Well after posting my question I went back out and lifted up the sporty.. It turns out it was the top section of heat shield right after the cat. Oh well.. no more heat shield rattle. hehe.
Took me about an hour and a few scraped knuckles to get it all off. After I got the top sections off (they came off easy) I used a small hack saw to cut through the clamps. A little bending to get the clamps around the pipe, then the rest came off easy..

98 Sportage