Deep Purple Wednesday

So, Moss is gone from the Vikings. I have mixed feelings. It makes the decision about whether to renew our season tickets for another year even harder.

On The One Hand

Randy Moss seems to be a real jackass. He's about as immature as they come and seems to have problems with impulse control. Squirting a bottle of water at an official is incredibly stupid. Refusing to stop your car when asked to (however belligerently) is asinine. Saying you'll play when you want to play and walking off the field when your teammates are still playing and ignoring words of advice from said teammates aren't conducive to good team chemistry, which is crucial in the NFL. Pretending to moon the crowd at Lambeau is funny, but really really juvenile. It appears that he's worn out his welcome among some of his teammates, which just so happen to be my favorites, Daunte Culpepper and Matt Birk. My all time favorite Viking, Robert Smith, sounded positively giddy about the move when he was interviewed yesterday. Of course, Moss and Smith nearly came to blows in the lockerroom before one game. Moss missed 5 games last year and often when a wide receiver gets injured, they don't come back. He's struggled with ankle injuries his entire career. You don't build a team around a wide receiver. This team has had very limited success with Moss on the team and even with the highest scoring offense in the history of the NFL, they couldn't get to the Super Bowl, much less win it.

But On The Other Hand

It seems hard to believe a team can get better getting rid of a future hall of famer and one of the best players in the league. Moss is a game-changing player. Without him in there, Culpepper will see defenses he's literally never seen before. #84 certainly made Daunte look good at times. The running backs may regularly face 8 men in a box, so losing Moss may hurt all aspects of the offense. The off the field antics have been blown way out of proportion and are irrelevant if they don't matter to the success of the team. Harris does not seem to be the type of outstanding defensive player I would have been looking for in trading Randy Moss. The #7 overall pick does not guarantee success - some very disappointing players have been picked that early in the draft and the Vikings don't have a stellar record in drafting defensive players.

No matter how you look at it, Moss did provide some great enjoyment over the past 7 years that I've been a season ticket holder. If only for that, I'll miss him. And, so, I present:

My Top Three Favorite Randy Moss Moments


#3 Vikings v. Saints, 2000 Season Playoffs



Randy takes a short pass and turns it into 6 points. Twice. My favorite was on the left side of the field. Two players have a perfect angle on him. But Moss is too fast and they can't catch him. I've never seen a human being move so fast in my life.

#2 Vikings v. Broncos, 2003



Moss appears to be tackled. But wait, the ball is coming out. No way! He's just tossed it to Moe Williams, who runs in for a touchdown. It was right in front of our seats, so I had a great view. I couldn't believe my eyes.

#1 Vikings v. Packers, Monday Night Football, 1998



I wasn't lucky enough to see this in person, but we watched the game at Porter's, my favorite football viewing bar. The Vikings were undefeated, but it was still pretty early in the season. Brad Johnson was injured, but Randall Cunningham seemed to be filling in nicely. The Moss draft was somewhat controversial, but I liked what I had seen so far. Everyone was talking about whether the Vikings had a chance to win the game. Both teams were undefeated. But the Packers were unstoppable at Lambeau Field. It was a rainy Monday night in the not yet frozen tundra. And Moss introduced himself to the rest of the world. In my all time favorite Moss moment, Moss catches the ball, then literally steps over a Packer defender on his way to the end zone. The energy and excitement I felt leaving that night will never be matched. That was when I knew this was a special team and a special year. I'll leave it at that.

Oh, and my favorite tv show is definitely NFL Football, but I didn't think that really was the type of show they were talking about in the Meme below.