A Letter For Randy Moss

The GOAT Wideout and Viking (fight me)

There are very few athletes I’ve ever been head over heels enamored with - by both their persona and their athletic greatness.

Only two of those athletes ever played for MY team. Kevin Garnett and Randy Moss.

Moss in particular provided a sense of awe. He was so spectacularly gifted that you could plainly see he was different from even the best athletes in the NFL. When he was on the field it stood out from everyone else.

He ran faster, jumped higher, moved more effortlessly, caught passes with one hand or without looking at the ball, timed his jumps perfectly and snagged the pigskin out of the defenders grasp.

He shouldn’t have ever even been on our team, it always felt like fate that he became a Viking. I remember that draft day vividly, my dad and brother and I huddled in the living room and the hype and confusion growing with every pick that went by and Moss was still on the board. The anticipation building as we got closer to our pick at #21. When they’d show clips of him at Marshall just dominating (shoutout to Chad Pennington for tossing him the rock) all over the field just running past everyone down the sideline we just prayed and crossed our fingers tighter that he’d fall to us.

Then it became a reality. And his story resonated with us. The underdog. The cast aside country kid from West Virginia that everyone passed on because of his “attitude” and a phony misdemeanor charge in High School for being involved in a racially charged fight. The guy Notre Dame pulled a scholarship from. The guy who was Mr Basketball TWICE in WV and the best football recruit in the country out of High School. He had a chip on his shoulder just like we had a chip on our shoulder (as we tend to do when growing up in the dead ass cold of Minnesota and being a fan of teams that never win anything).

In training camp of his rookie we started hearing stories that were mythological in nature. Except the myths became reality and he lived up to them. The media and KFAN guys would say things like:

“The quarterbacks physically can’t over throw him, he’s just too fast!”

“He hasn’t dropped a ball in 3 days and catches everything!”

As with all things we tempered our excitement, we just never had good things like this happen to our sports teams. But the excitement was brewing within all of us Vikings fans, it was like a ball of energy growing inside our psyche’s ready to launch out like a heat seeking missile demolish everything in its path.

In his first game against the Buccaneers he had 2 touchdowns and 94 yards and we got our first glimpse. The missile was loaded up and activated.

Then in week 5 we played the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night football. 5 catches, 190 yards, and 2 incredible touchdowns. The missile was launched, locked on its target and fucking exploded as the collective energy of the entire fanbase went nuts.

I mean watch these highlights

His swagger and confidence exuded its way into my bloodstream somehow. I was out on the playground at recess pretending I was him. We’d repeat his media shenanigans like Gen Z brain rot - straight cash homie! I got to cheer that guy on for 7 seasons, on my favorite team, and it was a blast. God damn was he special.

To this day, nothing will get me more hyped than seeing Randy throw his hand up in the hair to signal to his QB to just toss it up and let him go get it. It was the Babe Ruth bat point of football and it worked almost every time. Such a baller.

Even when he got into trouble and moved onto other teams, he was still our guy. He will always be our guy.

I’m writing this today because there have been news stories that Randy is experiencing health troubles that are serious enough to be reported on and for him to step away from his role on TV and in the media, where he’s still beloved to this day. I’m worried about him and scared for him. I hope whatever he’s dealing with that his body can heal from.

It’s weird how these types of people in our lives can create such a hold on us, how we can feel so close to them. Like he’s a part of my life. Randy Moss will always be a part of my life - so many great memories and guttural feelings I have wired into my brain from watching his greatness and cheering him on.

Whether you care about sports or not, I’m sure there is a person like this in your life too. Someone you got to watch and experience from the outside but they had a profound impact and lasting grip on you. A musician or actor or character in your favorite book - these people or the ideas of these people play an important role in our lives and development.

Randy made me excited to be an athlete. He gave me dreams and fantasies about playing pro sports one day in front of a crowd with thousands of people cheering me on. Those dreams drove me and drove me far. They gave me something to strive for. They gave me something to emulate. They gave me power.

Thanks Randy. You’re one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever seen and you gave me confidence and empowered me as a skinny white kid growing up in Minneapolis. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. Priceless.

Get better soon, #84.

With love and deep appreciation,

-Andrew