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  • in reply to: Seattle doing nothing so far (he said in the 1st half) #16857
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Well, lost in all the crazy-zany plays,
    and what-ifs, there was
    M.Lynch, with his 157 yards,
    and the Seattle Defense, at home,
    which kept GBay playing conservative.

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    in reply to: Predicting the 2 championship game winners #16854
    Avatar photowv
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    There’s one iron-clad immutable rule in pro football.
    It was etched in stone eons ago:

    “Verily, Never take the Bengals or Colts seriously
    come playoff time.”

    w
    v

    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Dunno if this one has been posted.
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    LA Times
    Rams need to follow NFL process to move to L.A.: stadium panel chief

    January 15, 2014
    http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-stadium-20150117-story.html#page=1

    Steelers owner Art Rooney II, chairman of the NFL’s stadium committee, had a simple message this week for St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who has announced plans to build an 80,000-seat football venue in Inglewood: Not so fast.

    “There are still cards to be played,” Rooney told The Times in his first public comments since Kroenke unveiled his vision for a state-of-the-art stadium on the Hollywood Park site. “There’s still a process that has to work its way out, and we don’t know what the outcome’s going to be yet. That’s why we have league committees and approval processes.”

    Rooney’s words were measured but his message was clear that the NFL is going to make the decisions on stadiums and relocation.
    I think we’re comfortable that we could stop a team legally from moving if it didn’t go through the process,” Rooney said….see link

    in reply to: who the free agents will be #16803
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    I take it for granted that Long is gone, but I don’t expect a lot of FA action with the Rams. I wouldn’t be surprised if they picked up a G or C, but I think I would be surprised if they got both. I think Bradford and Langford are back. I dunno on Wells. Clearly, the Rams don’t think they have anybody as good as a bashed up and mangled Scott Wells, or Wells would have sat last year. So unless they sign a FA there, Wells is back.

    If they bring Wells back i will
    seriously question their intelligence.

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    in reply to: who the free agents will be #16771
    Avatar photowv
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    IMHO: any one of those 4 would be fine.

    Yeah, but you like Old, Injured players
    so…there’s that.

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    in reply to: who the free agents will be #16767
    Avatar photowv
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    PFF’s free agent tracker

    Guards:
    https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/12/25/2015-free-agents-guards/
    Seven guards had overall positive ratings.
    Tops were Franklin of Denver and Lupati of SF.

    Centers:
    https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/12/25/free-agents-2015-centers/
    Four Centers have positive season ratings:

    Hudson, 26, of KC,
    Shipley, 29, of Indy,
    De le Puente, 30 of Chi,
    Montgomery, 32, of Denver

    Avatar photowv
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    Thot this was an interesting paragraph
    from an Atlantic article waterfield posted:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/how-the-nfl-fleeces-taxpayers/309448/
    October 2013
    G Easterbrook

    “….udith Grant Long, a Harvard University professor of urban planning, calculates that league-wide, 70 percent of the capital cost of NFL stadiums has been provided by taxpayers, not NFL owners. Many cities, counties, and states also pay the stadiums’ ongoing costs, by providing power, sewer services, other infrastructure, and stadium improvements. When ongoing costs are added, Long’s research finds, the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Tennessee Titans have turned a profit on stadium subsidies alone—receiving more money from the public than they needed to build their facilities. Long’s estimates show that just three NFL franchises—the New England Patriots, New York Giants, and New York Jets—have paid three-quarters or more of their stadium capital costs…
    ———————

    Also, LA Times article on Kroenke
    http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-stadium-stan-kroenke-20150118-story.html#page=1
    By Nathan Fenno

    Those who know St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke say his L.A. stadium plan is no bluff; he sees things through
    Media-shy billionaire Stan Kroenke prefers to work behind the scenes, but he’s a savvy, decisive businessman.

    In the mountains high above the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Ariz., Al Michaels and Stan Kroenke were hiking a tough trail near a health and fitness resort.

    Michaels, a longtime sportscaster for NFL games, joked that the steep incline they faced amid the pine trees may as well have been Tucson’s Mt. Everest. He was exhausted and hoped that Kroenke wanted to turn back.

    But Kroenke, the billionaire owner of the St. Louis Rams, would not relent.

