Sabby The Goat No. 2
July 15th, 2011
It’s been a while since Joe checked in on one of the most notorious Bucs players in recent history, Sabby the Goat.
The mere mention of his name makes many Bucs fans break out into a cold sweat or want to chug a bottle of whiskey.
The reason Joe brings up Sabby the Goat on this fine, steamy Friday afternoon was that for the first time, Joe found an article worth a hill of beans from the over-hyped site, Grantland. Most of the, um, stuff written on that site is for New Yorker types only with sports themes, sans some screed the other day about the relevance of Jennifer Aniston upon society who, aside from being amazingly hot beyond her years, really is irrelevant in the grand scheme of life.
Look, would anyone go into a dark, deep depression if she suddenly decided to retire from Hollywood? Would anyone really notice?
Shoot, Sarah Tyson has more interesting articles on her site than the perceived best young sportswriters of our era have on Grantland. The site’s a bore!
Anyway, finally, an interesting article on Grantland appeared earlier this week, detailing the 25 least valuable NFL players currently tagged as present day players and Sabby the Goat, largely for his ineptitude with the Bucs, was chosen as No. 2 behind only Jake Delhomme.
After a dismal 2009, Piscitelli responded to losing his job in camp by all-but-invoking “Operation Shutdown”; he got back into the lineup after rookie Cody Grimm broke his ankle, promptly gave up a touchdown after biting on a run fake, and got cut anyway. His unique mix of blown tackles, dreadful instincts, and inflated ego really make him the worst player to see regular time in the NFL over the past several years.
And to think that Sabby the Goat, with his wretched play, stained the very soil that Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch shed blood upon. Wow.
But as much as Joe has a perverted sense of humor over Sabby’s horrid play, one of the most touching moments Joe saw from a professional athlete came from Sabby. After the Steelers lit up the Bucs this year when rookie Cody Grimm, who turned out to be a damned good safety, was torched as a form of NFL baptism in his first start, Sabby put his arm around Grimm after the game and spoke softly to him for roughly 10 minutes while patting him on the back, encouraging the youngster that he will learn from this, as he showed later he did.
So maybe Sabby could become a strong counselor or perhaps maybe even a coach. Maybe that’s Sabby’s calling?
It sure as hell isn’t playing safety in the NFL.
And to think Chucky flushed a second round pick for Sabby?
Now it’s time for Joe to swill a few pints on this blazing hot Friday, hopefully the final Friday of this asinine lockout.
July 15th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Grantland only further perpetuates the false-truth that Bill Simmons isn’t an awful sports-writer.
July 15th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
“And to think Chucky flushed a second round pick for Sabby?”
I’d put that one on Monte more than Chucky
July 15th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Well, a Booger for a goat trade, probally sounded good at the time?
He was our second 2nd round pick(thanks to Indy for Booger) after our first 2nd rnd pick Arron Sears. It’s a damn shame about Sears, I felt he was going to be a really good o-line player!
July 15th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Cream
I agree! It’s the same Monte that thought Booger would fill Sapp’s shoes! Even the best make misstakes!
July 15th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Joe,
Love your site and most of everything you post. As a regualar here I have grown tiresome of your over use of fluff!! I understand you need to fill out some posts with fluff but, most of it isnt funny anyways!!! Interested in the info..just an opinion
July 15th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Another good example OAR…….I’m the biggest Monte fan out there, but he made some mistakes.
July 15th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
I’ll never forget that run fake that Sabby bit on (and we got torched for a touchdown on).
I was sitting on my couch, next to my younger brother, when I saw Cody Grimm go down. As soon as Grimm went down, I looked at my brother and said, “oh no, they’re gonna put in Sabby… we’re about to get burned for a touchdown”.
1 minute later… game over.
July 15th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Hell Alan Zemaitis was worse than Sabby. He never even saw the field…
July 15th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
that play and the HORRIBLE pass interference call on myron lewis are the reasons we lost that game. sabby and the refs. we should have been 13-3 haha this game, lions, and at least one of the falcons games had some bad luck last season, but we were so close to 13-3
July 15th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
not gonna lie i originally thought ruud screwed up on that play… but what really happend is sabby screwed up, and ruud tried to cover for him… making ruud look bad
July 15th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Dan:
re: Ruud. That was hardly the lone time.
July 15th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Piscetelli or Juran Boldan? That guy was pretty dang awful too.
July 15th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
If I ever read another “Sabby the Goat” topic here…I’ll to the day I die hold JOE’s feet to the fire on “Bust in Waiting”……
listen up journ O’jock……Sabby played to the fullest of his abilities…
he simply was not good enough…simple…
July 15th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
@Rasta
What point are you making here? Are you against Joe roasting Sabby? Joe only makes the same point you did, Sabby tried his best, but his best simply sucked.
I love stories like this. He was a terrible player that earnestly thought he was good. I felt bad when his house got robbed, I didn’t feel bad when we cut him and I certainly don’t feel bad reading this story!
July 15th, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Joe here,
@RastaMon — Joe doesn’t shy away from the fact he referred to Freeman as “bust-in-waiting” from before the draft until training camp started in 2009. Obviously, Joe pegged Freeman all wrong as did many others. What that has to do with Sabby The Goat, Joe has no clue. But feel free to write what you wish. Joe’s just glad there are still readers here that remember that. For most, that’s before their “Joe” time. Traffic around here has increased about 6x since those days.
July 15th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
I always thought that as good of an athlete as Sabby was/is and as poor as his instincts at safety were/is, he would have made a hell of a zone CB. Big, fast, great ball skills in college, less to think about… he could have done it…maybe… well, perhaps definitely better than safety.
July 15th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
That is goatesque
July 15th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Sabby is way worst then Del Homie. Just sayin.
July 15th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Joe, do you mean the lone time ruud looked bad, or the lone time ruud looked bad because someone else screwed upor specifically Sabby… i dont like Sabby he reminds me of a jersey shore socialite with his demeanor. though i will say he seems like a nice guy.
i will say this, that play didnt fool anyone else they ddint even seem to be trying to fake run that hard. sabby just started the play on the 1 yard from the los. he was faked by the FORMATION more than the play action haha
July 15th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
even the announcers tried to blame ruud haha
July 15th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Sabby blew the play, but that play showed Ruud’s remarkable closing speed.
July 15th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
he was… just a tad slower than a cornerback (ronde) … still almost caught Todd Heap, im ok with Todd Heap running away from barret ruud. (and barret kept up, not lost ground)
July 16th, 2011 at 2:17 am
Good point Espo. At least Delhomme started on a team that went to the Super Bowl.
July 16th, 2011 at 6:21 am
If you watch that play after the touchdown Ruud instantly looks back and is completely pissed because he knew as well as the rest of us that someone, Sabby, blew their assignment
July 16th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Maybe he would make a better coach than player. Look, Dungy was no bust as a player but certainly will never get a HOF look for his time as a player. Although Dungy was 1000 times better than “The Goat”, Dungy was a 10,000 times better as a coach. Chucky=better coach than player. Many others on that list. Maybe what made him get to the NFL level was his overall understanding of the game and it’s fundamentals but he just couldn’t put it on the field.