ON AND ON

One Friday last season, the Minnesota Vikings had Tinucci’s Restaurant and Catering host a buffet for Vikings players. Randy Moss verbally trashed the buffet. Tinucci’s co-owner Gus Tinucci said he heard Moss scream, “What the (expletive) is this? I wouldn’t feed this (expletive expletive) to my (expletive) dog!”

Tinucci said other players “absolutely loved” the buffet, and a locker-room attendant apologized for Moss’s outburst.

It was an embarrassing moment for the Vikings, and Moss was released the following week.

Moss announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday, and it seemed like a good time to check in with Gus Tinucci. Here is Tinucci …

On his reaction to Moss’s retirement: “He was on a mission to get out of here, and he accomplished what he wanted. It could have been a lobster buffet and filet mignon, and it wouldn’t have mattered. He wanted out of there. He’s a cancer on teams, as far as I’m concerned. He just wasn’t a nice person.”

On whether he believes Moss’s outburst was planned to help hasten his release: “Think about what he did. He told us how he felt. He didn’t perform in the game (that Sunday against the New England Patriots). Remember that one pass he let drop on the field? He doesn’t come home on the team plane. He’s hugging players from the Patriots. And then yelling at the food guy is what made him lose his job. That’s just too funny. There isn’t a day goes by that somebody doesn’t ask me about that. We have customers come by and ask if Randy has been in.”

On whether Moss ever reached out to apologize: “He never said a word. The Wilfs did. He did not. The Vikings apologized. Not once did we hear a word from Randy. Moss thinks he was King Tut. He would never stoop low enough and apologize.”

On whether he ever was a Moss fan: “No, not really. I lost all respect for the guy when he ran over the parking meter lady.”