    “I think I reached the point where I didn’t care whether I was alive or died,” Michaels said about that hike. “When Stan sets out to do something, he wants to complete it.”
    Rams need to follow NFL process to move to L.A.: stadium panel chief
    Rams need to follow NFL process to move to L.A.: stadium panel chief

    Five years later, Kroenke is focusing that mind-set on an ambitious plan to build a stadium in Inglewood, which could return the NFL to the Los Angeles area after a two-decade absence. Some see the project as a ploy to get a better stadium deal in St. Louis, that L.A. is being used as leverage once again. Friends and business associates say, however, that once Kroenke decides on a course of action, he is hellbent on finishing.

    “He just doesn’t do things on a whim,” Michaels said.

    Kroenke, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is a real estate developer whose penchant for privacy draws as much attention as the business dealings that amassed a fortune Forbes estimated at $5.8 billion.

    Interviews with numerous current and former business associates describe a man who shuns headlines in favor of working behind the scenes with a restrained, methodical approach that is focused on long-term success.

    Most of them believe that the stadium project is typical of the patience Kroenke, 67, used to build his professional sports empire, gain control of millions of square feet in retail space and become the ninth-largest landowner in the U.S., according to The Land Report magazine’s annual rankings.
    lRelated Owner of St. Louis Rams plans to build NFL stadium in Inglewood

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    The properties include the 540,000-acre Q Creek Ranch in Wyoming’s Shirley Mountains and Screaming Eagle, the cult winemaker in Oakville, Calif., whose vintages routinely fetch more than $1,000 per bottle.

    “He plays his cards real close to the vest,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “He’s information gathering. He’s listening. He’s observing. He’s evaluating. But then make no mistake about it, there’s nothing quiet about him when he goes.”

    The extensive holdings contrast with Kroenke’s modest upbringing. As a youngster, he kept the books and swept floors at the Mora Lumber Company, a lumber yard and hardware store owned by his father in tiny Mora, Mo.

    Don’t expect Kroenke to say much about those days or, really, about anything at all. Magazine and newspaper stories over the years repeatedly cast him as “Silent Stan” and “reclusive” and “secretive.”
    Stan Kroenke, Roger Goodell
    St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, left, speaks with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during a break at an NFL owners’ meeting in Washington on Oct. 8, 2013. Kroenke has a reputation for staying out of the spotlight. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

    Those who have worked for Kroenke see a demanding boss with no interest in self-aggrandizement.

    “He doesn’t like people putting themselves above the team,” said David Ehrlich, former Kroenke Sports Enterprises executive vice president and chief operating officer.

    Kroenke’s distaste for attention isn’t new. In a Bloomberg Businessweek story six years ago, he recalled shooting a key free throw during a ninth-grade basketball game in front of a large crowd.

    “My knees were knocking,” Kroenke said. “I missed the free throw and was useless the whole tournament.”

    He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in business administration at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He met Ann Walton, the daughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton, in 1971 while skiing in Aspen, Colo. They married three years later. Forbes calculates Ann Walton Kroenke’s net worth — separate from her husband’s — at $5.6 billion.
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    Stan Kroenke started building his fortune through real estate in the mid-1970s, developing shopping malls and Wal-Marts. A longtime partnership with Missouri developer Raul Walters ended in 1985 with protracted litigation. Michael Staenberg was Kroenke’s partner for two decades in a company they co-founded in 1991 — To Have Fun Realty — that controlled millions of square feet in retail space. That, too, ended in multiple lawsuits.

    Staenberg declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation. Walters died in 2009.

    Kroenke’s sports ventures haven’t always gone smoothly. In 1993, he emerged from the corporate shadows as a last-minute investor for St. Louis’ bid to land an NFL expansion team. After his presentation to NFL owners and an uneasy news conference, newspaper accounts compared him to the “Droopy Dog” cartoon character, saying that dealing with the media “obviously terrifies him.”
    St. Louis Rams perhaps step toward L.A., and that raises questions
    St. Louis Rams perhaps step toward L.A., and that raises questions

    “He came out of nowhere,” longtime friend Bob Stull said. “People were trying to figure out who in the heck he was.”

    Kroenke faced another chilly reception in 2007 after he bought a minority stake in the English Premier League’s Arsenal soccer club.

    “Call me old-fashioned, but we don’t need Kroenke’s money and we don’t want his sort,” Peter Hill-Wood, then Arsenal’s chairman, said at the time.

    Kroenke didn’t respond — he’s not known for losing his temper. Four years later, he became the club’s controlling shareholder. He kept the club’s governing board in place and remained in the background. Last year, Forbes valued Arsenal at $1.3 billion.

