Old before my time: Annoying Sportsman #2

(November 23, 2008 - Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images North America)

Now for many who know me, calling Randy Moss an annoying sportsman, when i've worn his name proudly on my shirt for the last two years may seem a touch hypocritical, no?

Well for me it isn't so much the annoyance of the man himself but the frustrated disappointment of throwing away chance after chance handed to him in the NFL.

For the unaware, Randy Moss has spent his entire career tagged with a label of being a trouble maker wherever he goes.

In his first season as a pro, he was fined $25,000 for squirting a referee with a water bottle.

His tendency to get disinterested when he felt he wasn't receiving enough passes, prompted one head coach to implement "The Randy Ratio", designed to make 40% of all passes thrown to be at Randy Moss, to keep him in the game.

He then moved onto Oakland where it was very much of the same but he still managed to produce some spectacular catches.

Having completely fallen out with the Raiders, and after all talk was of Moss' career being all but over, Moss was signed by my team, the Patriots.

Now i'll be honest i was a bit apprehensive about the trade seeing that in the superbowl winning years ad beyond Bill Belicheck made sure that any 'fractious' personalities or ego's would be sent packing. High profile names like Corey Dillon, Asante Samuel and Richard Seymour, echo the sentiment of Belicheck in saying that no one player is bigger than the team.

So why then does Robert Kraft and Belicheck decide to sign perhaps the most fractious of them all?

Because they saw what Patriots fans around the world saw very soon in Moss, the untapped resource of talent.

With Tom Brady in the driving seat, and Moss wanting catches, why not throw him the ball more then?

Simple and for the 2007 season simple was the order of the day.

Brady and Moss deconstructed every defence in the league en route to a almost perfect 18-1 season, coming unstuck on the grandest stage of all, the Superbowl.

Two more seasons followed and season ending injuries to Brady plus the emergence of Wes Welker as the best slot receiver in the league meant Moss was once again being used as a distraction to other teams permanently double covered to leave another player open elsewhere - and he was fine with that.

To this season and from the outset, there seemed to be a different tone to Patriots media interaction, one of seriousness and ruthlessness.

The sort of attitude we had seen in four of our previous runs to the superbowl, but this year felt different because Randy Moss wasn't on board.

Moss wanted more money, funny that. He had spent two years talking about how much he respected Belicheck and the Patriots organisation, yet it was going to count for nothing as he was to be left out in the cold like the rest of them.

Then after four weeks back in Minnesota with the Vikings, the Patriots come and teach them a lesson and keep Moss out of the game. Moss comes out in the press saying the side were 'under-prepared' and how much respect he still had for the Patriots.

24 hours later....See ya later Randy.

This highlights my point. Arguably the most talented active Wide Receiver in the league and is now without a team. He had a good thing going with the Patriots, who made him the Hall of Fame receiver he now is, but he felt that an extra million dollars here or there were more important than a realistic chance of a Superbowl Ring.

Anyway, I still hope he can find somewhere he will be as settled as he was in Boston, alas I feel he won't be able to find what he's looking for. Either way he will be remembered for moments like this one...