wv wrote:

Two great QBs in yesterday’s games,
one very good QB,
and one good QB.

Rogers, Brady,
Palmer,
Smith.

No Keenums.

w
v

Well, wv–that’s cause we are the lucky ones who have Case Keenum. If those guys want him they’d better be willing to give a lot up. I mean–a LOT.

Hey, GRITS!

Welcome back! We were just asking about you. Glad everything is okay.

Yeah–I’ve been thinking about San Diego a bit. Soanos really screwed himself a bit in taking on Kroenke. I think he overestimated the loyalty he had of his fellow owners. Now he’s kind of Stan’s “bitch”. He has to negotiate and let’s be honest–Stan’s not just going to GIVE him something.

I don’t know how it plays out. Apparently there is some incentive for Stan by having a second team–with advertisers or some such thing, can’t remember what I read. But still—he didn’t leave himself in the best bargaining position.

And the “scorched earth” policy with San Diego leaves him in a bad spot.

He’s sort of damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t, I guess.

Well, anyway, I know you’re thrilled about the Rams–I expect we’ll get good reports from you during the season. Some of us are all the way on the other coast, you know? Take care, GRITS. 🙂

Well, I appreciate the question but really–shouldn’t we be keeping focused on which celebrities will be appearing at the new stadium insterad of this BORRRRR—-RRING football stuff?

But since the question is posed:

I like the article really.

I want them to keep Johnson. I want them to draft a WR with the first pick. It’s not that I would mind a QB but I think the fastest way to help right now is to bring in a stud receiver. And I’m not sold that any of the young QBs available will be better than Mannion anyway. Maybe bring another young one in the 3rd round.

Jackie Slater on the Rams moving back to Los Angeles:

http://www.am570lasports.com/articles/whats-happening-467696/listen-jackie-slater-i-never-did-14273743/

Ian Rapoport ‏@RapSheet 8m8 minutes ago
From the owner RT @JedYork: After a thorough search, Trent & I are thrilled to announce Chip Kelly as the new #HeadCoach of the @49ers

No word yet on if Bradford will follow him.

I have only seen the Rams play live one time in my life and that was in Baltimore. Otherwise–my relationship with them has always been one which exists through television. Frankly, I like football better on television. It’s more comfortable. I’ve been to the old Texas stadium to watch the Cowboys/Packers and had nosebleed seats. Not that great. I’ve been to Baltimore twice–once for the Rams and once for an Eagles game. Ehh.

I like the comfort of home and the up-close experience of television.

I would like to go to a Rams game again some day but it’s not a bucket list sort of thing. Maybe I’ll get there–maybe not.

I drove past the Anaheim stadium once but it wasn’t during the season. That’s the closest I’ve got to being at an actual location to their home. I lived near L.A. for a month so I’ve been to that city a few times.

But growing up–yes–they were always the L.A. Rams to me. I grew up with all of that history. There was something a bit cool about rooting for a southern California team and frankly, it was one of the things that inspired me to go to California one day.

So this is an easy transition for me. It goes back to my childhood.

But I have accumulated some St. Louis history now as well. The L.A. Rams never WON a Superbowl. They never had the GSOT experience. But it’s just a prefix to me in reality.

It’s all “Rams” history.

I’m a little excited about the team playing in a shiny new state of the art stadium. It should look cool on television. I’m hopeful that the prospect of playing in Los Angeles might be a tipping point for some free agents(no idea if that really matters at all but if all things are equal)and I hope that SK feels more pressure to make this team a winner.

But that will never make me feel anything but disgust for how SK treated the city of St. Louis. I really am beginning to think that city will never have football again. Their experience will be more like my experience–a television one. Some will drop the sport altogether. I get that too.

There is no excuse for how SK threw them under the bus on his way out. And this was all in the bag–it seems, from the start. It feels like, in reality, SD and Oakland and St. Louis never really had a chance.

So here’s to the future.

Here’s a great opportunity to go to the blue and whites. My guess is we’ll see that as a throwback but not as their standard uniform.

I can’t remember how ugly it was when the Rams left L.A. but this is just nasty. It feels mean, the way SK is trying to not just leave St. Louis–but to take it off the NFL map. I have no horse in this race, obviously but I do hope that St. Louis is able to get the Raiders if this happens. They have made an effort IMO and deserve something for it.

zn wrote:

JackPMiller wrote:

Foles is not that bad

Yes Foles is that bad.

