Unacceptable

Warning: The following blog will be about a sports figure, but is not entirely about sports.

Now, for those of you who know me...I'm not exactly a prude. I don't get offended easily, at least, not by profanity, obscenity, scatology, eating babies, and other disgusting shit like that.

But, what Randy Moss said yesterday deeply offended me.

I just want to put my two cents in, and if you're sick of the topic, skip this post.

Everything Randy Moss has done in his career to deserve fines has been ok with me. I didn't mind when he spiked the ball off of Dre Bly. Or when he squirted the referree. Or even when he verbally berated the corporate sponsers. Or pushed the traffic officer. To me, that was just the by-product of a talented and charismatic, but somewhat unstable, young man. I'm young. I've been angry. I understand that its hard for professional athletes to constantly be held to a higher standard than the public.

His "mooning" was definately blown out of proportion. I thought it was funny. I watched it live, with Grace, and she can affirm that I laughed hard when it happened. I thought it was hilarious, and the fact that he was fined anything is a joke.

And I agree with Jake(s), that while his redeeming qualities (buying cars for the homeless, giving balls to the handicapped) don't excuse his behavior, they are criminally underreported.

Until now, I have enjoyed watching Moss play, and I have been admittedly entertained by his antics. But...

"You don't write checks when you are rich"
"Ten grand ain't shit to me."

That was his part of his response when questioned about the fine levied by the NFL for his mooning. To me, this represents a much serious issue with Moss than ever before. Of course, it won't affect his play, and he won't be fined for it, but he has definitely fallen out of my favor. These comments are indicitive of the level to which professional athletes can completely lose touch with reality. Moss apparently does not appreciate his special situation in life, and he certainly doesn't appreciate the fact that 10 grand is a lot of money to a lot of people. A significant amopunt of his paycheck comes from people who save their hard earned money to watch him play. Who scrape together money at christmas to buy their kids Moss jerseys. How can Moss flaunt his wealth in the face of people who provide it to him?

I had this conversation with Jake(s) the other day, albeit in a different context. I don't hate rich people for being rich, of course not. But I can't stand when people don't appreciate their wealth. Who take it for granted. Who assume that it makes them superior. Who are overwhelmed by a sense of entitlement. Moss certainly fits in to all of these categories.

So, until now, I have like Moss as an athlete, and person....but now, just an athlete.

His personality ain't shit to me.