Posted on 01/10/2005 11:40:13 AM PST by 1Old Pro
Moss, 25, of Eden Prairie, was arrested Sept. 24 and spent a night in the Hennepin County jail after police alleged that he nudged a traffic-control agent for a half block with his car, knocking her down, during the evening rush hour in downtown Minneapolis.
The traffic agent Randy Moss admits nudging is Amy Elizabeth Zaccardi who fell to the street when he nudged her with his car.
According to a fan's account:
Amy Elizabeth Zaccardi, [possibly in civilian clothing] stepped directly in front of the vehicle and blew a loud "horn" multiple times. Moss stopped the car. Then, Zaccardi sat on the front of the car and would not move. Moss then slowly moved the car forward at slow increments to attempt to get her off his car. Zaccardi kept trying to sit on the car during these slow advancements. This continued for about 1/2 of a block before she eventually stood up and apparently was knocked down the next time the car moved forward. < www.mosszone.com >
Whatever he did, it appears that Randy Moss was not trying to seriously injure Zaccardi, so charges against him are misdemeanors.
http://minneapolis.about.com/cs/celebrities/a/aa100102a.htm
Context. It's a wonderful thing. Yes, he's petulant, yes he's a pain in the rear end when it comes to team discipline and no, he's not the ideal "team" athlete. I freely admit all these things. But don't judge until all the evidence has been presented.
sports nut
Favre From Heaven
Why journalists deify the Green Bay Packers quarterback.
By Robert Weintraub
Posted Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, at 3:27 PM PT
Brett Favre isn't just a future NFL Hall of Famer. The Green Bay Packers quarterback is also a regular dude. Just ask anybody who writes about Favre or talks about him on television. The Packers play Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs late on Sunday afternoon, a time slot that promises plenty of shots of Favre heroically framed in the rural Wisconsin gloaming while worshipful announcers compose loving odes to his talents as a player, husband, father, and man. It's enough to make you want to root for Randy Moss.
As the disconnect between multimillionaire athletes and ticket-buying fans widens, few players have retained the "jes' folks" status of the Packers star QB. Only a few football players—almost all of them white quarterbacks, from Bobby Layne to Kenny Stabler to Terry Bradshaw—are granted special friend and neighbor status. These are the guys whom you could just as easily envision working at the mill and chopping wood on the front stoop as hurling touchdown passes on Monday Night Football.
Because he's just a regular dude, Favre is one of us even when he screws up. Favre received almost no criticism last January when his boneheaded overtime heave cost the Packers last year's divisional playoff against Philadelphia. In this year's rematch, the Eagles demolished the Pack by 30 points, in no small part due to Favre's poor play. After the game, ESPN.com's Michael Smith wrote that the "impossible happened Sunday. My opinion of Favre grew." What towering feat did Favre accomplish? He showed his disdain for personal statistics by pulling himself out of the game when the Pack were losing 47-3 even though his 36-game touchdown streak was at stake. Keep in mind, this is the same guy who went into the fetal position to allow Michael Strahan to break the single-season sack record.
Sports Illustrated's Peter King is probably the quarterback's most eager lap dog and the writer most responsible for celebrating Favre's rural lifestyle. "On the morning he had to leave his beloved home and 465 acres in Hattiesburg, Miss., to report to training camp, he began to think this might be his last camp," King wrote in January 2003. "A private plane stood by at a nearby airstrip for the two-and-half-hour flight to Green Bay. … And there he was, sweating a stream while edging a mile of his property where it meets the road, refusing to leave till he finished the job." In short, Favre is the guy next door—I bet that private jet is up on blocks in his front yard.
To King's credit, he's conscious of his reputation as Favre's Boswell. "Oh no! King on Favre again!" he wrote in the same article. "King's all over this guy! Please, just one column without mentioning Favre's name! And we beg you: Don't tell us what entree you had with him! Sickening!" (The italics are not mine.) That self-awareness didn't stop King from contributing a chapter to Favre, the just-released memoir that No. 4 co-wrote with his mother, Bonita. As Favre's tome shot to the top of the bestseller lists, Terrell Owens' autobiography, Catch This!, failed to find an audience.
