Rams report, 8/5

Shaping up as a great August weekend to be a Rams fan:

* Single-game tickets go on sale today.

* There will be open practices tonight at 5:00 and tomorrow at 1:50.

* Marshall Faulk and Les Richter will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow. NFL Network coverage begins at 3 p.m. Central; the enshrinement ceremony is scheduled for 6:00.

* The Rams scrimmage at Lindenwood College 11:00 Sunday. I hope to have a report up for that Sunday evening.


(from local reports)

* Transactions: For the second time this week, the Rams have released a rookie free agent right before I was about to write up a profile for him here. Regrets to CB Travon Bellamy. The Rams have also released RB Chauncey Washington, LB Maurice Simpkins and another rookie free agent, OL Karii Kuuttila. Those guys will have to fight over who got the dubious distinction of getting cut for a camp leg. The Rams added PK Todd Carter.

* Injuries: DE Eugene Sims was held out of yesterday's practice due to a concussion. He worked out on the side. WR Dominique Curry may have a broken hand.

Good news is that DE Robert Quinn has been activated and is now performing in individual drills. He hasn't been cleared yet for team drills.

With no additional updates mentioned on Ron Bartell's ankle, Mikail Baker's knee or Jabara Williams' knee, I'll have to assume they've returned to practice. Don't know what else I can do if the darn media won't keep us up to date.

* Cap it off: Rams EVP/COO Kevin Demoff mentioned in an interview on 101 ESPN last night that the Rams are $628,000 under the salary cap. The implication is that there won't be much more in the way of moves - not sure what that means for Adam Goldberg, who I'd thought the team was still trying to sign.

* Happy new year: the final ratification of the collective bargaining agreement pushed the start of practice yesterday back to 3:00, the official start of the football calendar year. All of the Rams' veteran free agent signings were then able to participate.

* Preseason challenge time: there's finally a source listing the times NFL Network will air this year's 64 preseason games. My hat's off to Pete Dougherty for finding and posting this information, even as I wonder why the blue hell the NFL's own websites refuse to say anything about it. Think I had to rely on Dougherty's blog to get last preseason's schedule.

Rams NFL Network preseason re-airings (times Central):
August 14, 9 p.m. vs. Colts
August 22, 3 p.m. vs. Titans
August 26, 10 p.m. @ Chiefs
September 2, 9 a.m. @ Jagwires

Dougherty lists the first showings of each game. Those may not be the only showings of the Rams games on NFL Network, but you're on your own finding them.

I'm playing the Preseason Challenge pretty low-key this year, since odds are I once again won't make it through the first week anyway, but I'll give it yet another shot. I think stupid Blogger bogs me down as much as anything, so I think one thing I'll do this year is drastically shorten up my game summaries. You'll have to trust that I watched the whole game.

Updates as they happen.

-$-