As most of us are now aware, Randy “Fitteds and Facial Hair” Moss is no longer a New England Patriot. He is now back where it all started, the Minnesota Vikings. Randy says that he has no idea why he was traded, and that he got along with, liked, and respected his team. When asked about the subject, both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady insisted that they got along well with Moss, and that there were no interpersonal problems between he and the team. Moss also has said that he is still good friends with Brady. So what, exactly, went wrong? Let’s do a little speculative deduction.
Randy Moss has a bad reputation, which, apparently, he does not give a damn about. As long as he has been in the public spotlight, he has been an outspoken and overly honest player. There are very few situations I can think of where Moss has been shy about sharing with the public. What I’ve noticed as he’s matured he has at least become more judicious with his opinion. After the Jets game last Monday night, Moss was understandably upset about the loss but, when interviewed, he gave very political, neutral answers to the questions posed to him by the media. Specifically he answered the questions without slandering anybody or saying anything controversial. If you have not heard about Moss’s post game interview, it’s because he very adeptly avoided saying anything headline worthy. He respected the other team, and revealed that he had been in communication with Brady that very day. His body language was very positive, and there weren’t any visible signs that he was lying or holding ideas contrary to what he was saying. He was not going to reveal every detail of his conversations but he didn’t say anything even slightly off color about anyone.
This is a different Randy Moss from the one portrayed on pretty much every media outlet in the world. This perception that Moss will become an albatross to any team that does not treat him well has taken on factual weight in media circles. It has gone from hypothesis to theory, the Moss Theory. The Moss Theory goes that Randy Moss is only all “RAN-DY MOSS!” when he is motivated to do so. When he came to New England, people said that he was motivated to play better because he was on a Super Bowl caliber team and he wanted a ring as badly as anyone. The Theory said that he did not play as hard as he could have in Minnesota and Oakland because he didn’t feel as if he was appreciated, or that there was any point in him being there.
As I’ve written before, Moss has explicitly stated that he wants to be recognized for what he does right instead of people constantly harping on what he is allegedly doing wrong. Though this may be a somewhat naive way of looking at the working world, it is not an uncommon feeling. It is one that we all share. Why we expect athletes to be different and not have regular human emotions, I will never understand. The Moss Theory states that Moss should just shut up and play, regardless of how inept the offense around him is. Going by the Theory, Moss wanting to leave New England does not make any sense. Even though this may not be their best team, you can never count Belichick and Brady out. They’ve made do with mediocre talent before; hell they’ve won Super Bowls with mediocre talent excellently coached. It would be foolish to discount the Patriots from a Super Bowl run, no matter how bad they may look at times. Given this, Moss should have wanted to stay in N.E.
The most telling clue we have about this mystery is that Moss said that it wasn’t the team that he was upset with, it was “people in the area” that he thought wanted him to fail. Only Moss knows who he was referring to, But a recurrent complaint from Black athletes in the Boston area is mistreatment and disrespect. Could this be what he was talking about? That’s just speculation, we will never know for certain until the words come from Moss himself. I do know one thing— when Moss did his first presser as a returned Viking, he seemed to be genuinely happy, like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He seems very focused on football and on winning. Those traits do not fit in the Moss Theory, because he arguably went to a worse team. But what is important is that he went to a team that welcomed him with open arms not just because of his talents, but because of him. I think this is why Moss may have made rumblings about the area, and this is why he was eventually traded. It was what was best for him, really.
Yes, Randy Moss just wants someone to love him for him and not his body. Weird huh? This doesn’t fit with the Moss Theory that he is a petulant man-child who throws temper tantrums whenever he does not get the toys that he wants. I think my hypothesis is more realistic than the cliched Theory that the media is running with. Moss will be his best self in Minnesota, throwing his hand up even when he’s covered and taking the lunch money of DB’s from all over the league. It really will be a sight to see; that is until Farve’s arm falls off completely.
John Minus is a noted Bon-Vivant, Raconteur, and all-around Anti-Hero. He has a podcast called the Alter Negro Sho and co-hosts the Non-Productive Podcast. He can be contacted on twitter: www.twitter.com/DonCoyote and on his Facebook page John “Alter Negro” Minus