    Kroenke acquired 40% of the Rams in 1995, the year the team moved to St. Louis from Anaheim. When he became the majority owner in 2010, some in St. Louis feared he would return the franchise to L.A.

    “I’m born and raised in Missouri,” Kroenke told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time. His full name — Enos Stanley Kroenke — was inspired by St. Louis Cardinals legends Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial.

    “I’ve been a Missourian for 60 years,” Kroenke continued. “People in our state know me. People know I can be trusted. People know I am an honorable guy.”

    Kroenke is often described as “regular” and “normal.” Associates say the man with a mustache and tousled hair who wears cowboy boots with his suit doesn’t act like a billionaire.

    Ehrlich would discuss business with his boss over bison burgers at My Brother’s Bar in Denver more often than they met in conference rooms.

    Kroenke’s competitiveness is legendary among those who know him. When fly-fishing with Paul Andrews, one of his former executives, he tracks who catches what. That attitude extended to games of H-O-R-S-E and pickup basketball on the practice court of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, one of Kroenke’s teams. The owner sank three-pointers from NBA range with little difficulty.

    “He was not joking around,” Ehrlich said. “He was a little bit intense about it . . . and in life.”

    When the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, another of Kroenke’s teams, won the Stanley Cup in 2001, the same intensity seemed to radiate off the owner during games. He didn’t yell. But Ehrlich, sitting nearby, could feel the stress.

    Kroenke, a fitness zealot who is particular about his diet, drank from the Stanley Cup after the series win — and took ill for several weeks.

    “I think that’s the only time in his life that Stan has been sick,” Michaels said.
    Tax breaks do figure into NFL stadium plan in Inglewood
    Tax breaks do figure into NFL stadium plan in Inglewood

    The Avalanche and Nuggets are just part of Kroenke’s sports kingdom. He owns Pepsi Center, the Denver arena that the teams share with his professional lacrosse franchise, the Colorado Mammoth. He controls the regional sports network that broadcasts their games, along with those of the Colorado Rapids, his Major League Soccer team that plays at his Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, northeast of Denver.

    He owns a company that sells tickets for the teams. He owns Altitude Authentics to hawk club apparel.

    Kroenke also has a 12,000-square-foot penthouse at Pepsi Center, reachable by private elevator, that includes a theater, gym and unobstructed mountain views.

    One reason the L.A. stadium initiative doesn’t surprise many who know him: it’s more than a sports deal, it’s also a real estate play.
    lRelated Owner of St. Louis Rams plans to build NFL stadium in Inglewood

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    About 18 months ago, Kroenke met with Terry Fancher, executive managing director of Stockbridge Capital, to discuss adding a football stadium to Fancher’s Hollywood Park development in Inglewood. For one session, Kroenke brought a sandwich in a brown bag for lunch.

    Though Kroenke has not committed to moving the Rams to Southern California, this deal has opened a door out of St. Louis. A clause in the team’s 30-year lease for the Edward Jones Dome required that the stadium rank among the top eight in the NFL in several categories after 20 years. St. Louis and the Rams couldn’t agree on improvements and a neutral arbitration panel ruled in favor of the Rams’ $700-million plan in January 2013. St. Louis rejected the plan six months later, which allowed the Rams to convert the lease to year-to-year.

    Kroenke’s portfolio in L.A. includes a 9,000-square-foot home off Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and, in 2012, he was among three finalists to buy the Dodgers.

    The first hints of the L.A. plan became public in January 2013, when Kroenke bought 60 acres of vacant land at Hollywood Park from Wal-Mart for an estimated $101 million. At the time, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell dismissed the purchase as a routine transaction.
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    “There are no plans, to my knowledge, of a stadium development,” Goodell said.

    Fancher and Kroenke continued to work on a deal to transform the proposed mixed-use project in Inglewood into a hub of sports, retail, offices and entertainment. In late spring, Kroenke engaged HKS Inc., the firm that drew up plans for the billion-dollar AT&T Stadium that houses the Cowboys, to design the stadium.

    “This is something that’s going to be in place and in his family long after he’s gone,” said Fancher, who declined to detail terms of the partnership.

    Kroenke’s daughter, Whitney, 37, lives in L.A.; his son, Josh, 34, is president of the Nuggets and Avalanche.

    That hints at another issue Stan Kroenke faces. NFL rules bar owners from owning professional teams outside their market. He had until last December to transfer ownership of the Avalanche and Nuggets, but the league granted a one-year extension.

