Darren Sharper and Visanthe Shiancoe Trading Barbs Prior to Season Opener

Even though we’re still more than three months from the kickoff of the upcoming NFL season, it’s never too early to start talking trash. The Saints and Vikings will open the season on Sept. 9th in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game and are already trading barbs. Why is that the case? Because Mr. I won’t retire til I’m 60 years old, Brett Favre, has decided to get the ankle surgery that doctors told him he would need if he wanted to play football again. Apparently the Saints plan to take full advantage of Favre’s repaired ankle — Saints safetey Darren Sharper said that “X marks the spot” in terms of the QB’s ankle. Ouch. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

Sharper’s comments angered Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and that led to him firing back to Sharper in these comments to the media on Thursday:

“Sharper had surgery, too. And it was the knee.” So if ‘X’ marks the spot on Brett, I wonder what would mark the spot on Sharper? I know which one it is. I know exactly which one it is.”

Oh but that’s not all. Of course Sharper had to retaliate right? He snapped back with this comments via his Twitter page:

“So visanthe stankoe X marks the spot on me, how bout X marks the spot for how many catches and TDs you’ll have come Thursday night. X = zero.”

Now Darren, there’s no need for name calling. But does anyone else sense the bad blood between these former teammates? I don’t know about anyone else but this makes me more pumped for the NFL season opener than I was before. And I quite frankly didn’t think that was possible.

In the end, I truly believe that’s the main goal of these players. The trash talking gets the media buzzing and it generates more publicity and anticipation for big games (not that they really needed it). Whatever happens we can defiantly expect a fast-paced, hard hitting game between two great teams. I just hope those Super Bowl rings don’t weigh down the Saints’ hands too much.

Sources:
Saints, Vikings Start Trash Talk Early [ESPN]
Darren Sharper’s Twitter Page