Rybak on Randy Moss: He was a jerk and we don't want him back in town

​Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak took a stab at former Minnesota Viking Randy Moss yesterday while previewing the Vikings-Packers match-up later in the evening. In his attempt to say that Brett Favre is a good fit in Minneapolis and a welcomed addition, he said Moss was a jerk, a bad fit, and isn't welcomed back into this town.

A tough statement, but all too true. Too bad the Star Tribune sports writer didn't see it that way. Rybak's quote:

"I think there are some times when a fit just doesn't work with the team anymore. Like Randy Moss may be the greatest receiver anywhere around, but I don't want that guy to ever come back into the city of Minneapolis again. He was a jerk when he was here, and Brett wasn't a jerk when he was over there. There's a different deal, but sometimes fits don't work in football. So, hey, he fits beautifully here and we are happy to take him."

Check out the clip here. Rybak's comment comes in around 3 minutes. Strib sports writer Mark Craig didn't take the comment so well, calling it "unsportsmanlike mayoring."

It's one thing for the drunk at the end of the bar to say this. It's another for the mayor to go on TV and say it.

Moss wasn't an angel, but let's not go overboard in making him out to be Public Enemy No. 1. Let's also not forget that because of Moss, the Vikings became relevent in Minneapolis again. Because of Moss, the city's Metrodump started selling out again. In fact, it's no accident that the current streak of sellouts began when Moss was drafted in 1998.

MinnPost's David Brauer came to the defense of Rybak, calling Moss what he was, a sketchy character with several misdeeds:

While I agree with Craig about the cutesy mayor thing, he apparently forgot that among other misdeeds, Moss hit a city employee with his car in Rybak's first year in office. Craig excuses an athlete in the oldest, most tired way -- he played really well and sold a lot of tickets! -- to wipe away Rybak's reasonable rip.

The mayor didn't say, as Craig asserts, that Moss was "Public Enemy No. 1" -- that's going overboard. Rybak said what many sportswriters, even at Craig's own paper, have said over the years: Moss was a sketchy character and a questionable teammate.