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One thing you can count on with the Detroit Lions is that they are never, ever boring. Follow the latest news including injuries, roster moves and more here daily from Oakland Press beat writer Paula Pasche. Plus you'll find regular commentary about the team.

12/27/2010

Raiola faces discipline from team and NFL for words, gesture to fans in Miami

ALLEN PARK -- Lions center Dominic Raiola could face discipline from the team and the NFL for his choice words to fans and a gesture too while he was walking out of Sun Life Stadium on Sunday following the Lions 34-27 win over the Dolphins. It’s difficult to tell from the video if it was a one-finger salute or a fist pump. The words were clear, but can’t write them here. (See video on youtube.) Coach Jim Schwartz saw the video about an hour before his 3 p.m. press conference today (Monday) and said it is under current evaluation and “there’s a potential for team discipline.” “I think any time that you’re a player, a coach, anything else, coming in and out of the stadium is sometimes a difficult thing. People pay their money for tickets, they can say about what they want,’’ Schwartz said. He added that it’s often surprising what fans have to say. “That’s what fans do and as coaches and as players we need to keep our composure, the best way to do it is not acknowledge it,’’ Schwartz said. “Dominic is a very emotional player, it’s one of the things that drives him as a player he takes everything personally and that’s good in a lot of ways, you’ve got to draw the line when it’s fans. Short of physical confrontations, somebody throws something, there were no snowballs in Sun Life Stadium or anything like that. Short of that we need to do a better job of controlling that. Schwartz said the team needs to learn how to deal with winning on the road. “When you’re winning on the road you need to expect to win and you just know that those things are going to happen you need to do a better job at responding,’’ he added. The players were off on Monday so Raiola was not available for comment. He could also be fined by the league. It’s not a first-time offense for Raiola. (Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche.)

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