    Last March, eight months after the initial meeting, Fancher and Kroenke had a handshake agreement to be partners for a privately-financed stadium.

    “If he’s going to realize this opportunity, he’s not going to realize it based on emotion and short-term stuff. He looks at this as a long-term investment,” Ehrlich said.

    Don Elliman, past president of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, said: “I absolutely guarantee there isn’t a half-cocked bone about it.”

    Days after the stadium plans became public earlier this month, St. Louis proposed a new stadium that could cost up to $985 million.

    As questions swirl about the next move in L.A., Kroenke’s quiet belies the scope of what’s at stake.

    “Other people will have the ultimate say with who goes in the stadium,” Fancher said. “There are lot of things that have to happen that aren’t in Stan’s control or our control. . . . But he’s determined and he’s got the resources to do it.”

    nathan.fenno@latimes.com

    Twitter: @nathanfenno

    Times staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report. Los Angeles Times

    • This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Avatar photowv.
    in reply to: William Hayes: defense has grown and will continue to grow #16762
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Listen to him talk about Aaron Donald.
    Wow.
    “…He’s probably ‘the’ best rookie I’ve ever played with,
    and i’ve played with some really good football players,
    we will be remembering his name fifteen to twenty years from now,
    i promise you that. He’s something special. I’ve never seen
    anything like him….he’s so unorthodox, strong, uses his hands
    better than anybody on this defensive-line. And he has the best
    leverage, coz he’s 5’2 🙂 …”

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    in reply to: Predicting the 2 championship game winners #16760
    Avatar photowv
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    Seahawks vs Patriots.

    O joy.

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    Avatar photowv
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    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wv wrote:</div>

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Winnbrad wrote:</div>
    So it seems what Stan needs to do is convince 31 rich white guys, and the Green Bay Packers, that he isn’t a “rogue agent”.

    24 rich white guys, not 31.

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    23 because he’s already one.

    Are you questioning my Algebra?

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    in reply to: Saffold surgery is a success… (plus alliteration) #16749
    Avatar photowv
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    I think that he DID build an OL that supported a power running game…

    Now if people want to say he should not have relied on the previously injured Jake Long, that’s one thing. And bear in mind I was initially against signing LOng…

    To me though they can’t say Wells was a bad signing..

    Joseph wasn’t supposed to start.

    Rok? So what…

    Jones? No one knows yet..
    What about Person, Rhaney, Bond, and/or Washington? No one knows yet.

    Well, they made a big mistake signing Jake Long. I have
    no qualms about judging them on that one. He was the
    key signing for their OLine Plan. A lot of people
    thought he was too big of an injury risk, at the time.

    Do you think they made ANY mistakes with their OLine plan
    so far?

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    i’ve read that the nfl is not a real big fan of farmer’s field and spanos is unlikely to sell part of his team. in fact aeg i’ve read wants majority ownership. that leads me to believe that kroenke’s in the lead for a move to la. my guess is the nfl is strongly against davis and the raiders moving to los angeles.

    If the league approved a Spanos move,
    and Spanos had a stadium deal in LA,
    what would that do to Kroenke’s leverage
    in St.Louis? He’d lose any leverage he had, yes? No?
    Would he threaten to move somewhere else? 2nd team in LA ?

    The league has to love all this leverage its manufactured.
    What a great Racket for all 32 rich-white-guys.

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    So it seems what Stan needs to do is convince 31 rich white guys, and the Green Bay Packers, that he isn’t a “rogue agent”.

    24 rich white guys, not 31.

    w
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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    So I read through all of these posts. I still don’t get it. But it’s early on a Saturday, and I’ve only had one cup of coffee. Help me, please.

    Suppose Stan says, “I’m moving to LA”. What can anyone really do about it?

    Can the other owners fine him? Stan could just not pay it.

    The NFL isn’t gonna kick the Rams out of the league, no matter what their owner does.

    So what penalty, that can be enforced, could the league impose on Stan? It would have to be something involving money, because I can’t see any other way of punishing an NFL owner. But what do I know?

    There’s financial penalties. The league could sue to enforce them.

    So, basically he can move, and pay a fine.

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Oh, sure, you socialist commie. And, I bet they just let people borrow the books for free.

    I picked up a book by Jim Hannifan the other
    day for a quarter. I figured i might find one
    anecdote or a quote or two.

    Nada.

    Nothin.

