Oh Randy, you came and you gave

Since the day he came to New England, Randy Moss by and large was scrutinized by the media in this town. The star wide receiver, who set an NFL single-season record with 23 touchdowns in 2007 and helped the Patriots notch the only 16-game perfect regular season, simply couldn’t do enough to appease the idiot writers (one of whom works for this publication), who only wanted to tear him down.

Not long after the trade was announced during the 2007 NFL draft, which sent Moss to the Patriots from Oakland for a fourth-round pick, Daily News sportswriter Josh Krueger wrote a column about the deal.

“Sorry to rain on the New England Patriots’ Randy Moss parade — truthfully, I’m not at all sorry — but if I were a Patriots fan, I wouldn’t get too excited about the acquisition of the lazy wide receiver just yet,” Krueger wrote.

How did that work out? Moss, while he had his moments as a Patriot, was hardly the trouble-making player many figured he’d be. His production certainly outweighed any waves he may have made. In his three-plus seasons in New England (51 games) he caught 259 passes for 3,904 yards and 50 touchdowns.

The media had nothing to do with Moss getting traded — that was the stingy Patriots, who didn’t want to offer a multiyear deal to a 33-year-old wide receiver with a potential lockout approaching. But the bozo columnists who cover the Pats, one of whom resides upstate, always had it out for him. I really don’t know what else he could have done. Yet if a game went by where he didn’t score, or wasn’t the focal part of the offense, he was accused of “dogging it.”

Reche Caldwell, Deion Branch, Troy Brown or David Givens — the team’s leading receivers from 2001-06 — were never accused of dogging it despite putting up some paltry numbers in big games. Wes Welker has had his share of clunkers in this three seasons, yet nobody caught nearly as much flack as Moss.

Fans, from what I could tell, liked Moss. They certainly liked him when he beat double coverage down the field to haul in a touchdown pass. But now that he’s gone, the Patriots will struggle to find that speedster who can stretch the field vertically.

Brandon Tate? As much as the special teams guru has put his stamp on games, he’s not capable of bringing the same skills to the table as Moss. But the Patriots have enough weapons, some will say.

Oh yeah? The reason Wes Welker has caught 100 passes every year, the reason the new tight ends, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, have became major targets for Tom Brady is because of Moss. He attracts so much attention all over the field that it frees up other players.

Moss is headed back to Minnesota, where he was loved from Day 1. No, he’s no longer the burner he once was, but he’s still a very talented — and smarter — wide receiver who will be an enormous target for Brett Favre and give Adrian Peterson plenty of room to run.

Unless the third-round pick the Pats got in return for Moss turns out to be a future Hall of Famer, this was a raw deal. I would rather have him finish the season as a Patriot and take a run for a championship. Instead, this offense is cooked.

PS: October 31 - Minnesota at New England.

Euro fans truly are fanatic

It was evident by the celebration on Monday that the Europeans love the Ryder Cup much more than the Americans. And I'm not talking about the golfers.

Two years ago, when the event was held at Valhalla in Kentucky, there was hardly a peep on this side of the pond. I'm not trying to generalize here, but I'm not sure most Americans even know what the Ryder Cup is. They know what the Olympics are, and they are aware (although they may not want to be) of the World Baseball Classic.

But what makes the Ryder Cup special is the fact that it's us versus all of Europe: Spain, England, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Germany. And it's the best golfers in the world: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Steve Stricker, etc.

Kudos to the Americans for a spirited effort in the singles session on Monday, especially from 21-year-old Rickie Fowler, who rallied to halve his match. Stricker, on the other hand, earned just a half-point against North Ireland's version of Fowler, Rory McIlroy. That was a big result considering the final score.

There are a lot of 'What ifs' from the weekend, but the fact is the Cup is now in Europe and will be until 2012, when it comes to Medinah in Illinois. Let's just hope the U.S. gets a little more excited about it.

Big foot spotted on Broadway

Ray Allen stands 6-foot-5, and the two feet on which he stands are looking pretty good. The Boston Celtics guard was spotted on Tuesday at Creative Nails on Broadway getting a pedicure. The nail technician likely earned her money, considering Allen wears a size 14 sneaker.

Patrons and workers recognized him right away, and although Allen tried to downplay his appearance, he posed for pictures. While his feet were being worked upon, he read from an iPad.

Have you seen any Celtics around town? If so, let us know.

R.I. high school football poll Week 3.

After a mediocre first half last week against previously undefeated Narragansett, Middletown, behind the running of Dylan Gracia and Rico McCray, exploded in the second half en route to a 44-26 victory. That helped move the unbeaten Islanders up three spots to No. 8 this week.

