The Vikings' decision to waive Randy Moss may have been spurred in part by Moss' alleged tirade over a post-practice meal, according to a story first reported by Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday.
The story was later corroborated by Gus Tinucci, co-owner of Tinucci's Restaurant and Catering, which set up the buffet spread that Moss allegedly criticized in an expletive-laced blowup last Friday afternoon. Tinucci told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Moss was so unhappy with the buffet that he even refused to eat any of it after his rant.
"We had the whole buffet set up, and we had a nice spread -- chicken, ribs, round of beef with a carving station, the whole deal," Tinucci told the Pioneer Press. "(Moss) comes in, and I'm helping one of the guys and didn't look up, and all of a sudden I heard, 'What the (expletive) is this? I wouldn't feed this (expletive expletive) to my (expletive) dog!' And he's screaming it at the top of his lungs."
Tinucci told the Pioneer Press that only one Viking intervened, telling Moss to "shut the (expletive) up," but that Brett Favre also seemed to disapprove of Moss' actions. Tinucci said a Vikings locker-room attendant later apologized to him. "He said, 'Don't worry about it, Gus, he's an (expletive). He's done this every time we've had food,'" Tinucci told the newspaper.
An anonymous player who witnessed the scene told Yahoo! Sports! there was a very uncomfortable feeling afterward and that Moss "deserved to be cut after that."
"You know that feeling where you just can tell someone feels so small? That's what it was like being there," the player told the website.
According to the player's account, the food "was actually really good," but Moss was so unhappy that he wound up at his locker saying, "You know, I used to have to eat that crap -- but now I've got money."
Tinucci's Restaurant, which has been in business since 1958, is reportedly a favorite of former Vikings center Matt Birk, now with the Baltimore Ravens. When asked what he thought of Moss' outburst, the six-time Pro Bowler told the Pioneer Press: "Some people don't have any taste. Some people don't have any manners. And some people don't have either."