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Lions Raiola Unapologetic to Rude Fans

December 9, 2008

By Slavica Milosevska-Senior Investigative Reporter-Football Reporters Online

The Detroit Lions have been the butt of most jokes these days. Fans may have gone too far in expressing their annoyance with the team by making personal insults. When is enough, enough? Dominic Raiola drew that line when he responded to fans' verbal abuse by making lewd hand gestures in Sunday's game where the Lions, now 0-13, lost to the Minnesota Vikings 20-16. "I'm just so frustrated. I'm tired of being a doormat. For people to just talk to us how they want to talk to us, I'm just not gonna put up with that anymore," asserted Raiola.

When asked if apologetic about the foul gesture on Monday, there was no regret. "I wish everybody out there came into the film room and watched the film, watched the effort put out there. And, yeah, everybody makes mistakes, everybody messes up - and I'm talking for everybody right now - and, yeah, they're paying customers. But we're trying to put some wins on the board and give them something to cheer about. And I don't know what to say, other than what I said yesterday." Raiola also stated, “I don't take one thing back."

The Lions may be the first team of all time to lose all 16 games. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are currently the only team to have lost every game in a season; however, this was in 1976 when there were only 14 games. On Sunday, the Lions were in the same position as in 2001, 0-12 facing the Vikings at home, but that year they had their first victory of the season in game 13.

Raiola believes he is targeted by fans because since he has been on the team as of 2001, the Lions stats have worsened. “I’m just tired of hearing it coming at just me,” expressed Raiola. “It’s coming at me because I’ve been here for years. I’ve been through the losing. Me, Jeff and whoever else are the head of the losing.”

Raiola may be fined for his actions. According to NFL spokesman Randall Liu, the league will look into the situation. Other NFL players have been fined for similar behavior.

This year Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Farrior was fined $7,500 for making an obscene gesture to Cleveland Brown fans when they celebrated a teammate's injury. St. Louis Rams lineman Richie Incognito made an offensive gesture to a television cameraman during practice also in 2008. San Fransisco kicker Joe Nedney was also fined $7,500 for making obscene gestures in 2007. Micheal Vick was fined for flicking off fans in 2006, and in his last season, he was fined $10,000 by the NFL then donated $10,000 for lewd gestures to the fans.

NFL MVP Watch

12/09/08
NFL MVP Watch
By Michael Porpora for Football Reporters Online

The NFL season thus far has been a roller coaster ride with inconsistent play around the league. As a result of this inconsistent play and no clear cut player emerging as an elite player among the rest, I believe that if the season were to end today, the Giants offensive line should be named, as a collective unit, MVP of the NFL.

As a cohesive unit, the Giants offensive line is the most dominant in football and has led them to the best record in the NFC. They have clinched the NFC East title which is arguably the toughest division in football, with three games still remaining on their schedule. With the leading rushing attack in the NFL averaging over 154 yards per game on the ground, they could be considered the best we’ve seen in quite some time. They are also averaging 4.9 yards per carry and have 20 attempts of 20 yards or more, which are both tops in the league. One of the most unbelievable games of the year for the Giants has to be the game against the Ravens in which they ran for over 200 yards. The most amazing part of that statistic is that the Ravens hadn’t allowed as much as a 100 yard rusher in over 20 games let alone 200 yards on the ground. With the unpredictable play that we’ve seen thus far, the one constant has surely been the Giants offensive line, who has given Eli Manning a great deal of time to throw in the pocket and a three headed running attack that ranks first in the league. The leading candidates for this years MVP has to be Kurt Warner and Drew Brees. They are undoubtedly having great years statistically but the Arizona Cardinals are playing in the weakest division in football and have had some hiccups along the way, one of which was a lackluster performance against the New York Giants. Additionally, the New Orleans Saints will most likely miss the playoffs and it seems a bit unrealistic to hand over the MVP award to a player on an underachieving team that should be in the playoffs but just couldn’t muster up enough wins.
The offensive line of the New York Giants have been together for almost 5 consecutive years and began to hit their stride late last season and have never looked back. The Giants are the best team in football with the best offensive line, and a not too shabby defense as well. To me the Super Bowl once again must go through New York.
 

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