RamsMaineiac wrote:

I am strongly considering the choice of not watching the Super Bowl.

To be clear, I am not joining the boycott that was started by more than 300k other fans protesting the sketchy officiating throughout the season which has inexplicably and consistently benefited one of the teams in this Super Bowl (KC). I am also not boycotting because the public persona of other team’s fans is to be “the most horrible human beings we can be, make other people hate us, and not care but revel in it” (Philly). While I will not deny truly wanting both teams to lose, I am thinking about making this choice because the NFL has made a clear gesture, and has kowtowed to the racism that is sweeping our nation in the last few weeks.

NFL Executives decided to remove the “End Racism” slogan from the end zone, specifically now in this game. For context, this slogan has been in the Super Bowl end zone since 2021. It has been there in most games since 2000 and the summer of protests about racial inequality. Choosing to remove that slogan now, during this game, is no coincidence. Our President, the racist bigot in chief, will in attendance at the game. The NFL’s rationalization for why they are making the change now is also full on PR bs, almost as bad as someone blaming plane crashes on DEI.

I am not deluded, and I know my not watching will do nothing, but I am pretty sure I cannot watch and stay true to myself and my values. As my head comes back above the utter shock of watching our Democratic institutions being unlawfully destroyed, I will certainly look for more productive ways to fight back against the shit show that has been the last two weeks, but for now I am thinking this may be the best choice for me.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6112317/2025/02/04/nfl-end-racism-super-bowl-dei-trump/

I was also dismayed by the NFL’s capitulation to prevailing racist winds. I was deeply disappointed in this decision. Calling it “cowardice” is probably being generous.

I’ve had a couple of days since you posted this, though, to mull over why it isn’t a tipping point for me. FWIW.

And I have concluded that “End Racism,” as a slogan, never meant very much to me. I mean…it doesn’t mean anything.

You could put “End Racism” on every end zone, every helmet, every telephone pole in this country, and it still wouldn’t change a damn thing. It reminds me of a tweet I saw by somebody a few years ago that said something like, “Black people just asked that cops stop killing people, and white people said, ‘Fine, we’ll change the name of this pancake mix.'”

“End racism” doesn’t mean anything. It suggests that the problem is individual. That the problem would be wiped away if a few more people took individual responsibility to still their personal animosity along racial lines.

An End Zone slogan that said, “Hold Police Accountable.” Or “Make Red-Lining Illegal.”

Those would be messages that carried weight, that actually put pressure on the system.

“End Racism”… I’m not even sure that phrase is well-intentioned. Sounds to me like something that a moderately smart defender of racism would come up with as a solution.

“Hey. We’ll meet you halfway. We give you these bumperstickers with rainbows on them, and you quit the public protests and go home. Deal?”

So I guess I am not pissed at the NFL for removing that slogan when putting it out there was about as low-effort as it gets in the first place.

Zooey wrote:

Zooey wrote:

They won’t get a goddam thing for him.

If all they could get for Robert Woods was a 6th, and basically nothing for Ernest Jones, with those $ numbers on Kupp’s deal, they’re probably going to have to sweeten the pot.

Kupp and a 3rd round pick for a 2nd round pick.

I hate this planet.

I’ll bet they don’t even get that much, actually.

Well, if the Rams are gonna eat the contract, there is just no point in trading him. What for? If they aren’t getting return value, and very little cap relief, keep him. I don’t understand any of this.

To trade Cooper Kupp, the Rams will likely have to pay a chunk of his 2025 compensation

They won’t get a goddam thing for him.

If all they could get for Robert Woods was a 6th, and basically nothing for Ernest Jones, with those $ numbers on Kupp’s deal, they’re probably going to have to sweeten the pot.

Kupp and a 3rd round pick for a 2nd round pick.

I hate this planet.

Sometimes…I swear.

I have this assignment I give. For my college class. It’s about data interpretation. I just throw out a bunch of pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, and tables. And I say, “Write a paper.” You know, it’s a college thing. Do a study, collect data, so what? So here’s some data. Find something in it that you think is significant, and write a paper.

