DB Ray Buchanan’s victory guarantee: “Before he got to Atlanta, did you ever hear of Ray Buchanan?”
On his verbal and physical matchup with Eugene Robinson: “He normally doesn’t have much to say to me because all those years he was at Seattle, we were beating his brains in. I don’t care how good you are, you can’t say anything if your team is getting pummeled.
“He doesn’t want to get into a match with me because he knows he can’t win. He can’t outtalk me and he can’t cover me. He went to Colgate, but I’m smarter than he is, too. I don’t have a Harvard degree. But I can count to a million.”
On his chosen companions in a dream dinner for four: “Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Jordan and … Hallie Berry. I would talk to Bill, Warren and Michael first, then Hallie and I would get a table in the back so those three guys could talk.”
On his gift of his Super Bowl ring to his brother Sterling, the ESPN announcer whose career was cut short by injury: “Yeah, but I’m keeping this one. And if my brother doesn’t pick us in this game, I’ll take back the one that I gave him. Last year, [the victory] was for John [Elway]. This one’s for Shannon.”
When the P.A. announced that there were 15 minutes left in the session and that the media buses would leave from Gate H: “They know. The buses leave from Gate H, you got that?”
On whether he was a Falcon fan growing up in Glennville, Ga.: “I’ve never liked the Falcons. There is nobody in my family who likes the Falcons. Why? What was there to like about them? They lost all the time. They were getting beat so bad, if you had a pair of cleats on at Fulton County [Stadium] they would put you in the ball game. For 20 bucks, you could sit in the luxury box with the owner.
“I liked the Steelers and the Raiders. My favorite players were Ozzie Newsome and Jack Lambert. Jack Lambert didn’t have any teeth and I didn’t either at the time.
On what he thinks of O.J. Santiago, the Atlanta tight end: “Who, Benito? Oh, that Santiago. Hey, that guy can move. I wish I was that big. Personally, I think he’s a better tight end than [Green Bay’s Mark] Chmura.”
On what would happen to the Falcons if Chris Chandler went down Sunday. “He must go down and he must go down hard. Of course, they would lose something, but I’m sure their backup, Billy Joe, or whoever is … hey, that’s right, it’s DeBerg! [Steve] DeBerg is their backup! How old is he, 105?”
On the development of his elocution skills: “I’ve always been a talker. You don’t just wake up one morning and say, ‘I think I want to talk a little more.’ You either have this gift or you don’t. I’m kind of good at it.”
On what gate the buses would be at when he went off to the team picture as the session ended: “That’s Gate H.”