Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola is in hot water again after taking some cheap shots against Patriots players in Sunday’s 34-9 loss at Gillette Field. The cheap shots and moronic behavior is nothing new for Raiola who has a history of boorish behavior over the last decade.
Here’s a timeline of said idiocy.
The time he gave hometown fans the finger
In 2008, the Detroit Lions did not win a game. They were a horrible, horrible football team. On December 7th of that year, in a home against the Minnesota Vikings, fans behind the Lions bench traded barbs with Raiola. Then he gave them the bird.
He was unapologetic about the incident.
“Nope. Not one bit,” said Raiola, who returned to the lineup Sunday after missing four games with a broken right thumb. “Not one bit. Because 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.”
“I don’t take one thing back,” said Raiola, an eighth-year pro whose string of 104 consecutive starts ended after getting injured Nov. 2 at Chicago. “I’ll say the same thing to a fan that I see on the street. I wish I could give my address out to some fans — I’d do that. But you can’t. Nobody plays with fists. Everybody wants to play with metal. So I can’t.
“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.”
The Lions fined him $7500.
Another incident with Lions fans
In a 2009 game against the St. Louis Rams, Raiola came to the defense of rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was booed by the crowd after throwing several incompletions in a row.
You want to pick on him? I’m going to say something,” Raiola said. “I understand the frustrations, I do. I’ve been here for 8 1/2 years. I love these fans, I love these people and I love it here. I’m just saying that I’m sorry if I was offensive to anybody, but I’m just being loyal to my teammate, one of my guys.”
The time he told a Dolphins fan to “suck his d-ck”
On December 26th, 2010, after a 34-27 victory on the road against the Miami Dolphins, Raiola had yet another run-in with fans. As he walked off the field, Raiola told someone in the crowd to “suck his dick.” Days later the team fined him $15,000. Raiola, a team captain at the time, said it wasn’t a “good way to conduct himself.”
The time he went on an angry tirade and told teammates to “grow the f-ck up”
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After starting the season 5-0, the Lions faltered down the stretch losing 5 of 7 in an ugly mid-season stretch. After a particularly horrible loss to the Saints, Raiola went in on teammates who were selfish. Several writers at the time believe he was calling out defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who was sitting out two games after his infamous “Thanksgiving” stomp.
The time he called Wisconsin band members a bunch of “f*gs”, among other nasty things
On October 6th, 2013, in a game at Lambeau Field, Raiola got into in with members of the University of Wisconsin band. One of the band members detailed the incident on his Facebook account.
Dominic Raiola is literally the worst person I have ever had the fortune to encounter. After marching down the field awaiting the national anthem, He went off on a verbal tirade, among other things, questioning my sexuality (as a band member) and then continued on to bring my sister and my recently deceased mother into the conversation. After I refused to give him the satisfaction of turning to look at him, he switched targets to a trombone ranting at him calling him overweight and saying he can’t play a real sport. After our halftime show, the same fine gentleman called a female member of the band the “c” word.
Raiola later apologized in a statement released by the Detroit Lions.
“My interaction with the Wisconsin Marching Band was inappropriate,” Raiola said in a statement. “I apologize to those I offended along with all of the members of Wisconsin’s Marching Band. I also apologize to the Lions’ organization and my teammates.
“I understand the standards to which we should conduct ourselves, and my actions Sunday fell dramatically short of those standards.”
