Bulger's life after football takes unexpected twist

Down on the farm: Bulger’s life after football takes unexpected twist

By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/down-on-the-farm-bulger-s-life-after-football-takes/article_4b75eef0-c726-5532-9b1a-b300010f208b.html

Like many former St. Louis Rams, quarterback Marc Bulger has maintained ties with the area. Just not in a way anyone would expect.

Bulger, a two-time Pro Bowler who spent nearly a decade with the Rams, married a Sikeston girl — the former Mavis Armbruster.

“She went to school at UMSL, she’s an optometrist,” Bulger said. “She was in St. Louis when I was here.”

The Bulgers’ full-time residence is Sarasota, Fla. But their second home?

It’s Southeast Missouri, in the Bootheel, where Bulger is something of a gentleman farmer.

“I have a decent amount of land down there and it kind of takes care of itself,” Bulger said. “I’m not much of a farmer, but I do like to go out — I’ve learned a lot over the last eight years about farming. It’s an interesting business.”

They grow soybeans and corn, mainly. Bulger says he’d never have guessed that life after football would include agriculture.

He’s a city guy, after all, raised in Pittsburgh. During his last few seasons in St. Louis, he lived in an 11,500-square-foot mansion on 6½ acres in the Huntleigh area of St. Louis County, one of the most prestigious addresses in the United States.

Now, when he heads to Missouri with his wife and two daughters, the accommodations are, uh, more spartan.

“We have a double-wide in a small little town (Bloomfield, about 160 miles south of St. Louis),” Bulger said. “We’ve got a bunch of ponds.”

And they’ve been known to attend the local rodeo.

He still makes it to St. Louis several times a year, and his Marc Bulger Foundation— which specializes in projects involving the military, police and firefighters — maintains an area presence.

As recently as May, the foundation donated $2,500 to help purchase a Labrador retriever dog for the St. Charles County Police Department’s cyber crime unit.

In 2009, Bulger was a major contributor in a renovation of the USO center at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

‘A GREAT 10 YEARS’

The ’09 season was Bulger’s last of a star-crossed run in St. Louis that included 95 starts and two Pro Bowls. He was drafted by New Orleans in 2000, spent part of that season on Atlanta’s practice squad and closed his career backing up Joe Flacco in Baltimore in 2010.

But every NFL regular-season pass Bulger threw came for the Rams, from 2002-2009.

“I’m disappointed I got hurt my last year,” Bulger said. “I think I could’ve been the all-time leading passer with just a few hundred more yards for the whole organization. But it was a great 10 years. I’ll be a Ram forever.”

(Bulger spent part of the 2000 season on the Rams’ practice squad and backed up Kurt Warner and Jamie Martin in 2001 without playing in a regular-season game.)

He ranks first in franchise history in career completions (1,969) and second in career passing yards (22,814), passer rating (84.4) and completion percentage (62.1). After great early success replacing Warner, Bulger’s final Rams seasons were marked by injuries, losses, a revolving door in the front office and coaching staff and a rapidly deteriorating talent base.

“Every six months, I’m in a whole new way of thinking, a whole new system,” Bulger recalled. “New defensive coaches, new offensive coaches.

“I think consistency in the NFL is way underrated. You look at the Patriots, you look at the Steelers, Green Bay. When you can see consistency in the whole organization, you might have a couple down years, but over time that’s gonna win (vs.) the carousel.”

When he quarterbacked the Rams in playoff games against Seattle and Atlanta to close the 2004 season, the last thing he expected was an 11-season (and counting) playoff drought.

“I never would’ve guessed that in a million years,” he said. “The ownership switching and coaching carousel, we had a lot of players in and out. Georgia (Frontiere, the owner) passing made for a difficult situation for everyone. We had a great core set up; it’s disappointing. But I still had a lot of great memories in the short time we were successful.”

PHYSICAL POUNDING

Bulger suffered a broken thumb and a lower-back injury in a 47-17 divisional round playoff beatdown at Atlanta to end that ’04 season. The physical pounding intensified over Bulger’s remaining seasons with the Rams.

“My final year (in St. Louis), the reason I stopped was because my leg was broken,” Bulger said. “I played three games with a broken leg, I didn’t even know it.

“I threw my shoulder out a bunch. Fortunately, I haven’t had many surgeries. The only ones I had were mostly bone injuries when I was in the NFL. So knock on wood. We’ll see in maybe 10 years with the concussions. But I was pretty fortunate on the injury front.”

Bulger, now 39, is to be among the former Rams in town this weekend for the “Legends of the Dome” game. The 2 p.m. kickoff Saturday at what’s now called the Dome at America’s Center is the brainchild of wide receiver Isaac Bruce as a way to thank Rams fans for their support over the years. Tickets are available at $15 and $20, with proceeds benefiting the Isaac Bruce Foundation — which remains very active in St. Louis.