Portsmouth, which lost to Division I foe La Salle, flip-flopped spots with the Rams, while Rogers, on the strength of a victory over Lincoln, continues to climb in the poll, reaching No. 15.


Team Points Last week
1. Hendricken (6) 215 1
2. East Providence (5) 212 2
3. Barrington 198 3
4. La Salle 187 5
5. Portsmouth 160 4
6. Johnston 158 6
7. Mount Hope 141 8
8. Middletown 125 11
9. Cranston West 107 7
10. Toll Gate 98 13
11. Tolman 95 NR
t-12. Cranston East 94 10
t-12. Moses Brown 94 12
14. Central 77 18
15. Rogers 76 16
16. Chariho 69 19
17. Woonsocket 52 9
18. Ex.-West Greenwich 39 NR
19. Westerly 32 NR
20. Burrillville 25 NR

Dropped from poll (place): Narragansett (14), Shea (15), Coventry (17), South Kingstown (20).

Also receiving votes: Shea 17, Narragansett 15, Coventry 11, Lincoln 7, Mount Pleasant 4, St. Raphael 2.

Celtics by the sea

Hopefully no Boston Celtics players showed up to the first day of practice assuming coach Doc Rivers was going to take it easy on them. By the time media were allowed in the gym at Salve Regina University’s Rodgers Recreation Center, guys looked flat-out exhausted — some more than others.

It was easy to understand why. Tuesday’s practice went nearly three hours.

“It was a long practice,” Rivers said.

The workout seemed to take its toll on center Shaquille O’Neal. As the team ran full-court transition offense drills near the end of practice, O’Neal was a bit slower than usual getting up and down the floor. And while other players caught the ball near the hoop and dunked it, Shaq opted for a layup each time, barely leaving the ground in the process.

“Shaq looked great,” Rivers said. “Mostly everybody made it through practice. I thought, the last hour, you could see that they had run three hours.”

R.I. high school football poll Week 2

Rogers, on the strength of its 34-32 victory over Burrillville on Saturday, made the biggest jump of local teams in the poll this week, moving up four spots to No. 16.
Portsmouth, which is 2-0, is now ranked No. 4, and Middletown bumped up two spots to No. 11.

This week, there's a few big showdowns. In Division III, Middletown plays No. 14 Narragansett, while Portsmouth hosts No. 5 La Salle. Rogers, meanwhile, hosts Lincoln.

Team Points Last year
1. Hendricken (7) 216 1t
2. East Providence (4) 211 1t
3. Barrington 192 6
4. Portsmouth 186 5
5. La Salle 166 3
6. Johnston 147 7
7. Cranston West 138 4
8. Mount Hope 133 8
9. Woonsocket 125 10
10. Cranston East 111 9
11. Middletown 102 13
12. Moses Brown 92 14
13. Toll Gate 72 18
14. Narragansett 55 NR
15. Shea 52 16
16. Rogers 44 20
17. Coventry 44 11
18. Central 38 NR
19. Chariho 36 NR
20. South Kingstown 29 17

Dropped from poll: Westerly (12), Ponaganset (15), Burrillville (19).
Also receiving votes: Tolman 26, Lincoln 25, Westerly 25, Exeter-West Greenwich 20, Ponaganset 10, Burrillville 6, West Warwick 2, Cumberland 1.

After halftime, not much went right

Looking only at the numbers, it appears New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a pretty good day Sunday against the Jets. He was 20-for-36 for 248 yards with two touchdowns. But in reality, he had a good half.

He hit his favorite targets - Wes Welker and Randy Moss - for touchdowns (Moss made a ridiculous one-handed grab for a 34-yard score) and the Patriots seemingly moved the ball at will in taking a 14-10 edge into the break.

But Brady turned the ball over three times after halftime, throwing two interceptions and fumbling on a critical drive deep in New York territory. Of those 248 yards, only 69 came in the third and fourth quarters, and none to Moss despite a number of passes thrown his way. Furthermore, Welker was non-existent in the second half.

"We couldn't do anything in the second half," Brady said. "We had a hard time gaining yards. We didn't do anything on third down. We couldn't gain anything on first or second down. We couldn't run it. We couldn't throw it.

"We just sucked. That's what it comes down to."

Hit the nail on the head there.

Mark Sanchez, Brady's counterpart at quarterback, had his coming out party (yeah, I know it's his second season and he's played in an AFC title game). He completed a career-high 21 passes for 220 yards and three scores.

The New England defense, which stood tall against the Bengals in Week 1, couldn't gain its footing against the Jets. They gave up tons of yards on the ground to LaDainian Tomlinson and, when they got into the red zone, the defensive backfield was defenseless.

It's only one game in a long season, but this loss doesn't bode well for the Pats, who must go back and take a long look in the mirror.