Random thoughts from the weekend

Thoughts from an offseason weekend:

* Billy Mays, too? Some weeks it just doesn't pay to be famous...

* A big change was made to Rams gameday radio broadcasts in the offseason, with D'Marco Farr being promoted to the booth full-time and Jim Hanifan moving to the pregame and postgame shows. I don't think it's a terrible move, but I'm not a fan of it, either. Hanifan was rapidly pulling even with Mike Shannon in St. Louis as a "homer" announcer whose flaws you happily put up with as a listener because of his great love for the game and because he wears his heart on his sleeve and lives and dies with the team. Hanifan's wonderfully gruff, unafraid to criticize anybody and an expert analyst of offensive line play. Rams radio listeners are going to miss that during games. There's little doubt the broadcast will sound better with Farr in the analyst's chair. He's got a smooth voice, a pretty good sense of humor, and he can break down d-line play pretty close to as well as Hanifan broke down o-line play. With a defensive head coach on the sideline for the first time in years, the move to Farr is timely. My biggest problem with Farr is that he won't criticize anybody. If you've listened to him on his daily radio show, you wonder how the 2008 Rams ever lost a game, let alone 14. He doesn't have a bad word for anybody. Not Marc Bulger, not Alex Barron, not Orlando Pace coming off one of the worst outings of his career last preseason, and certainly not Jim Haslett, whom Farr championed as much as anybody. Rams games on radio will be easier on the ears with Farr in the booth, but they'll be corporate, bland broadcasts unless Farr gets on people for messing up...

* Call me a wuss, but watching the Cardinals beat the Twins in 97-degree heat for 3 and a half hours Saturday sure makes me glad I get to watch football games in a domed stadium. Twins starter Kevin Slowey sure looked like he missed the air conditioning back home in Minnesota. Especially when Albert Pujols was at the plate...

* A writer to one of stltoday's recent Rams chats had an excellent question: Why the heck aren't the Rams starting Jason Smith at left tackle right away? It's what the Browns did with Joe Thomas and what the Dolphins did with Jake Long, and by all accounts, both are working out pretty great! Why put J-Smooth at right tackle for a year and then make him learn left tackle all over again next year, when Alex Barron assumedly leaves? Is Barron really going to be that great at left tackle for one season that it's worth stunting Smith's development? I can't do justice to Bill Coats' answer, because I am old and don't remember it even though I read it last night. He did not rule out Smith becoming the LT this year, though.

It's just another reason to wonder what the Rams think they're gaining with Barron at left tackle. Do they really believe there's enough unrealized potential in #70 to be worth keeping the #2 pick in the draft behind him? If he's supposed to be veteran protection for Marc Bulger's blind side, well, how well did he protect Bulger's "good" side? Is Barron going to false-start less as a LT than as a RT? The timing's wrong if they're hoping to showcase him for other teams. 2009's his contract year. Even if he finally does have a good season, the Rams will have little chance to trade him unless it's in midseason to a team that has suffered an early, critical o-line injury. The chances are much higher that any good Barron does this year benefits him via whatever team's dumb enough to overpay him in free agency after the season.

All assuming he even plays well. Meanwhile, you've got your top draft pick playing in the wrong position.

* The way the USA let Luis Fabiano run around unmarked in blowing a 2-0 halftime lead to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final Sunday is a lot like an NFL team blowing a 21-0 halftime lead to the Patriots because they decided not to cover Randy Moss in the second half. C'mon, defense! Grrr...

* One of these days I'll have to explain how I turned into a big fan of soccer, a sport I used to mock mercilessly. If I can figure it out myself, that is. I've come to enjoy the international flavor of the game, and though I'll still doze off during games, as with golf, the precision of the game played at its highest level is awe-inspiring, as is the passion of soccer fans. And the diving is a little less prevalent and cartoonish than it used to be...

* Dentyne Arctic Blast may be the worst gum I have ever tasted. You'll like it, if you love gnawing on Halls cough drops...

* I'll try to make sure there's enough to gnaw on here as the week goes along...

photos respectively from espn.com, stltoday.com, soccernet.espn.com