Moss leaves bad taste in restaurant owner’s mouth

Tennessee Titans wide receiver/diva Randy Moss once infamously uttered the words, "I play when I want to play."

Moss, who was released by the Minnesota Vikings this week, also eats from his team's free, catered, postpractice buffet when he wants to -- and that appears to be only when it lives up to his lofty standards.

It didn't last week, and the loafing gourmet lost it, a former teammate told Yahoo! Sports.

"What the (expletive)?" he said. "Who ordered this crap?"

Moss, who must've eaten lobster after every practice with the New England Patriots, continued his classless tirade as the owners of Tinucci's -- a mom-and-pop restaurant in Minnesota -- proudly served their spread of ribs, chicken, a carving station and more.

"All of a sudden, I heard all this screaming, and I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' " Gus Tinucci, owner of the 52-year-old restaurant, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "(Moss said), 'I wouldn't feed this (expletive) to my (expletive) dog.' I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. It was quiet in there."

Tinucci said one player told Moss to shut up, and many players reportedly were glad to see him go.

"It was brutal," one player said. "He deserved to be cut after that. And by the way, the food was actually really good."

Not surprisingly, Moss didn't even try the food. Just like he didn't bother trying to make a potential touchdown catch against the Patriots on Sunday after drawing a pass interference penalty in the Vikings' 28-18 loss.

No truth to the report that New England traded Moss after the receiver bashed coach Bill Belichick's beef stew.

Taking advantage of the incident, Tinucci on Friday offered free lunch -- the same one offered to Moss -- to the first 50 customers who donated their Moss gear. The items will be donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs in Nashville, Tenn.

The Titans better hope Moss likes Southern food.

■ FEAR THE BEARD LIVE -- World Series champion Brian Wilson is getting the Betty White treatment from fans on Facebook. They want the San Francisco Giants' quirky closer to host "Saturday Night Live" and have started a campaign to get him and his jet-black beard an invite.

White hosted "SNL" last year after a drive by 500,000-plus people on the social networking site landed her the gig.

The Wilson fan page barely has been up a week, but by Friday afternoon he'd received nearly 19,000 "like" votes.

The 28-year-old, tattooed Wilson has several other fan pages devoted to him, including one entitled "Brian Wilson's Beard," which has garnered more than 20,000 "like" votes.

Wilson led the majors in saves this season, with 48, and has emerged as a national cult hero for his colorful interviews and appearance, most notably his thick beard, which is dyed several shades darker than the rest of his hair.

After Wilson closed out this year's World Series, a reporter asked him how he was feeling. Said Wilson, a self-described "mental assassin" who claims to be a ninja: "I'm feeling like I want to rage -- right now."

Let's hope Wilson gets his chance to host "SNL." Sounds like it could be funny again.

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL