'Legends of the Dome' … with some Jim Fadler periscope vids

Jim Fadler ‏@jimistlboy

The athleticism, ability to still play flag football is pretty impressive….Bruce and Holt still look pretty damn good.#LegendsOfTheDome

Jeff Zgonina still does not have legs just tree trunks

Thank you so much Dome Personnel, #Rams players and coaches and most of all @IsaacBruce80 for the grand farewell today @DomeLegends

LIVE on #Periscope https://t.co/aRl3q7iZ42

— Jim Fadler (@jimistlboy) July 23, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope: Back to the Legends of the Dome Rams https://t.co/WCdPVDtTyC

— Jim Fadler (@jimistlboy) July 23, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope https://t.co/GYzQXcq6Yz

— Jim Fadler (@jimistlboy) July 23, 2016

Jim Fadler Retweeted

Known this guy 32 years. The definition of class! #domelegends pic.twitter.com/BevZCStANd

— Marc Lillibridge (@NFLBridge) July 23, 2016

Greatest Show goes out in style in Legends of the Dome

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/greatest-show-goes-out-in-style-in-legends-of-the/article_7ec91a0c-cf5c-50f0-8637-d185ce6bafa3.html

So where was the defense? It was just a rumor Saturday.

The running game was non-existent. Special teams were nowhere to be found.

Clock management was questionable at the end of the first half. And the second-guessers will have a field day mulling over the decision to replace Kurt Warner with Dave Barr in the fourth quarter.

Yeah, the offensive pyrotechnics were great, but there is plenty to work on for the St. Louis Rams.

“Had to fire the defensive coordinator at halftime,” Mike Martz said. “I think he’s at a bar someplace, drinking his sorrows away.”

OK. Just kidding.

A good time was had by all in the Dome at America’s Center, with Dick Vermeil’s White squad outlasting Martz’s Blue team 56-49 in the Legends of the Dome charity flag football game.

The departure of Stan Kroenke’s Rams to Los Angeles remains a gut punch for football fans in the area. And with training camps opening around the NFL this week, it’s another painful reminder that there will be no pro football in St. Louis this fall.

But except for some brief chants of “Kroenke sucks! Kroenke sucks!” late in the third quarter, all those bad feelings were put aside for a few hours. The crowd of 10,600 was smaller than hoped for by the Isaac Bruce Foundation, which organized the game, but the afternoon turned out to be a celebration, not a funeral.

“Knowing the St. Louis fan, it shouldn’t have surprised me,” Vermeil said. “But I was a little concerned. I actually mentioned it to Isaac months ago, that you might get a negative reaction. You might not get what you want. It cost a lot of money (to organize). So for the fans to come and do what they did today shows you what class they have as a city.”

Hall of Fame defensive back Aeneas Williams has settled in St. Louis, so he knows first-hand what Rams fans here are going through.

“You see how disappointed fans are, how hurt some fans are, but to have the fans that turned out and put all that aside (was great),” Williams said. “This was a special time in St. Louis sports where we had a unique window of excellence with a bunch of unselfish players.”

More than three dozen former Rams players were on hand for the game, most from the Greatest Show on Turf era of Super Bowls and touchdowns, touchdowns and more touchdowns.

Tiffani Burris, who heads Bruce’s foundation, didn’t miss a beat in organizing the event. Player introductions were done with Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” playing on the stadium sound system, just like in the glory days.

When the man of the hour, Bruce, was introduced, “Whoomp! (There it Is)” was played — sung in these parts as “Bruce! (There It Is)”

There were flames shooting up from the corner of the southeast end zone as each player was introduced. (No, the turf didn’t catch on fire this time.) And retired Navy Petty Officer Generald Wilson, a legend of the Dome in his own right, belted out the national anthem.

In the locker room before the game, there were even six dozen Krispy Kremes — four dozen glazed, two dozen chocolate — for the Donut Bros. and friends.

But times have changed. Offensive linemen Adam Timmerman and Andy McCollum, aka the Donut Bros., are thin enough to play tight end these days. They look more like the Kale Bros. as they raise families and approach middle age.

“We’re fit and trim,” Timmerman said.

