Start spreading the rock salt...

The NFL has awarded Super Bowl XLVIII to New Jersey Interstate 95 Exit 16W, or as they like to call it, "New York City". It will be the first Super Bowl intentionally conducted outdoors at a cold-weather location. That's really no biggie to me, or the rest of the billion or so of us who will be watching the game indoors anyway. I think it's a good idea to mix a cold-weather game in the rotation every now and then. It's how football was meant to be played, and I'm sick of the Super Bowl getting batted back and forth between New Orleans and "South Florida" every year anyway. The New York City metropolitan area should be a fine host for the event. No problem from these parts with a Big Apple Super Bowl.

Of course, New York's receiving preferential treatment here that the NFL would never deign to give to St. Louis. New York in February didn't come close to the NFL's climate criteria for hosting the Super Bowl, so the NFL just waived the requirement for 2014. St. Louis has an -indoor- stadium and can't even get a sniff at hosting the Super Bowl.

Have you noticed how many cities have put up a new stadium and then quickly got a Super Bowl bid? Jerry Jones' palace in Dallas opened last year and will host Super Bowl XLV next year. Indianapolis didn't have to wait long after opening Lucas Oil Stadium; say hello to Super Bowl XLVI. Glendale, Arizona's Pink Taco Dome opened in 2006 and hosted the Super Bowl in 2008. Houston's Reliant Stadium: opened, 2002; Super Bowl, 2004. Ford Field in Detroit: opened, 2002; Super Bowl, 2006. Raymond James Stadium has already hosted twice since opening in 1998. The Georgia Dome has hosted twice since it opened. 2000, of course, and also in 1994, two years after the Falcons took up residence.

St. Louis opened the now-Edward Jones Dome in 1995; Super Bowl, never.

Has it been the weather? No, Detroit and Indy aren't exactly brimming with warm-weather fun in February. (And as many Rams fans remember, neither was Atlanta in 2000.) Is it the stadium? The NFL better not say it is considering other sites that have hosted Super Bowls since the Dome opened here. I'm looking at you, Jacksonville, hosting the Super Bowl in the glorified dump of the Gator Bowl. And the formerly hot-and-stinking Louisiana Superdome, which just seems to automatically get every other Super Bowl. (To their credit, New Orleans is giving their dome a major renovation prior to it hosting the game for the SEVENTH time, in 2013.) I also refuse to believe it was ever any issue with hotel rooms when Jacksonville could host. Or Detroit. Yeah, I bet the hotel industry's THRIVED in Motown the last decade. Indy isn't exactly the vacation and convention capital of the world, either. And don't tell me St. Louis didn't build the stadium big enough. The Super Bowl doesn't make its money on live attendance.

The Edward Jones Dome obviously isn't ever going to host a Super Bowl. Today it's well behind most of the league's other stadiums, many of them newer, bigger, higher-tech and having retractable roofs and far superior "luxury" facilities. But that New York can get a Super Bowl despite its weather, that many other cities get the event almost as soon as they open new stadiums, or that Jacksonville EVER got to host the Super Bowl, period, is just further proof of the league's institutional disdain for our city. We're the one city that couldn't get even a whiff at hosting the Super Bowl when our stadium -was- one of the league's top facilities. In the years while the Jones Dome was still new, the NFL preferred to host the Super Bowl in mediocre dual-use facilities in Miami and San Diego, in New Orleans for the umpteenth time, and in a complete dump in the form of Sun Devil Stadium, where everybody had to sit in bleachers. Then in 2000, newer stadiums like Atlanta's and Tampa's started getting to host. Everybody's but St. Louis'.

The taxpayers of St. Louis spent $280 million to, and let's not kid ourselves about the multi-use political-speak, put up a football stadium. It has hosted a Final Four, a dozen-or-so college games and a Papal mass, but never got the Super Bowl payoff the NFL has given practically every other city to build a new stadium (especially an indoor one). And with the Big Apple breaking the cold-weather cherry, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston are already muscling their way to the front of the line for their turn at a Super Bowl, and I don't know why a lot of other great cold-weather football towns wouldn't join them. I'm pretty sure all Art Rooney would have to do at this point to get a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh is ask for it.

In the end, the league screwing St. Louis over, again, is going to have the most meaningful impact on whether or not a new stadium is to be built here. The St. Louis area shouldn't pay the first sales tax penny or lay the first brick toward a new football stadium without an iron-clad guarantee from the National Football League that the city will host a Super Bowl within three years of opening the new facility.

