Being Randy Moss

So Randy Moss is finally a Raider. After weeks of speculation that began as soon as the Vikings were dumped out in the Divisional playoffs by the Eagles, the trade finally materialized. As they would have said in soccer, Oakland 1 - Minnesota 0. The whole drama surrounding Moss' late season on-field antics has been rather bizarre. I don't know if Moss was really a disruptive influence in the Vikings' set up, what I do know is they couldn't have achieved half of what they did without him. Even with a bum ankle that bothered him almost all season, Moss was one of the two most influential guys on the field, the other of course being Culpepper. No one felt Moss' impact more than the Green Bay Packers. But the faux mooning incident was blown out of proportion by the entire media, most of which ignored Moss' stellar effort despite injury. Fox's Joe Buck, of course, takes the cake for his over the top reaction. I think that was as 'disgusting' as the mooning, if not more. It's not as if this was Moss' first brush with negative publicity - he'd unceremoniously walked off the field with seconds remaining against the Redskins and he compounded matters by dismissing the punishment meted out by NFL for the mooning incident. But was all of that really so much that the Vikings had to deal him? - NK