Favre and Owens make for an intriguing contrast. If you've watched even a single Green Bay game in the last few seasons, you've heard the misfortune that has befallen the quarterback recently: the death of his father, the death of his brother-in-law, his wife's cancer diagnosis. This year's Monday Night Football opener featured a halftime retrospective on Favre's relationship with his father, complete with home movies showing a mop-topped Brett in shoulder pads and Irvin Favre looking on approvingly from his easy chair. Another Monday night game earlier this year that unfortunately coincided with his wife's battle with cancer occasioned a sit-down with ESPN's Suzy Kolber that included such hard-hitting queries as "Where would you be without her?" and "How would you compare your toughness to your wife Deanna's toughness?"
While Favre is lionized for playing through tragedy, Terrell Owens' success has never been given the same kind of context. As Catch This! reveals, the fact that T.O. made it to the NFL is a miracle. Owens, who grew up destitute and fatherless in backwater Alabama, wasn't allowed to leave his front yard as a child for fear of getting whipped. Favre grew up in small town bliss surrounded by his loving family. Not to demean the loss of loved ones, but who has overcome more here? Why is every hurdle Favre has jumped over presented as the Pillars of Hercules, while a guy like Owens is dismissed as a loudmouth?
No one doubts Favre's Hall of Fame credentials—three MVP awards, a Super Bowl ring, 200-plus consecutive starts, and an ability to laser the ball between defenders even at age 35. On the other hand, it's fairly obvious that Favre has been propped up these past few years by his All-Pro running back, Ahman Green. Here's a guy who plays hurt and plays well, hails from a red state, and is by all accounts a solid citizen who runs youth football camps in his hometown. Yet Ahman only gets props for his yards—I have no clue what tragedies he's had to overcome. I guess he's just not a regular dude.
Robert Weintraub, a freelance TV producer/writer based in Atlanta, writes about sports media for Slate.
Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2112019/
Sure, Jackson doesn't want Moss catching a few TD passes to beat his darlings.
"You know what? I think the 15 touchdowns he's brought to the 11 games he's played in this year outweight the so-called grief."
Ok... if you're happy with early playoff exits, so be it. Given the talent of the Minnesota team, they are big time underachievers. The casual observer, (me), would place much of that blame on Randy Moss.
I guess you don't mind losing 7 of the last 10 either. That's when team leaders are supposed to step up.
And in case you're tempted... yes, the Browns have nothing, yes, they're the worst in the league, yes, I know they'd love to win 8 games. But I still wouldn't want Randy Moss on my team. Because when it's all said and done, on SuperBowl Sunday, the Vikes and the Browns will be in the same place... home.
Well, we don't need him with such upstanding citizens as William Green, Gerard Warren, Ross Verba, etc
Any time a superstar (or anyone else) behaves like that, I have no problem with opposing players putting a career into jeopardy like that.
DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm...Okay. I'll consider all of that as well.
A 1919 Black Sox scandal. White Sox players threw the World Series for gamblers. For a more recent example, see Pete Rose.
Randy radio?
"And are you suggesting that someone should go out to thug a superstar - or anyone - out of a playoff game? Like Moss or not, that's what he is. You don't put a career into jeopardy like that".
Exactly, like the Eagles are going to put in a 3rd string CB to cover the games best receiver for the "sanctity of the game" and to teach him a "lesson'. FR threads about sports are just plain hillarious.
"Sure, Jackson doesn't want Moss catching a few TD passes to beat his darlings".
You think about the Eagles and have way too many conspiracy theories about them to be serious!
Well, as long as you're clear about it, that's a fair ball. And your team's games would degenerate into wars in a big hurry if your opponents don't meet your model of good behavior.
That's why we have officials at games. And IIRC, Moss wasn't flagged for what he did.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
I'm waiting for someone to inform him that he's been mis-pronouncing his name all these years...
"Now, Randy Moss? TJ would rather not deal with it?
Tom Jackson is either a racist, a coward or intellectually challenged. Perhaps a little of each?"
I'd say he's slightly bigoted, but no worse than a lot of white people I know. TJ was dumping all over Randy in the pregame, along with Micheal Irvin. I was pleased to see it.
Actually, Morality Plays are Entertainment (somewhat). And Football is a morality play.
First, I wouldn't initiate a fight with a 6-10 225 pound basket ball player. Second, it's not smart to fight football players with pads and helmuts.
"Well, we don't need him with such upstanding citizens as William Green, Gerard Warren, Ross Verba, etc"
LOL. And that would support my point. All troublemakers, with varying degrees of talent, (Green - little, Verba - serviceable). And the Browns are the worst team in the league.
Character matters, talent is required, but character wins the tough games.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.