End of an era

The View From Row HH

The renewal deadline for 2015 Rams season tickets is tomorrow, April 17th. I have no idea how many fans are renewing their tickets this year. I won't be one of them. This will end a 20-year-run, going back to the Rams' first games in Busch Stadium, the opening of the TWA Dome, a Super Bowl championship I still can't believe actually happened, and an awful, awful lot of losing.

So, my thanks to everyone who made the last 20 years possible. To the players, from Kurt and Marshall, Isaac and Torry, Big O and the Doughnut Brothers, Rickey and Az, Kevin and London, Grant and Leonard and the maker of the greatest Tackle ever made, Mike Jones. To the many guys who left it all out there but didn't get a ring here. To Steven Jackson, Aeneas Williams, Marc Bulger, Danny Amendola (who has a ring now, of course), all the way to Sam and Sack City and the best-throwing punter since Danny White, Johnny Hekker.  To the handful of coaches who actually knew what they were doing, especially Coach Vermeil and Coach Hanifan. And Coach Martz. Sometimes.

Bye to the ushers, the ticket takers, and Marsha at the concession stand. I'll miss Rampage backflipping out of the tunnel and I'll definitely miss the cheerleaders. I'll miss having Steve and D'Marco in my ear. I'll miss Bluto on the Jumbotron assuring us that nothing is over until we decide it is. Even when it is. Thanks to all for your hard work. Last, so long to all the friends I've made in the stands. If you're coming back this year, good for you. If you're not, I certainly do not fault you.

My only regret is that I ever supported an owner who turned out to be a lying, disloyal, money-grubbing dirtbag. He is the one and only reason I won't be back. I'm not going to fork out another thousand dollars that's just going to turn out to be the gold-plated flusher on his luxury box toilet in Inglewood.

On to brighter things. For now, there's still an NFL team in St. Louis, and I intend to keep writing about it. RamView started as a game report from the perspective of a fan in the stands, so I'll lose that now that I'm sitting out, but I wasn't in the stands half the games anyway, since they were on the road. So The Couch is ready to roll full-time. Well, not actually roll. It doesn't have wheels. You know what I mean.

Go Rams.

-$-