And the coaching is certainly not so bad that it would turn a good qb into a one THAT bad by itself. In fact, that would be historical level bad coaching, worse even than the Linehan years.

Foles melted down. It was visible. It was openly there to see. Had nothing to do with coaching.

I agree with that. Foles was just awful. Has he looked better before? Yes.

Not this year.

I have to agree with Skip and Stephen.

Fisher is what he is.

He’s a .500 coach.

Were there injuries? Yes.

Did he put the team in the position where those injuries were devastating? Yes.

Youth? He built the team that way.

No QB?

Who wanted Foles? Yes–I agree that on paper it was a good trade but ultimately Fisher has to accept failure for thinking Foles was the guy to lead this team.

Jeff Fisher has put the team in the position it’s in.

Because of that–youth and injuries and no QB have played a role in its failure.

But within games there are things like dumb penalties–overly conservative offense at times, there are decisions like trying to get his coaching staff right and that seems to be a work-in-progress.

To me–Fisher has not earned that fifth year.

Having said that–I think it’s okay to give him the fifth year with the expectation that playoffs and nothing less is acceptable–with no excuses.

That’s where I’m at on Fisher.

And should this team be out of it by mid-season next year–I wouldn’t even give him the end of the year.

I hope he proves everyone wrong and builds a contender. I don’t think he has shown he can do that yet.

Maybe it’s just time for him to work on kicks from 53 yards and less. Save the power for kickoffs. More accuracy–less power. Sometimes I wonder if his focus is too much on the whole “power” aspect and if Fisher encourages that.

“I’m telling you now, if this all plays out the way it looks to me, I just don’t know if I can support the NFL anymore. I’ll see how I feel after the dust settles, but I’m pretty sick about this whole process at this point. Billionaires holding up cities for public assistance … only in America!”

I get that, Dak.

It really sucks.

How much does a local community really benefit from an NFL stadium?

8 home games a year.

Maybe–if you’re lucky a couple more with playoffs every so often.

And now–some of those games are played in London.

The rest of the time you’d better find things to fill it.

“The current Rams ownership’s investment in the on-the-field Rams team has
been significant. The Rams have consistently spent to the salary cap in each year
under Stan Kroenke and have significantly increased the coaching and scouting
budgets. These investments have resulted in a 52% improvement in winning
percentage over the five years before Stan Kroenke became the controlling owner. To
build and maintain fan interest, the Rams made the economic commitment to buy all
unsold tickets so that all Rams home games could be televised in years when black out
rules were in effect. Under Stan Kroenke’s ownership, the team was named “St. Louis
Philanthropic Organization of the Year,” the first time a sports team in St. Louis was
bestowed the award and has performed over 12,000 hours of community service in the
St. Louis community.
Despite these investments and engagements, Rams attendance since 2010 has
been well below the League’s average. The combination of low attendance and the
lack of pricing power as indicated by the CSL market study has consistently placed the
Rams in the low fourth quartile in gross ticketing receipts generally between 60% and
70% of the NFL average per game for the regular season.”

To be fair, Stan–the team has sucked. Let’s not pretend it’s a playoff caliber team.

They sucked.

Attendance WILL be down.

Didn’t that happen before the move FROM L.A.?

This is what makes me want to put on the tinfoil hat. Losing before a move is good business when making an argument to move. Low attendance is good.

Here’s the thing though.

If Stan gets voted down, how does he come crawling back to St. Louis?

Would he just sell the team at that point?

He can’t very well say: “Hey, folks. Glad to be here. It’s really where I wanted the team to be all along. I’m so happy we can put this behind us now. Let’s get the new stadium built and “Go Rams”.

Would he try to move to London?

I don’t think you can put this genie back in the bottle.

If he loses the musical chairs it’s going to be ugly on a scale we haven’t seen.

And uncertain.

On the “Twin Peaks” thing–started watching–sort of forgot about it–never finished it. I don’t think I’m a big Lynch fan. I feel like I’m the sort of person who would be a big fan but somehow I’m not.

I’ve been binge watching old MASH episodes. The original Father Mulcahy was not played by William Christopher for the first couple of episodes but they didn’t even give that actor a line so apparently they weren’t thrilled. By episode three he was out and William Christopher was in and the REAL Father Mulcahy was born.

Frank Burns as portrayed by Larry Linville may have been one of the greatest comic roles ever put on the small screen–and the most perfectly cast.

The more I watch the more I see Hawkeye as Groucho Marx. Yes–he actually dressed up as Groucho a few times but whether dressed or not–he was Groucho.