Howard Balzer with Jim Hanifan, Dick Vermeil, and Charley Armey

Dick Vermeil, Charley Armey have high hopes for Rams, St. Louis

Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/21501/dick-vermeil-charley-armey-have-high-hopes-for-rams-st-louis

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Former St. Louis Rams coach Dick Vermeil was in town this week for a couple of wine events and to help induct former Rams defensive end Kevin Carter into the city’s Sports Hall of Fame.

On Wednesday, Vermeil and former Rams general manager Charley Armey stopped by Rams practice and spent some time chatting with coach Jeff Fisher. For Vermeil, every visit back to St. Louis comes with plenty of love from the locals, which is to be expected considering he led their football team to a win in Super Bowl XXXIV against Fisher’s Titans.

“I didn’t spend any time here after we won the game, which was my mistake,” Vermeil said. “So I come here, it’s like it’s the first time people have seen me since I left. It’s really a warm reception. From the minute I get off the airplane, it’s amazing how loyal these people are.”

That loyalty to Vermeil figures to last a long time, but the loyalty to the Rams is being put in jeopardy. It’s no secret that the Rams could move to owner Stan Kroenke’s planned palace in Inglewood, California, after the season, putting Rams fans in a precarious position of having to choose between supporting their team and handing over money to the man who plans to move it.

As the NFL season kicked off last week, Vermeil watched from home, flipping between Rams-Seahawks and Chiefs-Texans as he kept tabs on the last two teams he coached in the league. Although the stands at the Edward Jones Dome had plenty of empty seats, Vermeil was struck by the crowd’s energy.

“I’ll tell you this, I switched between the Chiefs game and this (one), every commercial I’d switch and it sounded like the stadium was packed, which was exciting,” Vermeil said. “To a person that didn’t really look and see all the empty seats, you would have thought by the noise the fans were creating that the stadium was packed, so I was impressed with their loyalty.”

Vermeil and Armey were the architects of the only real successful era of Rams football in St. Louis. After a couple of rough seasons, Vermeil opened the minds of St. Louis football fans to the exciting, winning brand of football known as the “Greatest Show on Turf.” Vermeil retired after that season and Armey stuck around a few more seasons but lost most of his decision-making power before he did.

Vermeil and Armey still follow the Rams and care about their future, expressing hope that the city can somehow keep the team. Both said they would like the Rams to stay in St. Louis.

“Of course I’d like to see them stay here,” Armey said. “Two or three of the players asked coach and I last year when we were here for the (15th anniversary Super Bowl) celebration and they were really concerned that if the team decided to leave, would we no longer be part of the sports atmosphere of St. Louis? ‘I said you guys will always be part of the sports atmosphere.’ We’d like to see them stay and I think everybody in the community would like to see them stay. And of course the fans that were at the ballgame last week shared that enthusiasm as well.”

In the meantime, Vermeil and Armey are both impressed with this year’s team, even if it plays a much different style from the high-flying act of the “Greatest Show on Turf” days.

“I like their intensity,” Armey said. “They’ve got a lot of talent on this football team, and it seems to all be coming together. What impressed me most about the football team when I watched the game last Sunday was when they got down late in the ballgame, the intensity didn’t go down, the intensity went up. That’s what really impressed me. They decided they were going to find a way to win the ballgame, and that really speaks well of the coaches and the preparation for the players and the character of the football team.”