Just like every other NFL city that builds a new stadium.

Hold off on printing those playoff tickets, Seattle

Do the draft-day grade givers ever take grades back? Just wondering because I don't think any team's draft day was gushed over more than Seattle's, not just because of their terrific draft haul of Russell Okung, Earl Thomas and Golden Tate, but because of their draft-day trades for RBs Leon Washington and LenDale White. Pundits raced one another to see who could give Seattle the best draft grade.

Well, hold your dopily-spelled telecom company phone. Lendale White has been cut. That's right; the Seahawks spent (swapped, actually) two draft picks on a guy who couldn't even make it to training camp. As impossibly hard as it would appear to be to look lazy at an OTA, the Seattle brass was apparently very disappointed with White's work ethic. AND he apparently was in line for a four-week drug suspension from the league.


As for Washington, reports are that he'll start training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list.

As for the rest of Seattle's draft, well, how well did Kansas City do last year after earning everyone's accolades on draft day? Yeah, 4-12.

Just a reminder to everybody that a good draft day is just a start, not a free pass to the postseason.

Rams cut five

Cuts prior to practice today, per Brian Stull's Twitter feed:

- Three rookie free agents: LB Simoni Lawrence, WR Roderick Owens, FB Kennedy Tinsley.
- Former practice-squad DT Chris Bradwell.
- Offseason signing, WR Nick Moore, brother of Lance Moore of the Saints.

They join three Rams cut three weeks ago: 4th-string QB Mike Reilly, who was quickly picked up by Seattle; practice-squad CB Marcus Brown and offseason signing, WR Travis Brown.

The cut previous to them was Marc Bulger, so while I may not be caught up on all of the Rams' signings here, I am certainly up-to-date on the cuts.

Here's the Rams' transactions page at NFL.com. I'll try and catch up with a bunch of those items as time allows.

Alex Barron... gone at last

Hmm... Alex appears to be moving here before any of his teammates.

How fitting is it that the reporting of the trade that has now sent Rams offensive tackle Alex Barron to Dallas for linebacker Bobby Carpenter started a week before the trade became official? Reporters got a head start on reporting Barron's trade much like Alex himself gets head starts on many plays in which he participates.

So how will history remember the Alex Barron Era? Not fondly, though it could have been much, much worse. Barron will be remembered around here as one of the most penalized players in the NFL, especially for his multitude of stupid, undisciplined false starts. How many drives did the guy kill with stupid penalties? Who can count that high? Mental errors were plentiful for Barron after the snap as well. He was as adept at the holding penalty as he was at the false start. Plenty of Rams plays the last few years have been a block away from being successful, and that was often Barron's block. I would say it was much more due to mental error than lack of effort, but Barron often got caught not blocking to the whistle, with the man he didn't block breaking up the Rams' chance for a big play.

The signature Alex Barron Moment had to come at last August's open scrimmage at Lindenwood University, when he demonstrated he couldn't even keep from false starting during practice and got booed by 7,000 fans for it.

Mom says if you can't say something good about someone, don't say anything at all, and there are some good things to say about Alex Barron. He's tough and durable. He's versatile enough to play right and left tackle, though he'll never be a Pro Bowler at either. He's stayed out of trouble off the field. If Barron's play wasn't riddled with mental mistakes, he'd be wonderfully... average.

Will Barron blossom in Dallas? I doubt it. Year after year, coach after coach, we thought Barron would grow into becoming a lineman who could actually stay onside when he's supposed to. Play with discipline. Not stop till the play's actually over. He never did. There's little reason to believe he ever will. I don't see why a change of scenery should have any more effect on Barron than anything else in his career. He is what he is. The highest praise I think anyone around here has for him is, he could be worse.

Woody Allen's said that 80% of success is showing up. I think Alex Barron's proved him wrong.

2010 Rams schedule released

2010 Rams schedule

Well, it's certainly an improvement over last year's schedule. The Rams actually get to play at home before September's almost over, for instance. They'll open at home against the Big Dead September 12th, and without Kurt Warner, that's a beatable team. I would have taken the week 2 road game at Oakland the opening week; the Raiders have the longest Opening Day losing streak in the NFL. The Chargers are notoriously slow starters but unfortunately should be awake by the time the Rams host them in week 6. The NFL has once again kindly plopped the bye week right in the middle of the schedule.