Once the game started, the teams scored more touchdowns in two hours than recent Rams teams managed over a couple of years in the Dome. There were TDs on 15 of the day’s 17 possessions. Warner and Marc Bulger looked fantastic throwing the ball.

“This shows how unimportant coaching is,” Vermeil said. “You see those quarterbacks throw the ball. It’s amazing.”

Unofficially, Bulger must have been about 73 of 76 for 700 yards. He had to be fibbing last week when he said he hadn’t picked up a football in years.

Just about everyone in uniform was on the receiving end, from mainstays Bruce, Torry Holt, Ricky Proehl and Az-Zahir Hakim to kicker Jeff Wilkins and punter Sean Landeta.

Wilkins, already a grandfather back in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, was one of the day’s most productive pass-catchers. “I think he missed his calling,” Bulger said.

But late in the game, Wilkins basically got tackled by Chris Massey after a reception and suffered an ankle injury. He had his left foot wrapped afterward. There was irony there, because Massey served as Wilkins’ long snapper for years on extra points and field goals.

It was just one example of the competitive juices flowing, fun outing or not.

“You knew it was gonna be competitive,” said linebacker Mike “The Tackle” Jones. “Isaac’s competitive. Torry’s competitive. There’s a lot of guys out here that don’t like losing.”

Williams, for example, wasn’t going to play because of a sore ankle, but there he was lined up in press coverage at the start of the game.

“When you get around your guys, and guys like Dre’ Bly start encouraging you, you just get out here and you get going,” Williams said.

There was enough athleticism and natural talent on display, even with most of the players in their 40s, to make you realize that what happened with the Greatest Show was no fluke.

But even with all the star power on display, let it be known that the last Rams touchdown scored in the Dome came on a keeper by Barr, who played in two games and completed five of nine passes for the inaugural 1995 St. Louis team. It was his only season with the team.

Finally, a happy day for Rams fans at Legends game

Jose de Jesus Ortiz

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jose-de-jesus-ortiz/ortiz-finally-a-happy-day-for-rams-fans-at-legends/article_f669f249-3034-5ab1-a69e-3b5191490333.html

Still bitter about the Rams’ move to Los Angeles, Greg Gebert initially didn’t want to attend the Legends of the Dome game. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized he couldn’t pass up a chance to see the superstars who brought him so much joy.

Gebert eventually bought a pair of tickets and made the drive east from Wentzville with his 4-year-old son, Tyler. Then as the clock ticked closer to kickoff for the flag football game Saturday afternoon, he saw Kurt Warner on the surface where the legendary quarterback once led the Greatest Show on Turf.

Gebert cradled his son, rushed toward Warner and asked if he would take a selfie with him.

“Sure,” Warner said with a gentle, patient smile as fans crowded him even though he had already signed hundreds of autographs during a VIP reception.

The Geberts were like most of the 10,600 fans who attended the Legends of the Dome charity flag football game, which benefited the Isaac Bruce Foundation.

Many of the greatest names from the Rams’ 21 years in St. Louis — including several of the men who won Super Bowl XXXIV — returned to the Dome at America’s Center. Warner, Bruce, Hall of Famers Aeneas Williams and Orlando Pace, wide receiver Torry Holt and former coaches Dick Vermeil and Mike Martz were among the biggest names in town for the flag football game.

“In 1999 I was just graduating high school and we went from a team that wasn’t that exciting to all of a sudden just exploding on the scene and completely dominating every game,” Gebert said. “I think it was an uplift for the city. You got football back after the Cardinals left and you kind of do something that’s magical that probably had not been done before and probably will never be done again.”

It’s unclear if the NFL will ever return to St. Louis. If the NFL does put another franchise in the Gateway to the West it won’t be anytime soon.

But even despised Rams owner Stan Kroenke cannot rob the St. Louis fans of their fond memories.

Fittingly, Warner connected with Bruce on a beautiful long touchdown pass to open the scoring for the Blue squad, which eventually lost 56-49 to the White squad led by Pace and Vermeil.

“It was awesome,” Bruce said. “We came out with the mindset of just making the fans happy and having them come out and having a good time. Mission accomplished.

“In two words, thank you. That’s basically what we wanted to come out here and say.”

Mission accomplished indeed.

