King Kaufman's Sports Daily

NFL playoffs: Randy Moss pretends to moon the crowd and the Broncos pretend to play defense. Plus: Jets get lucky and win. And: It's good to be an 8-8 team.

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Jan. 10, 2005 | I am pretending to be mortified by Randy Moss of the Vikings pretending to pull his pants down and moon Packers fans Sunday. I am absolutely make-believe disgusted. Not since Joe Horn of the Saints pretended to make a cellphone call in the end zone have I pretended to be so offended by the miming of an NFL player.

Moss' end-zone celebration following the touchdown that iced Minnesota's 31-17 win at Lambeau Field is the NFL firestorm du jour, not nearly as much fun as Janet Jackson's boob or Nicollette Sheridan's towel and not even as interesting as Horn's cellphone call, but what can you do? These are days of lowered expectations, especially in the NFC, where two 8-8 teams won playoff games over the weekend.

The Vikings, one of those 8-8 teams, put a beating on the Packers, while the Rams, the other one, edged the Seahawks in Seattle 27-20, the game ending on Seattle's signature play, a dropped pass, this one in the end zone. This drop, at least, by Bobby Engram, would have been a great catch had it been made. Most Seahawks drops -- the count Saturday was five by most estimates -- are of the "oh, it hit him in a bad place, right between the numbers" variety.

In the AFC, where the good teams play, the Jets surprised the surprising Chargers in overtime 20-17 and the Colts whipped the Broncos 49-24. The score was misleadingly close in that one: Indianapolis led 35-3 at halftime.

Moss had been the controversy champion of the week leading up to the playoffs because he pouted his way off the field with two seconds remaining in the Vikings' season-ending loss to Washington, which understandably upset his teammates. The Vikings seemed to find a way to rally around their curious mix of feelings about Moss -- he's a dumbass and a lousy teammate, but he's also one of the game's best receivers -- and came out flying, jumping to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.

Moss, predictably, was hearing it from the Green Bay fans, and Fox caught a great shot of him after the field goal that stretched the lead to 17. Moss was standing near the Minnesota bench looking into the crowd before the kickoff, half-smiling as he listened to fans. He put his hand behind his ear and cocked his head in an "I'm trying to hear you" gesture.

Then he walked to the bench, as close as he could get to the crowd, pointed at the scoreboard and yelled -- you could read his lips -- "Just look at the motherfuckin' score! Look at the motherfuckin' scoreboard!"

That's Moss in a nutshell: Profane, childish and inappropriate. He thinks it's just playing around, just nothing, but he manages to find a way to overstep the bounds and offend people. Moss doesn't just say, "Look at the scoreboard," a common phrase in the harsh-sounding but usually good-natured back-and-forth between sports rivals. He shouts profanities at the customers. Oh, and this was Moss in a nutshell too: It was 17-0 Vikings.

Next page: "Just having fun." Plus: Actual football. Colts destroy timid Broncos, Jets and Rams win