Shannon Sharpe

Shannon Sharpe (born June 26, 1968) is a former American Football tight end who played for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. Sharpe is known for his creative commentary and in depth understanding of the intricacies of the professional game. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and inducted on August 6, 2011. Sharpe played 12 seasons for the Broncos (1990–99, 2002–03) and two years with the Ravens (2000–01), winning three Super Bowls and finishing his career as the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions (815), receiving yards (10,060) and receiving touchdowns (62) by a tight end until Tony Gonzalez surpassed all three of these records, including breaking his total yardage record on October 5, 2008. Sharpe holds the distinction of being the first tight end ever to amass over 10,000 receiving yards. Shannon was also named a member of the NFL's first team All-Decade team of the 1990s. On retirement he is considered to be one of the greatest tight ends ever.

Early life
Shannon, the younger brother of former NFL star wide receiver Sterling Sharpe, grew up poor in Glennville, Georgia. He once joked, "We were so poor, a robber once broke into our house and we ended up robbing the robber." Sharpe graduated with a degree in criminal justice from Savannah State College (since 1996 Savannah State University). He commented: "I was a terrible student. I didn't graduate magna cum laude, I graduated 'Thank you, Lawdy!'" At Savannah State he played football and basketball and competed in the triple jump in track and field.

Sharpe was a three-time All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection from 1987 to 1989 and the SIAC Player of the Year in 1987. He was also selected as a Kodak Division II All-American in 1989. He led the Tigers' football team to their best records in the program's history: 7-3 in 1988 and 8-1 in 1989. Shannon Sharpe was nicknamed "The Shapeshifter" in his early years for his abilities to shape his body to any form to catch any ball. This was a comment used mostly in his college days for his great athletic abilities.

NFL career
Sharpe was drafted in the 7th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos, 192nd overall. He remained with Denver until 1999, winning two championship rings in Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl XXXIII in the process. After the 1997 season championship, his first, he appeared on General Mills' Wheaties boxes with four other Broncos. After a two-year stint with the Baltimore Ravens, where he won another championship ring in Super Bowl XXXV, he returned to the Broncos. He played there until 2003. Then he retired to become an NFL broadcaster for CBS, where his brother Sterling also works as an analyst.

Career statistics
Ozzie Newsome, Hall-of-Fame tight end, Ravens' general manager, and the man responsible for signing Sharpe before the 2000 season had this to say about him: "I think he's a threat when he's on the field. He has to be double-teamed. He's a great route-runner. He's proven that he can make the big plays. That's what separates him. He's a threat." Sharpe was selected All-Pro 4 times, played in eight Pro Bowls (1992–1998, 2001) and amassed over 1,000 receiving yards in three different seasons. In a 1993 playoff game against the Los Angeles Raiders, Sharpe tied a postseason record with 13 receptions for 156 yards and a touchdown. In the Ravens 2000 AFC title game against the Raiders, he caught a short pass on 3rd down and 18 from his own four-yard line and took it 96 yards for a touchdown, assisting his team to a 16-3 win. Sharpe also caught a 50+ yard pass in each of their other two playoff games. He finished his 14 year career with 815 receptions for 10,060 yards and 69 touchdowns in 203 games.

Post-playing career
Sharpe is a commentator for the CBS Sports pregame show The NFL Today, including the Sprint Halftime Report and the Subway Postgame Show, replacing Deion Sanders and co-hosting with James Brown (formerly with Fox NFL Sunday), former NFL quarterbacks Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason as well as former coach Bill Cowher. In the 2004 NFL regular season, Sharpe defeated Marino and Esiason in the pick 'em game of The NFL Today with a 53-21 record. His critics say that his broadcasting skills are hurt by his poor grammar and enunciation of words (Sharpe has a very noticeable lisp and drawl). A satirical article on The Onion joked "CBS Producers Ask Shannon Sharpe To Use At Least 3 Real Words Per Sentence."

Sharpe also appeared on SIRIUS NFL Radio's Opening Drive on Friday mornings, but is no longer affiliated with the channel.

Sharpe now resides in Atlanta. He cited his hobbies as fishing, weight lifting, and spending time with his longtime girlfriend Katy Kellner and their Akita, Sampson and two pomeranians Tazz and Tarzan. He also played in the 2005 World Series of Poker.

Shannon and Katy have teamed up with ViSalus Sciences to take the 90 challenge with Body By Vi. http://katyshannon.myvi.net

Sharpe was among the 17 finalists being considered for enshrinement at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. However, he was passed over in his first year in a class that included Bruce Smith, Ralph Wilson, Derrick Thomas and Rod Woodson. On October 23, 2009, the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame announced that Sharpe would be inducted in December of that year. In addition, Savannah State University also retired Sharpe's No. 2 jersey.

