People will always remember this day as being the end of the Foles Era.

Rams training camp opens with rookies reporting to UC Irvine

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rams-723582-rookies-goff.html

Crawford Field at UCI has been transformed into a temporary practice facility for the Rams. Rookies are scheduled to report Tuesday and begin practicing Wednesday.

It’s back-to-school time for the Rams’ rookies, and the syllabus appears rather daunting.

Just a few months after most of them left college, the Rams’ 27 rookies will move into UC Irvine campus housing Tuesday, then hit the field Wednesday for the first of their two practices before veterans arrive.

The big man on campus, naturally, will be quarterback Jared Goff, who made his name at another University of California school, the flagship in Berkeley. Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft, has a secure roster spot but will attempt to win the starting job during camp.

The Rams last camped at UC Irvine in August 1994. Two months later, Goff was born, and in April 1995, the team moved to St. Louis. Now, 22 years later, the Rams have returned for five weeks of practice.

The rookies check in Tuesday and get a two-day head start on the veterans, who arrive Thursday in advance of the first full-team workout on Saturday. The youngsters will need to utilize every practice in order to show coaches they deserve to deserve a spot on the 53-man roster in early September.

Many of the rookies – six draft picks and 21 undrafted free agents – won’t survive the Aug. 30 first round of cuts, which will take the roster from 90 players to 75. Another 18 cuts will come Sept. 3, but that’s when the Rams can establish a 10-player practice squad and keep alive the NFL dreams of some rookies.

The vetting process already has begun. Most of these rookies were on the field in Oxnard, in May for a mini-camp and in June for full-team optional workouts. Some stood out while others made little impact.

The most intriguing battles might be at receiver and tight end, positions critical to Goff’s development.

Only five or six receivers are likely to be on the roster, and fourth-round pick Pharoh Cooper, a standout in OTA practices, looks like a good bet to earn a spot with veterans Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt.

That leaves two spots, and the question of whether returning receivers such as Brian Quick and Bradley Marquez can hold off rookies such as sixth-round pick Mike Thomas and undrafted free agents Marquez North, Nelson Spruce, Duke Williams and Paul McRoberts.

The Rams, who typically carry only three tight ends, drafted Tyler Higbee and Temarrick Hemingway this year, and already have Lance Kendricks and Cory Harkey, who fills a fullback-tight end hybrid role. Higbee and Hemingway missed OTAs with injuries and need to make an early impact.

It will be a week of renewal for the Rams, who camped in Irvine from 1990-92, then again in 1994 (plus stops at Compton College, Loyola Marymount, University of Redlands, Chapman, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State).

Practices on Wednesday and Thursday are closed to fans and reporters. Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. session is the first one open to the public and will be followed by an autograph session.

It’s back-to-school day as Rams rookies report for training camp at UC Irvine

Gary Klein

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-rookies-20160726-snap-story.html

As they arrived at UC Irvine on Tuesday afternoon, Rams rookies could not help finding reminders of college.

They are pros now, preparing for their first NFL training camp, but the dorm-style apartments and campus buildings took them back to university experiences that ended several months ago.

“I thought I left college,” tight end Temarrick Hemingway, a sixth-round draft pick from South Carolina State, said while laughing, “but it seems like we’re right back at it.

“So I guess I need my textbooks and should start studying for my chemistry test.”

Hemingway and other rookies said they mainly had been studying their playbooks in preparation for the start of camp, which includes rookie walk-throughs and practices in the days leading up to Saturday’s first full-squad public workout.

Quarterback Jared Goff, the No. 1 pick in the draft, was not made available to the media Tuesday. He arrived about 45 minutes before other rookies and was greeted by a crew from the “Hard Knocks” television show as he checked in, a team employee said.

The campus residential facilities do not include air-conditioned suites. Goff purchased fans for all of the offensive players and coaches, a team spokesman said, as the Rams hunker down for about six weeks of camp at a campus that last hosted the franchise in 1994.

Some veteran players were present but most are scheduled to arrive Thursday or Friday for a training camp that will feature 16 practices open to the public.

The Rams also will hold an open scrimmage Aug. 6 at the Coliseum.

UC Irvine does not field a football team but the campus’ Crawford Field has served as a training site for the Rams, USC and other college and pro teams.

The facility for this year’s training camp features two fields surrounded on three sides by bleachers capable of seating about 6,000 fans.

The Rams have set up their locker room and training room facilities next to the campus aquatics complex, only a short walk from the practice fields.

Fans can park at a structure just beyond the right-field fence of the baseball stadium, and then walk to the practice fields. (Parking fees and information: http://www.parking.uci.edu/rams/parkingpasses.cfm).

Receiver Pharoh Cooper and tight end Tyler Higbee said they were among a group of players who had been training the last few weeks with Goff and veteran quarterback Case Keenum in Westlake Village, where Nelson Spruce, an undrafted receiver from Colorado, played in high school.

Cooper, a fourth-round pick from South Carolina, impressed coaches and teammates during organized team activities in June.

