DETROIT — Lions fans are owed an apology, but not from Dominic Raiola or any other player.

Where's ownership's remorse? Where's Matt Millen's apology?

They are the ones responsible for creating the contentious environment that triggered a heated exchange of four-letter words between Raiola and fans during another frustrating afternoon at Ford Field on Sunday.

But everyone will have to settle for Raiola apologizing to the kids within shouting range.

"They didn't need to hear that," he said Wednesday.

Raiola, an eight-year veteran at center, said he had no problem with the team fining him $7,500 for what it deemed "inappropriate conduct" during the 20-16 loss to Minnesota.

"They did what they had to do," he said.

League officials said Wednesday they're satisfied with the Lions' response and won't pursue the matter.

But Raiola didn't back down from comments he made Monday and Tuesday ripping fans who crassly rip players.

He insisted that he wishes to remain a Lion, confident they'll get things turned around some day. But that he deliberately kept alive the story with a radio interview Tuesday suggests that he's paving his exodus from this competitive morass.

Becoming a lightning rod for irritable fans is a good start.

"Am I a bad apple now?" he asked. "I got fined before. Mooch (Steve Mariucci) fined me. I got fined before for doing stuff with the crowd. So this is not the first time. If I could see that I was a bad apple, yeah, I'd be telling you that I wanted to be traded. I'm not saying that because I don't feel like I'm a bad apple."

He's more of a mad apple. And since he can't publicly lash out at William Clay Ford Sr. and Millen, the easiest target becomes fans who are as emotionally impulsive as he is.

One fan seated in the fifth row behind the bench insisted that the initial criticisms from the crowd were neither obscenity-laced nor personally derogatory toward Raiola.

Ryan Potter, 30, from Kalamazoo, Mich., described the scene as an angry Raiola stormed off the field following the Lions' failed fourth-and-inches play in the closing seconds of the first half. Perhaps Raiola was upset with the play call, a quarterback sneak behind an undersized center in front of Pro Bowl defensive tackles, Kevin and Pat Williams.

Raiola flung his helmet in disgust. According to Potter, somebody a few rows behind him shouted to Raiola, "Why don't you throw your helmet again?"

That, according to the witness, triggered a flood of expletives from Raiola.

Potter said another fan then shouted at Raiola, "Hey, Artest, why don't you come up here and make me some money?" — a reference to the Palace brawl four years ago when Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers charged into the stands.

And that apparently set off Raiola again.

"I understand the pressure they're under," Potter said, "and everyone understands the difficulty in playing the game at that level. But it's more than a little disappointing when you see an athlete throwing out harsh language like that in front of little children. I don't think that's appropriate behavior."

But other fans bombarded Raiola with obscenities of their own, and those idiots should be barred from walking through Ford Field's doors ever again.

The only innocents were the children subjected to the vile behavior of their parents in the stands and professional athletes on the field — both of whom should know better.