    The most useless book I’ve ever skimmed.

    I should just bake it.

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    in reply to: Brian Quick: Kenny Britt's presence meant a lot – Video #16706
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Google “how futbol saved the seahawks.”

    I think i would rather learn the secret
    to making good cornbread.

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    in reply to: Brian Quick: Kenny Britt's presence meant a lot – Video #16703
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    I hope the players are a lot less distracted
    by all this LA talk than me.
    Cause I’m hav’in a hard time thinking
    about the usual football stuff — my brain
    wants closure on the ‘move’ stuff.

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Yeah, it’s an effed up world where we’re expected to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to support wealthy owners. And, well, it’s an effed up world. Cities really, really want their major sports franchises.

    i dream of a day
    when cities build giant
    Used Book Stores.

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant
    in reply to: 2015 Shrine Game … plus looking ahead to the Senior Bowl #16697
    Avatar photowv
    Participant
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Well, the question is did he demonstrate
    full control of the chair, and did he make
    a post-chair move.

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    Dak wrote:
    Bottom line, from that Grubman story, is that the STL group has to put together all of the particulars NOW of how they plan to build an NFL stadium. If they can’t do that get their ducks in a row by the end of this year, it sure sounds like that leaves the door open for Stan to move whenever he pleases.

    Just my opinion but and I think you said this in a sense but, I think Grubman is in STL to rubber stamp this thing as concluded. and I think that the league is not going to kill an 80,000 seat stadium in LA to keep STL happy.

    Stan is moving and the league knows it. Grubman even said the league was made aware of the City of Champions deal before it was announced.

    Grits

    Well if its a done deal, then why is the league telling St.Louis
    to go ahead and build a New stadium?

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    I’ve never understood this “The League wants TWO teams in LA” thing.

    Why, if its true, would the NFL want two teams in LA?
    Isn’t it better if markets are spread out a bit?
    Is it so that teams can still leverage their towns for
    new stadiums even if one team moves to LA ?

    Bernie Article on the Grubman meeting:
    http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-nothing-guaranteed-with-rams/article_f53d3d86-9308-54e9-a4e0-21620da753ac.html

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    • This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Avatar photowv.
    Avatar photowv
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    In a nutshell:

    “….The NFL’s role, he said, is to help give the St. Louis effort “the best chance possible.”
    The north riverfront proposal, he said, isn’t yet real.
    “A real plan means that the steps are all actionable,” he said. “If you need authorities, you’ve assembled those authorities. If you need land, you’ve assembled that land.”
    Grubman described the plan here as something of a race…”

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    in reply to: Draft's hottest prospect: Mark Barron's worth a top-10 pick #16642
    Avatar photowv
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    Most people feel that six prospects are “a cut above” the rest in this class:
    QB Andrew Luck,
    QB Robert Griffin III,
    OT Matt Kalil,
    RB Trent Richardson,
    CB Morris Claiborne and
    WR Justin Blackmon.

    My next-rated player is Barron.

    I see.

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    • This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Avatar photowv.
    in reply to: Wagoner: Examining the Rams and Marcus Mariota #16631
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    combine is just a month away. i’m gonna be watching mariota for sure.

    Did you see they are now gonna start having a Combine
    for pro players too —
    http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12172630/nfl-hold-combine-veteran-free-agents

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    • This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Avatar photowv.
    in reply to: 101, 1/14… John Clayton, Roland Williams, Mark Schlereth #16630
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    zn wrote:
    Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner?

    I think I met him.

    in Mombasa in a bar-room drinking gin?

    No, i think he was on the Rams
    special-teamscoverage unit.

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    in reply to: Wagoner: Examining the Rams and Marcus Mariota #16620
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    i like mariota. if there was any chance the rams could move up, i’d be happy if they did. nothing like 3 first rounders. but i’d do it for 2 first rounders.

    Really? You’d give up two first rounders
    for the Oregon spread QB ?

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    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    wv wrote
    The Amy Trask interview… was…um…interesting: Cool-Corporate-shark vs Emotional-celebrity-Homer.

    w
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    She seems to be the most intelligent of the people who have talked about Kroenke and the Rams.;

    Agreed.

    Cept i suspect she doesn’t
    have a Soul.

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    in reply to: Saffold surgery is a success… (plus alliteration) #16609
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    http://www.rams-news.com/chris-long-to-say-were-close-is-very-realistic-video/
    Long is Optimistic. He says he’s not bullshitting this time 🙂

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