“Hopefully we gave that love back out tonight to the fans,” Pace said. “And hopefully some of those guys that may be a little bitter (about the Rams’ departure) got a chance to smile a little bit and reminisce on the old times of when we played in here for real.

“To give this Dome its proper shutdown is really special also. We had a great time here. Hopefully they loved the time we spent here. The special thing about it is we gave this city a championship. That’s something nobody could ever take away.”

The intimate crowd had such a good time they didn’t offer the familiar “Kroenke Sucks” chant until the third quarter.

Cancer survivor Gail Johnson, 53, wore a faded blue Rams hat and a white T-shirt honoring her late cousin Steve Willis, who was a fixture at Rams home games.

With a small portable oxygen tank hanging from her shoulder and feeding her oxygen through a nasal tube, Johnson once again cheered on her Rams.

“My cousin died three years ago of heart disease,” Johnson said. “Man, right there on 7th and Cole streets he and my sister faithfully tailgated through all kind of weather. I love this team because to me personally I saw they had big hearts.

“People like Isaac Bruce and Aeneas Williams have big hearts. It was more than just about winning Super Bowls or playoffs. They also gave back to the community. … Those things mean something.”

The players and coaches also enjoyed the opportunity to see each other again. Vermeil even wore his Super Bowl championship ring.

Many of the players got their teammates to sign their jerseys before, during and after the game.

“I don’t wear it very often; it’s so big,” Vermeil said of his championship ring. “But it was nice to be able to put it on with the people who put it on for me. They’re the people that won it and earned it. To be able to share a day like this with them is really fun.”

The players were asked to autograph several pieces of memorabilia.

Gerard Oscko, 58, arrived at the game with a framed copy of the special section the Post-Dispatch put out after Warner led the Rams to the Super Bowl title.

“I’m getting signatures on the back side (of the frame)” Oscko said. “It’s been hanging on the wall for 16 years. It brings back memories of how special this team was and how great they were and what it meant to the city and the enthusiasm that they brought to it.”

Many fans are still bitter that Kroenke moved the Rams back to Los Angeles, but it’s clear they don’t hold the move against the former players.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if nobody showed up being a little bit vindictive or a little mad with the Rams organization,” Vermeil said. “But in knowing the St. Louis people like I got to know them over three years, this is really what I expected for them to come and support and show class. I think they enjoyed seeing all these guys again, too.”

off the net from wik

My wife, son and I had a blast. From the Kashmir fueled introductions, to the smiles on the players and the fans, to the proceeds going to #80’s charity. It was a loud crowd for only 11,000. And Kurt and Mark can both still sling it. Big Game Holt can still make a one handed grab and stretch the field. The donut brothers have really slimmed down. Nice seeing the Bob ‘n Weave on display…all afternoon long. Cool HoF ceremony for the Big O at halftime who seemed moved to tears. Only disappointment was no Faulk, or even SJ39. Prior commitments for both…Arlen Harris was the only RB, on either the Blue or White team. Still, the best $60 I’ve spent in a long time! Emotional at the very end for a lot of us as the seconds ticked off and an era came to an final end. That being said, it was an appropriate end, a healing conclusion. A parting gift from the players, and no one else, to the community and to the STL fans, for our support. Thanks for the GSOT, boys. The banners can come down, the trophies can be moved, but all those memories our family shared in the stands in section 111 over the years will remain forever.

Of course I’ll still root for the team. I’ve lived in Indy for the past 8 years due to the nature of my work but even though I sold the PSLs when we relocated, I still made it home for 3-4 games a year (and we go back for at least that many Cardinal and Blues games as well). If they have to vacate my hometown, I’m actually “happy” the Rams are headed to an area I like to visit, as my wife and I try to get to SoCal once or twice each year for vacations, and have contemplated purchase of a retirement property in the Palm Desert/Rancho Mirage area in the next 6-8 years. I hope the fan base will be cordial when I wear my STL Rams gear to games in Inglewood, with pride.

I’ve concluded that we come together as RAMS FANS to all cheer for the Horns, not for lines drawn on a map. For me, it has very little to do with geography. It has nothing to do with ownership or the league administration. It has everything to do with the players, coaches and the team. And those beautiful helmets.