Rams news, 3/28

* Jeff Fisher said plenty at the NFL owners meeting in Palm Beach yesterday to keep reporters busy awhile:
       - The Rams had inquiries from teams looking to make a trade for Sam Bradford. Cleveland writers seem fairly certain that the Browns tried to make a deal for him.
       - Fisher also says there is a "good chance" the Rams will trade up or down from their current position at #6 overall on draft day. The talk being sparked here is that they'd trade back up with Cleveland to take Justin Blackmon, with the Browns dropping down to take Trent Richardson or Ryan Tannehill.

* Then there's Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who Rams beat reporter Jim Thomas actually got multiple syllables out of in Palm Beach. Kroenke started by whining after Thomas asked how involved he is in the Rams' counteroffer to the St. Louis CVC's upgrade proposal for the Dome:

"I'm the owner of the team. Unless you haven't noticed, I've been involved 20 years. I've put a lot of my life, not just my personal (finances) at risk for this enterprise. And that might be good to mention sometimes."

You know what would really be good to mention sometime, Stan? How serious you actually are about keeping your "enterprise" in St. Louis. Some of us have been involved 20 years and put a lot of our personal finances into your "enterprise", too. Also, the Rams aren't a Constitution-class starship. They're a football team.

Oh, it gets better; Thomas asked Kroenke if he had any message for St. Louis fans, and Kroenke said, Tell them we're working hard to have a quality product. OK, that's fine. Do you think you'll be saying that ten years down the road?

Hopefully, if we're still around - I mean me personally, some people think I'm getting a little bit older all the time - we'll still be working hard to have a quality product.

If we're still around. Was that a Freudian slip? Does Kroenke really think he isn't going to survive on Earth another decade? Is that a catchphrase of his? Yeah, I know, quit parsing every sentence Kroenke says. But he says so few! He went on to say positive things about the Rams' free agent signings, Jeff Fisher, and his hopes for the Rams' extra draft picks. The stadium situation in St. Louis, though, continues to be a big, fat No Comment.

* Rules changes. Three notable rules changes for 2012 have come out of the owners' meeting:
- Regular-season overtime will now be the same as playoff overtime; with both teams getting a chance to have the ball before sudden death goes into effect, unless a TD is scored. Very sensible change.
- Automatic replay booth review of all turnovers. I have a small concern this will noticeably lengthen games, but I still fully support the change. Would have helped the Rams stay in last year's game at Dallas, for one.
- Too many men on the field becomes a dead ball foul. Another very wise rule change. When the Giants committed it with the lead in the final moments of Super Bowl XLVI, everybody suddenly realized the benefit of being able to run down the clock while having an illegal number of defenders on the field.

Somehow, though, the idiotic TV blackout rule continues to survive. Maybe next year.

-$-