I give them four folders of graphs: economic, healthcare, criminal justice, and education.

And this is the shit I get:

Racism is an accident, apparently.

zn wrote:

You make a good case.

Plus the Chiefs might show people how you defend Barkley.

There’s just nothing to hate there. For me, anyway. Mahomes isn’t an arrogant SOB, Kelce doesn’t kill dogs – and it’s not his fault Taylor Swift is mad on him.

I haven’t tracked the “NFL refs are in the pocket of KC” stuff. Refs blow calls sometimes, and sometimes they blow them on plays that turn out to be significant, and sometimes they blow them on 2 or 3 plays in a game, all breaking in favor of one of the teams.

But they DON’T do it deliberately, and they don’t do it with partiality.

nittany ram wrote:

Well, I’ve moved past this season and am in the process of getting stoked for next season. Next year’s Super Bowl venue is Levi Stadium.

I really, really want the Rams to be there.

I thought it was in Levi this year.

Well, that’s good because it gives me time to get filthy rich. I’m thinking that if I can get my net worth up to $100 million by next season, I’ll just attend the Super Bowl in person to see the Rams play. I’ve never been to a Super Bowl, and don’t have much desire to attend one, but since the Rams will be in it, and I won’t have to travel far, I think I should do it this once.

He has good vision and feet. Listen to the announcers when they talk about him. We haven’t had a back as productive since Gurley 2018. He doesn’t have great speed. Ok, but he does all the other stuff really well

This is right. I was only a kid when I watched McCutcheon, but that would be my comp for Williams. He is not as good as Dickerson, Bettis, Faulk, Jackson, or Gurley. The first 3 are in the HOF, Jackson probably ought to be, and Gurley would have been there, too, if not for the brevity of his career. Those guys were tier one guys. Williams is Tier II. That’s pretty good, and I’m not going to complain until he drops a tier.

They’re talking extension. I wouldn’t give him more than 3 meaningful years, but he’s worth that, I think.

zn wrote:

You put in the bluesky tweet by Rapaport. Unfortunately it was only a link. I tried to get the tweet to post, but it wouldn’t–it came out link only no matter what I did (some tweets are like that, sometimes they won’t post, you get only links). So I just copied it, to be all print. Then in the process of doing that I noticed another bluesky tweet about Pleasant and just added it.

That’s all okay, right? The original intent was just to fix the Rapaport tweet, which would only post as a link.

Oh, I didn’t even notice it was a different tweet. LOL. So both tweets are from bluesky, but Rapaport’s appeared only as a link, but PFT displayed properly?

Well…okay. I think it’s the first time I’ve linked bluesky. I will watch what happens next time.

Ian Rapoport‪@rapsheet1.bsky.social‬
The Bears have requested Rams assistant head coach & passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant to interview for their vacant DC job under Ben Johnson, source said. A key reason Chris Shula’s defense impressed so much late in the season.
.

Bears request to interview Rams assistant Aubrey Pleasant for their DC.www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootb…

— ProFootballTalk (@profootballtalk.bsky.social) 2025-01-23T01:22:36.671Z

This is not at all surprising to me.

nittany ram wrote:

They were 14 yds away from beating the Eagles. Had they won that game, the Rams were going to the Super Bowl. I have no doubt in my mind about that. There’s no way they were losing to Washington in SoFi.

Could they have beaten the Chiefs or the Bills? Who knows, but they already beat the Bills. No matter who they faced in the Super Bowl, I think the game would at least have been competitive.

The Rams are definitely flawed. I agree that they don’t have what most would consider a Super Bowl roster, but with Stafford and being so well-coached I think they were legitimate contenders.

I agree with this. And that was what I was hoping for.

It was always going to be like successfully calling heads or tails a couple of times in a row, though. There are timelines where the Rams will be SB champions next month.

There’s also a couple of timelines in which they lost to the Vikings.

super bowl era
divisional round w/l records pic.twitter.com/XGlcNq3R3M

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) January 18, 2025