If you thought Terrell Owens was furious about missing the Hall of Fame the past two years, just wait until you hear how former NFL defensive end Simeon Rice feels about never having been named a finalist.
Rice got into it with Andrew Fillipponi, who was filling in as host of “The DA Show,” in an interview on CBS Sports Radio Monday night. What began as Rice stating his case for the Hall of Fame ended with the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer hurling a vulgar phrase at Filliponi.
“I try not to be overwhelmed with those type of things that I cannot control, but I felt like I did enough in my career to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, let alone being a nominee the last two or three years,” Rice said. “It’s just ridiculous to me. I was the best of my era. … I didn’t have a rival where I could say, ‘Wow, this guy was able to stop me.’ Every All-Pro I ever played up against, I had a stellar performance against. It was me and the field. That’s what it is.”
Asked why he believes he has not received much Hall of Fame consideration, Rice chalked it up to him being a forgotten man.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” he said. “There was nobody impacting the game like I was, but as time moves on you can’t remember. You (Filliponi) can’t even remember Warren Sapp’s speech. You can’t even remember Derrick Brooks’ speech, and they talked about me.”
After about 10 minutes of arguing, Filliponi and Rice basically agreed to disagree. Filliponi told Rice, who will turn 43 on Friday, to enjoy his birthday week. In response to that, Rice told Filliponi to “suck a d—” and hung up the phone.
If you remember, Rice’s former teammate Warren Sapp said a few years back that Rice should be in the Hall of Fame over Michael Strahan, though Sapp is a known Strahan critic. Strahan ranks sixth in the NFL all time with 141.5 sacks, while Rice is 19th with 122. Rice presented the same argument on Monday for himself over Strahan, saying Strahan benefitted from the New York Giants moving him to left defensive end so he could go against lesser offensive linemen.
Owens recently went to war with some members of the media on Twitter over his Hall of Fame snub, but we don’t think he has gotten quite as aggressive as Rice yet. You can listen to Rice’s full interview below:
