04/20/24
January 09, 2005
Vikings Sack Packers, 31-17: Brett Favre spread the ball around to 12 different players in Green Bay's playoff game against Minnesota at Lambeau Field. Four of them wore purple uniforms. No one will take the loss harder than Peter King of Sports Illustrated, whose man-crush for the future Hall of Famer is the stuff of legend.
I have to admit I found Joe Buck's rightous indignation more annoying than Moss' moon.
posted by crank at 07:24 PM on January 09, 2005
I just want to make sure I have this right. It's OK for Frank Caliendo to call the guys in the studios "queens", but it's not OK for Moss to pretend to pull his pants down like a four-year-old child might do?
posted by hootch at 07:37 PM on January 09, 2005
I have to admit I found Joe Buck's rightous indignation more annoying than Moss' moon. Seconded.
posted by yerfatma at 07:50 PM on January 09, 2005
I just want to make sure I have this right. It's OK for Frank Caliendo to call the guys in the studios "queens", but it's not OK for Moss to pretend to pull his pants down like a four-year-old child might do? I totally agree--Fox's reaction to this seemes a bit hypocritical. That said, I think what Moss didd was tasteless and un called for. Ironically it will get much more air time than its worth. Espn Radio now has at least 2 days programming out of this one!
posted by daddisamm at 08:09 PM on January 09, 2005
What an ass.
posted by rcade at 08:28 PM on January 09, 2005
I honestly was expecting something much, much worse. When Moss walked over to the padded goalpost after scoring the TD I half thought he was about to pull some kind of pre-positioned prop from under the padding. The fake moon was more childish, more immature than arrogant or self-aggrandizing (when compared to other post-TD antics) and for that reason I actually found myself chuckling a bit. I've never really liked Moss, but I don't feel the need to pretend this is some kind of 'new low' for the NFL.
posted by crank at 08:54 PM on January 09, 2005
It's okay. He was just showing Philadelphia where to place their collective foot next week.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:02 PM on January 09, 2005
I liked when Fox replayed Moss talking to the crowd, where he clearly said, "motherfucking scoreboard." And then they worry about his unbared rump.
posted by yerfatma at 09:18 PM on January 09, 2005
Repeatedly, yerfatma (Moss said it repeatedly, not sure about Fox replaying it repeatedly). Anyone know if Terry Bradshaw likes Moss or not? He so.....vague.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:29 PM on January 09, 2005
Green Bay has the worst defense ever. Also, they need a wide receiver who can remember what route he's running.
posted by fabulon7 at 09:43 PM on January 09, 2005
Green Bay has the worst defense ever. Four picks didn't help. I missed the Indy-Denver game, but...is it just me, or did the other three seem to have an awful lot of dumb mistakes?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:13 PM on January 09, 2005
I honestly was expecting something much, much worse. I think one of his teammates was supposed to pull something out of Moss' ass (similar to the incident with Horn's cell phone when that whole thing happened) or maybe insert a suppository or something...
posted by chris2sy at 10:57 PM on January 09, 2005
think one of his teammates was supposed to pull something out of Moss' ass What, his head? That wasn't that offensive. Joe Buck needs to calm down. He shoulda played it cool.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:23 AM on January 10, 2005
Pretend moon = chuckles Rubbing Goal Post = tasteless Joe Buck's reaction = too much
posted by rainbaby at 08:17 AM on January 10, 2005
After the game, they went back to the studio and the studio crew all ranted about the fake moon as well. I kept thinking that I missed something because their criticism was so over-the-top. Bradshaw was encouraging the NFL to slap him with a big fine. I thought Randy's actions were silly and immature -- probably the same reaction the fans in the stand had.
posted by bperk at 08:33 AM on January 10, 2005
On Fox Sports Radio, Tony Dungy just explained the motivation for Randy Moss' faux mooning and why he chuckled when he saw it. For years, after a game Packers fans line up at a fence in view of the departing team bus and moon them. As a former player in that division himself, Dungy said he had been mooned numerous times after a loss.
posted by rcade at 10:11 AM on January 10, 2005
Thanks rcade, that sheds some necessary (moon)light on the issue.
posted by smithers at 10:26 AM on January 10, 2005
rcade, that tidbit makes it funny, imo. the scoreboard pointing was funny as hell. this doesn't erase the leaving early, but i guess he's human. nice fro he was sporting, too. i was beginning to think those pantyhose hats were mandated by the league to be worn 24-7. to change direction, Capt. Offwing found an interesting article re: Favre's deification, or more accurately, the media's need for a hero.
posted by garfield at 10:38 AM on January 10, 2005
I was watching the game at a local sports establishment (mmmm ... sampler platter with jalapeno strings!) when Buck started going off. I missed it (and of course, Fox wouldn't show it), but for the little I caught, it looked like Moss dropped the ball while he bent over, a little charade of shitting on Lambeau Field. I was, of course, morally outraged, and brought up every other thing Moss has done wrong in his life (how the hell do you get let go by a Florida collegiate football team for off-the-field transgressions?!?)... but if it's just a response to the Lambeau hamhocks being bared ... that's pretty damned funny.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:50 AM on January 10, 2005
If I could grow a 'fro like that, I would.