Don't know what's with the three straight road games followed by two straight home games in the second half. That could have been balanced a lot better. However, if I read the master schedule right, the Rams will not face anyone coming off a bye week, and get their bye before a divisional game, November 14 at the Whiners.

I do love, love, love Roger Goodell's idea of making the last week of the season nothing but divisional rivalry games. You can keep that as part of the permanent schedule right now. Now take the next step and quit giving teams bye week advantages (even though the Rams benefit from it this year). Teams on byes one week should play one another the next week. It's competitively fair, and would even help the league's bottom line, if they'd just THINK for a minute. How big would one of this year's Redskins-Eggles or Packers-Vikings meetings be with an extra week of hype?

As a recapper, I do have to express my dismay at the huge number of 3:15 starts. Why the hell are there three home games starting in the second slot? So much for my chances of getting recaps done the night of the game this year! Why the hell are the Rams playing the Redskins, Falcons and Saints in the late slot, but they play the Seahawks and Chargers at home in the early slot? The start times seem to be designed to induce maximum fan inconvenience for both sides!

Finally, I would like to point out to the newly-named St. Louis Rams Cheerleader squad that there is a home game on October 31st. That is Halloween. People wear costumes that day. Just sayin.

Kroenke: "stepping up for pro football in St. Louis"

E. Stan has finally talked to local media about his attempted takeover of the Rams.

Bernie Miklasz article

Here's a few quotes from Kroenke I hope I never have to pull out again, because if I do, it'll be because he's unreasonably doubled back on public promises:

"I'm going to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis. Just as I did everything that I could to bring the team to St. Louis in 1995. I believe my actions speak for themselves."

"There's a track record. I've always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. And I'm stepping up one more time."

"I'm born and raised in Missouri. I've been a Missourian for 60 years. People in our state know me. People know I am an honorable guy."

"I'll do my damnedest [to keep the Rams in St. Louis]."

All well and good. I'm glad to hear that it sounds like Kroenke is actually still on St. Louis' side.

I would like to point out a couple of things. For having been a Missourian for 60 years, Kroenke seems to have completely forgotten the nickname of the state. You know, the "Show-Me State"? The local reaction should not have surprised him in any way after his press release regarding taking over the team made no mention of the team's future in St. Louis at all. Additionally, for a guy who already owns several sports franchises, you'd certainly expect better media savvy from an owner than Kroenke has demonstrated up until now with the Rams purchase.

However, I, at least, should give Kroenke more credit for going into the machinations he's going into with his other franchises in order to be able to pull off this purchase. That alone shows commitment on his part and is something that should go down in his favor.

Kroenke -is- a (potential) NFL owner. Therefore, anything he ever says should be taken with a grain of salt. I trust NFL owners like I trust, um, politicians I voted against.

But now that he's aboard with the Rams, it's good to hear (finally) that's he's also aboard with St. Louis.

Let the wheeling and dealing begin!

(updated to include 7th-round picks)

The Rams have traded Adam Carriker, pick #163 in the 5th round and pick #208 in the 7th round to the Redskins for pick #135 in the 5th round and pick #211 in the 7th round. That they got any value at all for Carriker is a mild cause for celebration; I'll never be convinced he would have made the team last training camp. He lucked out at the public team scrimmage by getting a season-ending shoulder injury that allowed him to spend the '09 season here on IR.

(Yes, they actually traded DOWN in the 7th round and sent Carriker to the Redskins to move up in the 5th.)

Carriker's short career here got off to a decent start, but as with almost every other first-round DT picked by the Rams the last decade, he quickly turned into a shopping cart in the middle of a Rams defense that continued to get run over, and provided nothing close to the impact a team needs to get from a top-half of the first round pick. He needed shoulder surgery after his rookie season, struggled with that and ankle injuries throughout '08, and sprained an ankle again in '09 training camp before bowing out with the second major shoulder injury of his career.

Jim Haslett was eager to bring Carriker to Washington, and he'll play end in a 3-4 there, so he'll be better cast there than he was here. I'll always remember Carriker as the guy who taught me it's best not to draft 3-4 ends to play 4-3 tackle.

The trade leaves 5th-round pick Cliff Ryan as the only member of the Rams' 2007 draft class still on the team.


In unrelated news, Torry Holt has signed with the New England Patriots.