Asked to rate his anxiety level heading into training camp, he chuckled and said “10 out of 10.”

But Cooper sounded as if he were ready to pick up where he left off.

“This is the real deal right here,” he said, adding, “OTAs, you kind of go in there nervous, coming right out of college, trying not to mess up.

“Now it’s training camp. The confidence level is high, you know the playbook. You know you can start running full speed, get the pads on and start being physical with it.”

Notes

A limited number of single-game tickets for Rams home games at the Coliseum will go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster, the team announced. The Rams have said they sold 70,000 season tickets. They play exhibition games at home against the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. Their regular-season home games are against the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals. They are the home team for an Oct. 23 game against the New York Giants in London.

off the net from Saguaro

TA’s 10 TD’s and how they affected Ram games in 2015.

Game 1: With the Rams scoreless in the 1st Q, and trailing the Seahawks 7-0, Austin opens the 2nd Q with a 16 yard TD run for the Rams’ first score of the game and of the year. TA takes a run designed to go up the middle, sidesteps a defender in the backfield, cuts left and then just makes 3 Seahawk defenders look silly with his superior speed and maneuverability as he easily glides through them and into the endzone. Crowd goes wild and the Rams are back in it after a shaky start. Later in the game, 4:40 to go in the 3rd, Rams leading only by 4, Tavon receives a punt, follows two blockers left, then a fake to the middle that freezes the Seahawk defenders, cuts back left and following blocks, tightropes down the sideline for a 75 yard TD. In a game that went to OT, TA’s electrifying touchdowns were a winning factor.

Game 4: At the Cardinals, another big divisional rival game, and Austin again opens the scoring for the Rams with a nice cut and catch across the middle for a 12 yard TD. This puts the Rams up 7-0, and with the defense denying the Cardinals the endzone, it provided a nice cushion of confidence for the Rams, who never trailed in this pivotal road game. But with only 3:41 left in the 4th Q, the Rams were clinging to a 17-15 lead when Foles pump fakes and then hits a laid out flat Austin just as he sails across the goal line. A beautiful catch for 12 yards and the winning TD. The Cards scored again late, but it wasn’t enough thanks to Austin’s heroics.

Game 5: At GB, Tavon Austin scores the Rams’ only TD of the day, despite Gurley’s yards on the ground, in a frustrating loss.

Game 7: Rams win 27-6 over the 49ers. An easy laugher, right? Not when it was a defensive struggle at 13-6 late in the 2nd Q. Tavon takes an end around left to right and uses pure speed to race past two unblocked 49ers and stretches just enough for the pylon to get his first TD of the game. More offensive struggles ensue in the 2nd half until Tavon gathers in a short screen pass, squirts through 2 defenders and turns it into a 66 yard TD. Austin gets the Rams’ only score of the half, the last two of the game, and nails the 9er coffin shut.

Game 11: A bad day for the Rams, with TA’s 5 yard rushing TD the only score they could manage. It’s the same end around he ran against SF, and Cincinnati knew it was coming, but his speed to the corner was just too much for them on that play.

Game 14: Once again, TA opens the scoring for the Rams and for the game, taking a screen down the middle of the field through befuddled Buccaneers for a TD and a quick 7-0 start. The Bucs would never recover. In the 2nd half he added another 21 yard rushing TD, taking an end around to the right and cutting through multiple defenders to the end zone. This was another of those plays that few players besides Austin could have finished.

What do we see here? Austin gets the Rams going when the offense is stalled. They’re able to get TD’s out of him in close quarters or long, due to his speed and his elusiveness even when the redzone is crowded. TA had double TD’s in 4 games, and the Rams won all of those games. That’s 4 of their 7 wins, 3 of them against division rivals.

When the Rams get the ball into Austin’s hands, he can produce points that lead to wins.

Others have mentioned his decoy value, but I’d like to point out that on more than one occasion he made great downfield blocks for Gurley as well.

More touches, Jeff! More touches!

off the net from ramithard

Weekend at the Legends game

We arrived in town on Friday morning and checked into Lumiere Hotel/Casino…..went down to my favorite bars in La Clede’s Landing….Showme’s and Sundeckers….both closed:banghead…..walked to Big Daddy’s and bartender there said those bars have been closed for a year….also Jakes Steaks and about 4 others are shut down….very sad…

Everyone is at Ball Park Village now……we Ubered there and hung out at Brewhouse….lots of Dodger fans in the house….went up to our seats on Rooftop deck of Brewhouse…..great view and Cardinal fans were nice……this is the game we lost in the 16th inning….I went back to Big Daddy’s after 8th inning ,pretty drunk, thinking we had a win….my son stayed until the 14th inning….but I k new I wanted to get up early to get in line at Dome.

I walked over there with my items for signing at 8 AM .. hung over………doors were opening at 10
: 30……I was second in line, behind a guy and his Dad from Florida…it was there first time ever in STL…..the line started forming behind us by 9 o’clock….by 10 , there were about 500 in line …my girl and son showed up with the other things I had for signatures.

