FanNation - The Republic of Sport

The E. Nigma.  Sorry I saw the latest Ryan Parker song on Hot Clicks where the Patriots are the Legion of Doom and Randy is the Riddler aka Edward Nigma (if the Batman movies are to be believed, but I digress...)

This came up in response to one of my other blogs, what do I think of Randy, did I have sour grapes, hard feelings, etc.  I really like Randy, not only for his talent, and his stellar yrs w/ the Vikes.  I think he got short shrift on a lot of things, but he also had to leave MIN (and later OAK) for the sake of those teams.  Team cancers get traded or cut, and if he becomes a problem in NE, he'd be gone there too.  Belichick is no dummy, he signed Randy to a cap friendly deal that wouldn't make a ripple in the salary cap if he had to axe Randy. 

So let's get down to it.  Randy's Moon Over Lambeau was priceless, but he got a stiff fine from the No Fun League.  I checked my copy of Austin Powers 2, rated PG-13. which shows Mini Me bending over, ACTUALLY dropping his pants (as opposed to Randy's faking dropping trou). and SPANKING his fanny (which Randy wiggled twice, no spank).  Now if Vern Troyer could do that in a PG -13 movie, why can't Randy get away w/ much less, in an evening playoff game. 

Especially since the Packer fans do it to opposing teams. I'd like to see how many citations the GB police issue in Brown Co WI for indecent exposure.  I'd be shocked, SHOCKED if there were 1.  There are probably more citations for fans peeing in the parking lot than mooning the opposing bus.  Tony Dungy (practically a bible thumper) was the one who explained that fans (those great and hallowed Packer fans, self-proclaimed greatest in the world) are as crass as to show their....derriere. 

He didn't even get penalized for the celebration.  And that's where the phrase "Straight cash, Homey." came from, because Randy knew he hadn't done anything seriously wrong, but still got fined for it. 

 Leaving the field w/ 2 seconds left in WAS was wrong.  He should have been on the field for the on-side kick, even though you'd probably have to recover and return the kick for a TD to have made a difference.  Randy was confronted in the locker room, by a lot of guys that had covered for him in the past.  Randy was wrong, even though there really was nothing to be gained by him staying out there.  Same effect, he just did it wrong.

The cop.  Now what he did on appearance looks bad.  Cop stops him in traffic, Randy can't wait, winds up bumping the cop w/ his car.  Randy gets arrested.  He's wrong here too.  However, that doesn't mean he was the unreasonable one. 

 I was living in Chicago at the time, and someone told me about it, portraying the story as Randy running down this cop w/ his car.  How long was she keeping him in traffic, did he say anything to her to get her to allow him to pass, did he give her any warning before "bumping her". could she have avoided the car as he lurched forward trying to get her to move?  These are all questions left unanswered by the more sensational video of Randy handcuffed in a squad car.  But really, did this traffic cop have an over-inflated sense of importance?  Maybe.  That being said, Randy still shouldn't have done it, but I suspect they were both wrong.

Squirting a ref w/ a water bottle.  Dumb.  And I saw the game, I thought it was horribly officiated, but still dumb.  Doesn't mean he wasn't right to be mad at that ref, he just handled it poorly, like the young and spoiled guy he was. 

Gotta speed up.  "I play when I wanna play."  I say misunderstood.  I lived out of state, but read the Mpls paper online, and read all the quotes of Randy through the yrs.  Randy is very independent, to the point of stubbornness.  He desperately wants to be his own man.  He can't stand other people telling him what to do, or taking credit for his accomplishments.  That's why is relationship w/ Cris Carter went south. 

 It was a great story, the Freak and the Mentor, showing him the ropes, but even in 98 you could see from Randy's quotes he was chaffing at the credit Carter got for Randy's play.  That led to Carter having to leave eventually, as all mentors do, like Belichick passing on the Jets job, to make his own mark in NE, Obi-Wan sacrificing himself so Luke could be the Jedi he was destined to be (sorry, ran out of Mentor/Proteges).

There's also something to be said for laying low on an opponent.  I've done it, and it's worked.  Muhammed Ali called it the Rope-A-Dope.  Worked for him too.  They use this argument as a reason not to switch DLineman around the line of scrimmage.  Let someone work against the same OLineman so they can set him up for certain moves.  Taken in this context, Randy's statement could just as easily have been, "Don't tell me how to do my job, I'll do it my way." 

Now, Randy's no wordsmith, so its no surprise he stuck his foot in his mouth.  When given a chance to take back his stmt, he refused, again, cuz he wants to be his own man, and wouldn't admit to that kind of mistake, it's a sign of weakness. 

Randy's been sorry about mistakes he's made, I'm fairly certain I've seen him crying in an ESPN interview, but he won't ever admit to specific instances of wrongdoing.  Again, that's consistent, Randy being his own man.

Now, teammates swear by him, by and large, even when he's made mistakes.  The WAS game, guys in the locker room confronted him, but never really made public statements, preferring even w/ that kind of transgression (quitting on your team) to keep it in house.  Teammates in NE like him too.  OAK?  Well, a lot of guys gave up on that team while Randy was there, why is Randy the only one getting blamed.  Jerry Porter got a second chance?  Why did Randy get traded?  Randy had more value, and he was more likely to breed malcontents because people will follow Randy.  Players always respect other players who can ball, and leaving Randy on a bad team was a recipe of a team disaster.

 Randy is neither good nor bad, he works hard, has blocked before going to NE despite what Merrill Hoge and the rest say.  Randy's a freakish athlete, who's no where near the man that his athletic skills make him out to be.  But then, who is?