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Turning the Other Cheek on Randy Moss

By Aaron Miller, Section NFL
Posted on Wed Jan 12 2005 at 8:44 PM EST
More on: (all tags)

I'm going to guess that Fox announcer Joe Buck wasn't watching the Dolphins and Browns a couple of weeks ago when after being sandwiched between 320 pound Orpheus Roye and the turf, Miami quarterback A.J. Feely stopped to vomit on his way to the sidelines.

I feel confident Buck didn't see this, because he managed to sound pretty convinced when he repeatedly suggested that Randy Moss' cheeky end zone celebration was the most "disgusting" thing to ever take place on a football field.

To hear some tell it though, he might as well have run out of the stadium following his touchdown, only to be found later that afternoon running stark naked through University of Wisconsin at Green Bay girls' dormitory.

I can understand the NFL's image concerns, and I don't object to moss being fined for his "creative" celebration.  But realistically, how is this that much worse than say, procuring a cheerleader's pom-poms and dancing with them after a touchdown (Terrell Owens) or pulling a cell-phone from the very same type of padding Moss pretended was toilet paper (Joe Horn).  All three were tasteless, all controversial and all deserved fines, but yet none other than Moss have warranted such an immediate attack on the very fibre of his character.

Obviously, as Chris Berman noted, respect and class do have to be part of it at some point.  But is that really why people are upset?  How many NFL receivers consistently demonstrate respect or class?  Not too many of the ones I've ever seen catch a touchdown.  

To be fair, there are those who are more up in arms about Moss taunting and allegedly cursing at fans from the sideline while Minnesota held a significant lead.  But even then, while a fine is fine, overreaction seems to be people's only reaction.

But I'll cease, because I don't find selective morality particularly interesting.  What is interesting though, is the way that en route to the heart of the Moss issue, this whole thing has taken the clear form of an Artestian dilemma, a question of whether the relationship between athletes and fans has deteriorated to a dangerous degree.

Most fans, whether they are willing to admit it or not, think professional athletes are all jerks.  There is tremendous resentment that exudes from spectators toward athletes who are almost always more wealthy and talented than those they entertain.  Fans don't feel like athletes care, and I'm not prepared to say they do.

But guess what?  No amount of money makes an athlete less of a human being.  I go to games all the time where I'll taunt, jeer, and yes, on occasion curse at an athlete who I have deemed as particularly venomous in their quest to defeat those I support.  

Recently, at a Raptors and Kings game at the Air Canada Centre, I let ex-Raptor Doug Christie know exactly how I felt about him in no uncertain terms throughout the entirety of the game.

Though this would have been particularly shocking considering how far back my seats are, should Mr. Christie have turned to me and announced in front of over 18,000 people his opinions of yours truly in terms as explicit as he could concoct, I would have nodded and likely given him a 'touché' for the road (not to be confused with the 'tushie' of Moss, which is what gave Green Bay fans for their efforts).  

I'm not going to chicken and egg it over whether players lost respect for fans before it was the other way around, but to suggest that players are required to hold to a specific decorum is one thing, to assume they are impervious to being treated like circus freaks by opposing fans is another.  If Randy had dropped a few touchdown passes instead of reeling them in, you can bet he would have heard things that people have drawn a weapon for more than once.  

To me, a childish shake of the fanny is little more than part of the festivities, part of the spectacle that is the NFL, after all, cheerleaders do it every game, and they usually wear a lot less than number 84 was wearing.  

Bottom line: At the end of the day, if you can dish it, you've got to be able to get it back.

And if you can't handle it, just pull a Randy, and find your own special way, to turn your back.