This sheds a little different light on the story if true, and answers why he would think of doing such a gesture.
***
The allegation about a supposed Packer fan tradition of mooning the visiting team's bus is a complete and utter lie.
It should be noted that the only individuals to have made that allegation are all current or former Vikings players and coaches.
Tony Dungy, a former Vikings defensive coordinator (and former rival coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), first made that allegation. He hates the Packers and is a friend of Randy Moss.
When told of Dungy's comment and asked at a press conference if he had also experienced Packer fans mooning the Vikings bus as either a Vikings player or coach, Vikings Coach Mike Tice paused and stammered in agreement.
His response sounded like the old Jon Lovitz/Tommy Flannagan/Liar routine. "Umm,...yeah that's it. The Packer fans moon us all the time. I've seen thousands of bare asses in Green Bay...along with my wife,...uhm, my wife Morgan Fairchild."
The only other person to accuse the Packer fans of mooning the visiting team bus has been HBO football analyst Cris Carter. Oh yes, that would be the same Cris Carter who played for -- guess who? -- the Vikings and is/was Randy Moss' close friend, teammate and mentor.
The national AP story regarding Dungy's initial allegation truncated the full story published locally which also listed rebuttal comment from local authorities. When asked for comment regarding the Viking allegation of Packer fans dropping "trou," both the Brown County Sherriff's Department and the Green Bay Police Department pooh-poohed the cheeky story citing the security perimeter near the visiting team bus and the heavy law enforcement presence nearby. Both agencies said that any fan who was observed engaging in such behavior would be arrested for lewd and licivious behavior, disturbing the peace and/or disorderly conduct. If you have ever been to a game at Lambeau Field or in Green Bay, you would know that's the truth.
Further, the NFL, Packers officials and all other local and national print, radio and television media unequivocally and uniformly state that they have NEVER witnessed anything resembling the Vikings accusation. I was at a Milwaukee Brewers radio advertisers breakfast this morning and spoke privately with 2 broadcasters who also cover the Packers. They've been covering games for 20 years and they both said that the mooning allegation was "bullsh**."
Being in Green Bay is like being trapped in the 1950's. It's heavy law and order. Pedestrians are still ticketed for jaywalking. Plus, the fans are extremely well-behaved. It's Small Town, USA, so people are freindly to all visitors - including Vikings fans. Heck, Packers fans are even polite with Bears fans. If a Packer fan was going to moon anybody, it would be those arrogant jerks from Chicago.
Bottom line, all 3 of the men making the lunar charge hate the Packers and have a desire get behind Randy Moss and to cover his butt.
As for me, I think a $10,000 fine is too little. Randy has a long and checkered history regarding his behavior. I think he should be hit with a 1 game suspension and surrender his game check to start the 2005 regular season. I don't think it would be fair to penalize the Vikings with a suspension during the playoffs, but I do think Moss deserves to be suspended. Not necessarily just for this isolated conduct, but for his continuing inappropriate behavior and as a warning and deterrent to other players who might tempt fate by taunting fans and potentially inciting a riot.
After the Pistons/Pacers melee in Detroit this year, the NFL needs to put a stop to this kind of taunting in order to prevent a fan riot. I firmly believe that if Moss had performed this routine in Philadelphia, it is highly likely that a riot could have broken out with fans rushing the field and fighting with players.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue should have moved quickly and rendered punishment almost immediatley. Instead, by not doing anything until today, Tagliabue let this thing slide completely out of control with the current and former Vikings personnel LYING on behalf of Randy Moss instead of punishing him or even admonishing him directly. There was no apology, not even a qualified apology of "Gosh, I/he was just trying to have fun. It was not an appropriate thing to do. And after the NBA melee in Detroit, it probably wasn't a smart thing to do, either. If anyone was offended, I/we apologize."
Would that have been so difficult to say?
Now, I would have preferred to see Moss make that statement, but someone from the Vikings should have said something like that. Instead, the idiot owner of the Vikings asks Fox to remove to Joe Buck - possibly the best play-by-play football announcer in the last 20 years - from this weekend's Fox telecast of the Vikings-Eagles game because Buck had the nerve to call Moss' conduct disgusting, childish and inappropriate.
As a Packer fan, I would have easily moved beyond Moss' taunt and just chalked it up to Randy Moss being a crude buffoon. But after the entire Vikings organization refused to issue any sort of qualified wishy-washy apology and instead engaged in series of lies to cover and coddle their star performer, it made me angry. And then to see the moronic statement of their owner chastising Joe Buck and Fox for accurately describing Moss' conduct really set me off.
The entire Minnesota Vikings organization is completely without any kind of class, honor, dignity or intelligence.
Ha. As a packer fan you should be pissed at the defense who let a barely-able-to-run Moss get behind them and score the touchdown.
Don't let Moss score easy touchdowns & the problem is solved.
And how much should Favre be fined/suspended for punching the Viking player in the same game?
Talk about no class.........
I'd have to agree on this point...went to the rams/packers monday night game this year (from St. Louis).
We were there a couple of days and nights, in our rams gear, and had a great time. Just some good natured ribbing, except for one drunk in the stands, but he finally shut up.
The moss thing didn't seem like a big deal to me.
A close relative of mine, works for the Packers in security. He has told me that this year has been much worse than past years, in terms of behavior, and the number of arrests, and game kick outs. He personally had to call the police last month to have a group of "fans" arrested after they peed on the building, and refused to leave when asked. Is peeing on Lambeau field worse than mooning the visiting team? If you ask neither are wonderful behavior.
The last time I checked, he was never a Viking!!!!