On November 28, 2010, Sharpe was nominated as semi-finalist for induction into the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with Art Modell and 24 others, among them Jerome Bettis, Roger Craig, Marshall Faulk, and Deion Sanders. Subsequently, on February 6, 2011, Shannon Sharpe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sharpe will be escorted to the Hall of Fame ceremony by Canton native Haley Smith, continuing the tradition of pageant winners escorting the inductees. He also appeared on the American Dad! episode "The Scarlett Getter", portraying himself.

Memorable quotes

 * People Sharpe has commented on:
 * WR Desean Jackson : "Watching D. Jack of Eagles his play is horrible he dropped 2 tds and several other catches,plus he's chicken and wants no part of contact.eew,"
 * WR Plaxico Burress: "Plexiglas"
 * WR Chad Ochocinco: "ocho no-show" instead of "ocho cinco"
 * WR Freddie Mitchell: "If I had his hands, I'd cut 'em off"
 * RB Corey Dillon, "the biggest robbery since the Louisiana Purchase" (Subway Postgame Show, 2005-01-16, AFC divisional game IND 3 - NE 20)
 * QB Jake Plummer: "They're about to take out the 'SN' in Snake and put an 'F' in front of it." (from Movin' the Chains)
 * QB Kyle Boller: "You do have your teammates behind you: your fullback and your halfback, and that’s only because they have to be."
 * QB Kyle Boller: "I've got a better chance of winning the Kentucky Derby on the back of a donkey than they have of winning the Super Bowl with Kyle Boller."
 * Head Coach Tom Coughlin: "I would rather die in an abandoned building alone, and my family not know what happened, than play for Coughlin."
 * LB London Fletcher-Baker: "LondonFletcher-Baker.com; he's logged in."
 * Jacksonville Jaguars' strategy in a divisional playoff game against the New England Patriots: "Nothing cheap, nothing deep." (January 12, 2008)
 * CB Ray Buchanan, who wore a dog collar to Media Day and guaranteed an Atlanta victory in Super Bowl XXXIII (which Atlanta lost): "Had anybody heard of Ray Buchanan before he got to Atlanta?"
 * After Buchanan's assertion that Sharpe looked like a horse: "I've never called anybody ugly. Do I think people are ugly? Yeah, I think he's ugly, but I've never said that...Is he my friend? No. Did I ever view him as a friend? No. Do I view him as an acquaintance? No. Do I like him? No. If I see him in a snowstorm, his truck is broke down, mine is going perfectly, would I pick him up? No."
 * QB Steve DeBerg: "DeBerg is old enough to be my father, and he's still in the league. How old is DeBerg, 105?"
 * TE O.J. Santiago: "Santiago? Who, Benito?"
 * FS Eugene Robinson: "He can't out-talk me or cover me. He went to Colgate, but I'm smarter than he is. I might bump into him. I know he's not going to be covering me one-on-one. We know that's not going to happen, don't we?"
 * About the four people he'd invite to a dinner party: "Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Jordan and Halle Berry. I'd talk to Gates, Buffett and Jordan first, and then me and Halle would go get another table in the back that's candlelit. And I'd let them discuss whatever they want to discuss."
 * Doubters of the Baltimore Ravens' chances to defeat the Oakland Raiders in the 2000 AFC Championship Game: "I want to ask America: What does crow taste like? Because y'all are eating it."
 * "I won't talk about someone's mother. I won't talk about their girlfriend or their wife, but if you have a deformity, I would talk about that."
 * About growing up in Georgia and hating the Atlanta Falcons: "I've pretty much been in Atlanta my whole life, and I never liked the Falcons. What was there to like about them? They lost all the time. If you had a pair of cleats on and you were in Fulton County, they'd put you in the ballgame, they were so bad. For $20, you could sit in the luxury box with the owner."
 * About the Indianapolis Colts Defense winning the Super Bowl: "I have a better chance of hitting a home run grand slam in Yankee's Stadium with a toothpick."
 * On Chicago Bears QB Rex Grossman's first-half performance in Super Bowl XLI: "Rex Grossman is exactly who I thought he was...inconsistent!" This was a spoof of then-Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green, who had famously growled, "The Bears are who we thought they were!" following Arizona's infamous Monday Night Football loss to the Bears earlier that season.
 * On New England Patriots strategy after a Deltha O'Neal punt-return touchdown during a 30-26 Patriots win over Sharpe's Broncos on Monday Night Football on November 3, 2003: "They can't run the ball! All they're gonna do is play-action, they can't run the ball."
 * During a 34 - 8 rout vs. the Patriots on November 17, 1996: "I'll Call the President. President, we need the National Guard! We need as many men as you can spare! Because we are killing the Patriots! So call the dogs off! Send the National Guard, please!"