Who says there’s an offseason in the NFL? Randy Moss has made as much news in the last two days as any player during a season and he’s not even close to Winter Park.

On Thursday, Vikings receiver Randy Moss made his debut with the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs and didn’t put people in the mind of Kobe Bryant. If anything, his free throw numbers were more like Shaquille O’Neal. Moss played a little more than half of his debut game while wearing a familiar No. 84, but scored just seven points — making three of eight shots from the floor and just one of five free throws. With that kind of free throw accuracy, he may have an NBA future.

Meanwhile, off the court, both Red McCombs and Moss’ agent Dante DiTrapano confirmed that they expect the possibility of a long-term deal getting done before this season. Wednesday word surfaced that talks have "slowed" when in fact they never really began in earnest. Instead, both sides simply haven’t spoken about contract terms or proposals ... yet. DiTrapano said he expects to talk with Dennis Green and McCombs about a deal within the next month and hopes to get a contract signed before training camp opens.

McCombs echoed those sentiments, but said he believes if a deal can’t be struck before the season starts, the Vikings won’t use it as a distraction during the season and will wait until after the year to try to work on a new deal. McCombs added that he fully expects to get Moss signed and won’t trade him under any circumstances.

FRIDAY NOTES
* An interesting sidelight to Moss’ USBL hoops appearance Thursday. Both ankles were heavily taped, an obvious attempt to prevent the type of ankle injury that hindered Moss during his rookie season.
* What do points per game averages mean. Moss is averaging seven points a game in the USBL, just 1.2 points a game more than he has averaged in the NFL.
* In a related, yet unrelated (we love how that works) story, Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil said he isn’t concerned that All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez will be playing in a summer league in his native California. Gonzalez, a two-sport star in college who led his basketball team deep into the NCAA basketball tournament his senior year at the University of California, has played in the league every summer since joining the NFL and Vermeil said he doesn’t mind, since basketball is predicated on speed and agility — qualities he thinks will make Gonzalez an even better NFL player.
* Dennis Green may have his coaching checks signed by McCombs, but he doesn’t have to collect two checks from him. Green signed an exclusive two-year radio deal with WCCO-AM Radio Thursday, a competitor of McCombs-owned KFAN-AM Radio. After the 2000 season ended, WCCO lost its Vikings contract to KFAN and there has been some animosity between the two companies. Before getting the rights to the Vikings broadcasts back this year after five years on WCCO, KFAN began running Internet webcasts of Vikings games as competition for WCCO’s radio broadcasts.
* In newly former Vikings news, tight end Johnny McWilliams signed a contract with New England Thursday, where he hopes to have a chance to move into a starting spot — a position he had and lost last season with the Vikings in 2000.
* Tonight is the debut of NFL Films/ESPN’s "The 1970s: The Me Decade," in which Vikings fans are one of a handful of features. The show, which airs at 9 p.m. Central on ESPN Classic, takes a general NFL look at the decade, which saw the introduction of Monday Night Football, the "Hi Mom" to the cameras, the spike and the rise of individuality. During the Vikings segment, which feature’s exclusively VU’s own Bob Lurtsema, profiles the bizarre but fun tailgating atmosphere of the old Met and the wild outfits worn (everything from pilgrims to cross-dressers) by tailgaters, calling it a cross between "Fargo" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The show appropriately refers to the Lurtz as a "Man of the People."
* VikingUpdate.com is getting closer to inking a deal with the Citadel network, a collection of sites covering pro, college and high school teams, similar to the now-defunct Rivals Network. We expect to start transferring much of the site over to the new network in the coming weeks, but will continue to have daily updates on this site until the new site is fully functional, and we will continue to keep you informed of a switchover date as it becomes more clear. We are starting with a new, much more powerful message board, which we expect to transfer later today. Remember, you will always be able to find us by using your VikingUpdate.com bookmark, as we will redirect you from that to the new site once the majority of the switchover has been completed. Thanks for your loyalty to Viking Update.