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” I don’t think breaking Jerry Rice’s record was special. Shutting you guys up (NFL MEDIA) made it special.” -Randy Moss after beating the Giants in the Season Finale.
When I heard that statement, and after cracking up over it, I knew that a ’feud’ would be on the horizon. Today, I was right because Jerry said that Moss’ statement was a “slap in the face and added “That’s Moss”
On Mike and Mike in the Morning, Sean Salisbury and Mike Greenburg questioned his statement and the guys from Around The Horn discussed the statement with Woody Paige and two others siding with Moss.
Well, my take on this statement is this: Moss’ problem is not with Rice but with the mainstrem NFL media. Check this out, Moss have been a target of these guys ever since he came into the league. Weeks before the ‘98 draft, they talked about his fight in high school and his dismissal from Florida State. During his career, they didn’t talk much about the good things he done in Minnesota. Instead, they talked about the incident with Minneapolis police, the ‘mooning’ incident, and walking off of the field before the game is over. In Oakland, he had one 1,000 yard receiving season before the Raiders really began to errode.
When Moss was traded on draft day to New England, the media thought the he would be locker room poison to the team. The media thought that he and Brady would not get along. Seventeen weeks later, the joke was on the mainstream NFL media. Randy Moss finished the year with 98 receptions, 1,493 yards, a record setting 23 receiving touchdowns and 0 distractions and disturbances.
After the Giants’ game, the same guys bashing were the same guys kissing his ass! Obviously, Moss remembered all of the negativity and the things they said about him. That was when and why he said what he said. After sucking up to Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick, the media thought about what Moss said, got mad and talked about it today. Most of these guys have been reporters since Rice was in his prime, and they knew how he was or even is to this day!
Most of these mainstream media knew about Rice and his competive nature and his epidsodes where he feels like he’s been disrespected. The media also know that Rice is trying to extend his celebrity beyond the gridiron. Rice’s response was not suprising at all nor was his hint that he set the record in the midst of a player strike, and the implication that Moss’ record should have an astrick.
This is how I see it! Rice is bitter and salty because A) He lost one of his many NFL records. B) He lost it to someone like Randy Moss and C) Randy didn’t show Rice the respect that he feels entitled to.
My first memory of football was as an eight year old little girl watching Super Bowl XXIV. I was in front of the screen and I took notice of a man wearing a white jersey with the number 80 on it in bold, scarlet red print, running pattern after pattern and catching touchdowns and passes. I have been a fan of that man, his team at the time, and the game of football since.
As I grew older, and didn’t cheer for the Niners much anymore, I still list Jerry Rice as my favorite football player of all time.
Now, when it comes to Saturday’s incident and Jerry’s reponse, I have to draw the flag. I call B.S. on what Jerry implied before Randy broke the record and after he broke the record because although he publicly said that he would congratulate Moss, deep down, he didn’t want him to break the record. If Marvin Harrison broke the record, Rice wouldn’t have a problem with it because Marvin reminds Jerry of himself and Moss is seen as the epitome of what Jerry supposenly despises-flash (despite the fact Rice dipped his hair in Duke and Care Free Curl (fifi hairstyle) and danced in the end zone himself), controversy and distractions (despite the fact that Rice raised hell when he didn’t get the ball and felt slighted when reporters didnt give him credit), atagonistic relationship with the press and being moody (yeah, Jerry had that going too.)
When Moss was on the verge of breaking the record, Rice implied that an astrick should be on #23 because it took Randy 16 games while it took Rice 12 games in strike riddled 1987. He could not say, ‘Well, records fall. Whatever.’ his competitiveness and pride would not let him.
After the press confrence, Rice was mad and saw Moss’ comments as a diss when it wasn’t even about Rice. Moss’ diss was for the MEDIA. Isn’t it funny that Jerry implied that breaking Moss’ record wasn’t special because he didn’t do it in 12 games and got mad because Randy thought the the actual breaking of the record wasn’t special? Imagine that.
Moss isn’t guiltless either. He should have known to watch what the hell he say. Moss know what the media thinks about him, and he shouldn’t have given them a reason to spout more negativity and tarnish a phenomenal regular season. Now, the media is mad because they felt insulted and it’s time for payback.
The mainstream sports media are a funny group of men (the women don’t act like this). You guys were dogging Randy Moss from day one! You dogged him in Minnesota and Oakland. You labled him as a ‘locker room poison’. You brought up the police incident. You thought that he would ruin the Patriots and the ‘golden boy’. What you dont see in Randy in his blowups in Minny and Oakland, his drive to win. He wants to win games and during the later years in Minny and Oakland, he wasn’t doing that.
Aside from that parking incident, did you see him ‘making it rain’? did you hear about him crashing Lamboghinis, carrying more weapons than the army, and causing some serious legal drama off the field? NO you haven’t!
Now that he’s doing good and everything is cool, you all want to act like he’s such a great guy, a leader , a professional, and all these great things, and now you expect him to forgive you all? You have a lot of nerve. So, I don’t blame Randy Moss for saying what he said.
When it comes to Flash 80, you media guys are even worse. Despite revering him and his accomplishments, you never really cared for him because he didnt handle you in the way you liked. In his later years in San Francisco and his stops in Oakland, and Seattle, year after year, you told him to retire because he was ‘tarnishing the legacy’, while you prased Brett Farve for his ‘longevity’. You dissed Rice for being so focused on the game and not being marketable. When Rice decided to come out of his shell and appear on ‘Dancing With the Stars’, ‘Deal or No Deal, ‘The Class’, ‘The Game’, and ‘Sirus Satellite Radio’ and for the Bay Area ,’ Toyota Sports Sunday’ you accused him of not wanting to let go of the spotlight.
Now, you wanna act like you always liked Rice-pouring on extra admiration, honor, and respect for the way he changed the wide receiver position. You know, spare me the lies and B.S. ! You never gave a good kitty about Jerry Rice , allright! You are giving him extra credit because you can’t stand Randy Moss! For all I know, you probably talk trash behind his back about him being in an anchor’s chair and on satellite radio with his thick Mississippi accent. You were the same way with Muhammad Ali back in day. You hated him in his prime. Now, he beloved because he reminds you of how boxing used to be. It is the same thing with Rice. You thought he was a primadonna and a diva in his prime. Now, he is a great guy because you think that the new generaton of wide receivers are 10x’s worse than what Rice was. You sportscasters and analysts are about as transparent as glass!
In this match up, noone wins. Jerry Rice should acknowlege and accept the fact that Randy Moss got the single season TD record fair and square regardless of the number of games it took. Randy Moss should realize that he is still under scrutiny and should learn what to say. The mainsteam sports media should stop playing games and start doing their jobs without fawning, drooling and stanning!
