Randy Moss didn’t do a whole lot on the field during his brief second go-round with the Minnesota Vikings, but according to recent reports, it was something he did off the field that really hurt his cause.
Yahoo’s Michael Silver explained that after a recent practice, the Vikings had a local restaurant cater food that was a favorite of the Baltimore Ravens’ Matt Birk when he played in Minnesota. It was apparently, however, not a favorite of Randy Moss:
As the proprietors helped serve chicken, ribs, pasta and other dishes to Vikings players [ed. note: this sounds delicious], Moss paced up and down the serving line and loudly expressed his displeasure with the offerings.
According to one player who witnessed the scene, Moss yelled, “What the [expletive]? Who ordered this crap? I wouldn’t feed this to my dog!”
If the actual scene was anything close to this, it’s easy to see why teammates wouldn’t have been thrilled with Moss. And reading the player’s account just makes you really glad you weren’t there to witness it:
“It was brutal. The truth is, he deserved to be cut after that. It was such an uncomfortable moment. You know that feeling where you just can tell someone feels so small? That’s what it was like being there.
“This wasn’t a chain – it was a mom-and-pop restaurant, and you could tell it was their best stuff. They had a special carving station set up, and there were players and other support staff lining up to eat it. And [Moss] is at his locker saying, ‘You know, I used to have to eat that crap – but now I’ve got money.’ You just felt so sad for them. I had never seen anyone treated like that.
“And by the way, the food was actually really good.”
In truth, the player is doing such a good job describing the situation that it’s downright unsettling, because now we feel like we’re there, and we feel terrible. We’re sorry for the embarrassment, mom-and-pop restaurant. Don’t be sad! The food sounds great!
In a strange twist, this story is actually even weirder than the supposedly false encounter between Tom Brady and Moss where each ripped on the other’s appearance (again, most in the know say nothing of the sort ever happened). But throwing a hissy fit over catered food? The only way to make it crazier would be if he’d said, “You know, I used to have to eat that crap – but now I’ve got straight cash, homey.”
Of course, Moss could have saved himself with better on-field performance – as much as coach Brad Childress might preach his “good people who are good football players” mantra, but had Moss played to his potential, the team would have had far more patience for his outside antics.
And besides that, there’s really nothing more me can add except: enjoy this moment, because it may be the only time you witness an innocent restaurant accidentally take down one of football’s greatest receivers.
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