Report: Lions Center Was A Dick To The University Of Wisconsin Band

It appears that Dominic Raiola, the starting center for the Detroit Lions, is a huge dick. That's because there are reports going around alleging that Raiola spent part of his Sunday verbally assaulting the University of Wisconsin marching band, which was in Green Bay to play at this week's Lions-Packers game.

From Tom Melton's NFL draft blog:

According to a Wisconsin tuba player, Raiola and his teammates were engaged in their pregame warm-ups on the field near the goal line when he turned around and called him and the other tubas “Fat mother f**kers” and told them that “they sucked.” According to that tuba player no one in the band had done anything to provoke him, and no other band members I spoke with witnessed anything that could have provoked Raiola. The tuba player I spoke with made sure to point out that the rest of the band hadn’t even been on the field yet, and none of the tuba players said anything to him, so no one in the band could have provoked Raiola prior to him making those comments.

As the band was preparing to play the National Anthem another band member told me Raiola was yelling at him, saying such things such as “Hey fat guy, you want a hot dog?” When this band member did not acknowledge him, he continued to yell at other band members within earshot of him until the band began to play. A third band member told me Raiola was calling a band member near him a “fat fu**” prior to their pregame performance as well.

This story is corroborated by a Facebook status that is making the rounds:

The Lions released a statement to the , saying that the team is "gathering more information" about the situation. In the meantime, don't go near Dominic Raiola if you happen to be a tuba player.

[ Tom Melton]