Sound like any wideout we know?
The Randy Mosses of the sports world have no conscience and little sense of shame. It is about them first, last, and always. They may embrace team values and team concepts for a while, but once something happens to upset their equilibrium, or when everything doesn’t go their way, they revert to their natural instinct, which is to brood about the alleged injustices being perpetrated upon them.
We have seen two splendid examples in the past month. First there was Allen Iverson, refusing to help a gloriously talented, young Memphis team - did you see that game with the Celtics Monday evening? - by becoming their spark off the bench. And now we have Randy Moss, arrogantly withholding his needed athletic services because, well, we really don’t know why since Randy isn’t talking.
Do you know what the worst part of this Moss episode has been? It wasn’t, fortunately, the loss of a game, although if this de facto work stoppage of his continues that will be an inevitable consequence. No, it’s the fact that a coach and some well-respected players demeaned themselves in attempts to defend him.
Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Kevin Faulk, and others have hit 11s and beyond on the Disingenuous Scale as they have tried, vainly, to explain away Moss’s disgraceful performance against the Panthers at Gillette Stadium Sunday. We have heard how Randy is a guaranteed Hall of Famer, how Randy ranks high among NFL receivers in catches, yardage, and touchdowns this season, how Randy has been a hard worker ever since he got here and how other teams are building every game plan around the idea of stopping Randy Moss.
Randy, we are told, is frustrated. Randy is misunderstood. Randy is this. Randy is that. We should stop picking on Randy. It’s a team game.