Doors opened and they took us down to the tunnel that Rams come out of onto field……the lobby filled up and they had to arrange 3 or 4 seperate lines…..trying to figure which people were ahead of who…. I heard some people complaining they got screwed…..but I was second, and they said they were going to send in 50 people at a time…..We were told that there were 4 players per table and to follow path around stadium, and not to cut across the field…..they let us in at 11:15 and I went straight to Bruce….he signed 5 things and I shook his hand…..I skipped a table that had Vermeil but he wasn’t there…went straight to Kurt…..he had just sat down and we were second to get to him….he signed five items and we told him we were from LA and he loved it….i asked him ” are you gunna win the game today against Bulger?….He said….” I don’t know, we shall see “…..I said ” What ? is the game rigged like the WWE?” he got a big laugh outta that..

Went to other tables and we were first at each….got autos from Proehl, Holt, Wilkins, Martz, Vermeil, Coady, MCCullom, Timmerman, Zgonnia, Bly, etc….was awesome…

At noon lines were crazy….probably 250 in the Warner line alone……..they had a running clock and once it hit 0:00… it was shut down ….and people were pissed….I heard a guy sitting behind me say he bought 4 of the $ 100 tickets…and he only got Warner’s auto on one item…he got there toooo late and he was pissed….

Game was fun…..but it was sad seeing all the former season ticket holders wearing their old Ram jerseys and knowing it was over….I felt bad….people were spread out around the Dome and I know they were season ticket holders , just sitting in their seats for the last time…it was also amazing to see the stuff they brought to get autographed….I’m talking full size 4′ x 5′ framed pictures, posters, Jerseys, footballs, everything with 99 Superbowl Champs you can imagine….you could tell they had this stuff hanging on their walls and wanted a special souvenir from a team that has gone…..talked to many fans, and when they found out we were from LA , they were very nice and wished us good luck…

…..I wore my LA Rams hat and shirt a few times and got a few double takes ….but people just laughed….wore them everywhere except to the Dome game…..one guy at the Arch said ” You’re sure trying to stir the pot ,huh “….and he laughed…

Didn’t have the energy to go to the Dodger game on Saturday night….nor the $$$$$…..got up Sunday and went to Caleco’s for lunch….then one last trip to the Arch….ended up getting drunk Sunday night at Joey B’s and Big Daddy’s……very emotional final walk back to the hotel….

Over 20 years and 22 visits later, it was over….Hard to believe…..love the STL.

wv wrote:

zn wrote:

wv wrote:

Feelings have often, if not mostly always, trumped facts
in elections.

Talking-feeling-monkeys.

Anyway, J.Oliver should give equal time to Hillary’s flaws.
crooked-narcissist-egomaniac-pro-corporate-Billionaire-Donald.
vs
Crooked-Neoliberal-pro-Corporate-empire-builder-hawk-Hillary.

Whats a talking-feeling monkey
to do?

w
v

The talking monkeys can begin by making the Donald list more realistically reflect the actual problems.

How about adding racist hyper-nationalist sexist lying demagogue who will appoint an anti-choice supreme court while lowering taxes on the upper brackets in an already inequality-mired economy.

For starters.

=============
No argument from me.

But then, the Hillary list could be longer too

w
v

The length of course is not as pertinent as what’s on it.

Yes Hillary represents the unenlightened coporatacratic status quo.

And..as paradoxical and ironic and dark humorish as it sounds, Trump represents a big regression from that. That will also still include that anyway.

So it;s like this.

A: We have 2 choices.
B: What’s the 1st choice.
A: Well we stay with the Roman empire and its hierarchical socio-economic system.
B: I see. What’s the 2nd choice.
A: The empire is overthrown and all its institutions destroyed by burnt earth hordes who practice human sacrifice and treat all outsiders as pagans to be tortured and slain.
B: Can I just join a monastery?
A: The hordes take particular delight in tormenting monasteries.
B: Hmm. Okay Let me think….

#Rams: No statement on Tre Mason until Saturday at earliest https://t.co/9fs6awzbPr

— Vincent Bonsignore (@DailyNewsVinny) July 26, 2016

Police visit Tre Mason’s home five times in four months

Police visit Tre Mason’s home five times in four months

In early March, Rams running back Tre Mason had a bizarre incident with police, resulting in his arrest on various charges. He then failed to appear in court, before eventually doing so.

Since then, police reportedly have been called to his house on five different occasions. According to TMZ, the most recent incident happened on Saturday.

Per the report, Mason’s family is concerned about his mental health. During one of the police visits, he agreed to check into a facility. He apparently didn’t.

Mason has not yet been accused of assaulting family members. On one occasion, a family member told police that Mason hadn’t slept in days, and that the family member was concerned if Mason left the house “he will get hurt.”

Mason didn’t participate in OTAs this year, excused from the voluntary sessions for “personal reasons.” The next question for the Rams is whether Mason, a third-round pick in 2014, will be welcomed to training camp — and whether he’ll even show up for it.

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.”