posted by rcade at 12:08 PM on January 10, 2005
Randy Moss is a jerk and a phemenon, and this whole hoopla about the "mooning" is totally overblown. Joe Buck's overreaction was annoying, as was ESPN's "it's so offensive we can't show you" approach. I liked King Kaufman's point:
What's the over-under on how many times Fox and ESPN will show that moment before kickoff of the Vikings-Eagles game next week?If the Packers' fans have a tradition of actually mooning their opponents, that completely excuses Moss's faux-moon. (I don't like his showboating any more than I like Terrell Owens's or Joe Horn's, but I don't like it any less, either.) As far as yelling "look at the motherfucking scoreboard" goes, there were signs all over the stadium hazing him for his early exit in the previous week's Redskins game, and I would not be suprised if some of the fans had yelled obscenities at him. I think his actions were immature and unsportsmanlike, but many athletes and fans behave similarly. And he's right about one thing: the Vikings hung a W on Lambeau Field by beating up the Packers outside, on grass, and in the playoffs. The Vikings showed they belong in the playoffs.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:47 PM on January 10, 2005
Can't stop listening to sports radio this morning, even though this stupid Moss controversy is sapping my will to live. Is it true, as I just heard on Sporting News Radio, that Moss pretended to wipe his faux naked buttcrack on the goalpost padding? That just nasty.
posted by rcade at 12:55 PM on January 10, 2005
I would not be suprised if some of the fans had yelled obscenities at him. I would be suprised if they weren't. I was interested in Fox's hypocrisy.
posted by yerfatma at 12:58 PM on January 10, 2005
If I could grow a 'fro like that, I would. my 'fro looks like that almost every morning.
posted by goddam at 01:38 PM on January 10, 2005
Question of the day -- is Favre done? Michael Wilbon muses on the subject in today's Washington Post. I've gotta say... Favre looked distinctly... un-Favre like. Hard to imagine the Packers without him though. 
posted by sashae at 01:52 PM on January 10, 2005
Favre has been washed up for a couple of years now, but he is so popular with the sporting press that nobody says it. The Vikings got a lot of flack about backing into the playoffs, but GB was not notably better during the regular season, so I'd have to say that this was not the upset it may have seemed. We won't know how good the Vikes really are unless they get to the Super Bowl, I'd say-- their toughest game is going to be against a TO-less Eagles team, and I'd say that any of the four remaining AFC teams are better than any of the NFC contenders. Oh, and the Packer's fans mooning the visiting team? I didn't know that, but it is the sort of thing that the bobbleheads on tv almost certainly know. Why didn't they mention it durring all the hubbub?
posted by outside counsel at 02:22 PM on January 10, 2005
OC, didn't the Packers break quite a few team records this year? Didn't he just put on a career performance last year after his father died? Didn't GB start the season horribly, only to earn a spot, while MV came out of the gate blazing and fizzled into the post-season? Washed up? I think not.
posted by garfield at 04:52 PM on January 10, 2005
Not quite washed up, but as Sports Guy says, like watching Marino in the end of his career. Not quite the God everyone makes him out to be, and prone to mistakes.
posted by Bernreuther at 05:16 PM on January 10, 2005
Agreed that the fan-moon story, if true, makes the whole thing funny. I think, though, that there is a lesson for athletes, which is: never mind about justice, never mind who's right or wrong, it's practically impossible to end up looking good (or even okay) by getting into it with the fans. I'm thinking of the Pacers-Pistons game and the Yankees brawl in the bullpen at Fenway, to name just two examples. Questionable taste, poor judgment.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:17 PM on January 10, 2005
How I felt. Applies to major sports broadcasts in general, although Moss has appeared in relatively few baseball games I've seen this year.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:54 PM on January 10, 2005
Wait wait wait... FOX television decided not to show the faux-mooning after the first occurrance? No replays? And their talking heads said it was a disgusting display? The same FOX that runs "Who's My Daddy?", "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancee", "Who Wants To Marry A MultiMillionaire?" and some sort of wife-swapping show? H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E-S
posted by grum@work at 11:34 PM on January 10, 2005
Favre's not washed up. He's just not still the league MVP who can carry an entire team. But I'd still rather have him as my quarterback than 80% of the QBs in the NFL. But he needs major help now, and dropping 17 points in the first 12 seconds of a game and then having your superstar running back lay an egg is a recipe for a pile of interceptions.
posted by fabulon7 at 07:50 AM on January 11, 2005
And seriously, if Randy's spandex-assed pole dance is too disgusting for the FOX Football crew, I pray for their sake they don't watch TV after the game. Poor Howie might have a coronary.
posted by fabulon7 at 07:52 AM on January 11, 2005
Red McCombs asked Fox to take Joe Buck off Vikings broadcasts due to Buck's bias. Amazing to me the man could be more gauche than his coat.
posted by yerfatma at 08:35 PM on January 12, 2005
And the Moon Over Lambeau Field/UngraciousIn Victory award goes to Randy Moss. What a dummy.