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

Where the heck are they now update: Greg Olson

When Scott Linehan took over as Rams head coach in 2006, Greg Olson was the offensive coordinator, but effectively in name only. Linehan was the offensive genius, so he did all the play-calling. That lasted until week 10, a particularly-poorly-called game, even for Linehan, which saw the Rams get shut out in Carolina to lose their fourth straight game and fall to 4-6. It was decided that Linehan's genius was being taxed too much and play-calling went to Olson.

And Olson did a heck of a job. The Rams went 4-2 with him calling plays, won their last three and averaged 27 points a game. He closed with a flourish with a 37-31 win over Washington and a 41-21 win at Minnesota.

So, you let Olson have the reins for the 2007 season, right? Not exactly; per beat reporter Jim Thomas, Linehan became much more involved again in the offensive game plan and play-calling, even with Olson remaining the titular offensive coordinator. A lot of people would call what Linehan did "meddling". And so Linehan meddled the Rams' way to an 0-4 start that season, with the Rams scoring just 36 points in those four games. Linehan took over play-calling for the rest of the season, managing to pull the Rams' points per game up to a big 16.25. The Rams ended 2007 a THEN-franchise worst 3-13.

While Linehan and Jim Haslett sunk the Rams to even deeper depths in 2008, Olson jumped the rapidly-sinking ship (got pushed, actually) at the end of 2007 and landed on his feet in Tampa Bay, where he seems to be doing a heck of a job as the quarterbacks coach. The Bucs are coming off one of the best passing offense seasons in their history:

* 3,788 yards: 2nd in team history.
* 63.2% completion percentage: 3rd in team history.
* 83.8 team passer rating: 4th in team history.

The Bucs offense set a team record for total yards last year (5,456), which was the second-highest scoring season in team history, with 362 points. These numbers aren't headline-worthy as the rest of the league goes, but they're unheard-of for the long-offensively-starved Buccaneers.

Good thing Linehan got rid of Olson, huh. Olson was the coach of the two the Rams should have kept!

We'll see for sure as this year's rookie QB class develops. Olson's working with Josh Freeman, and thinks he could be the opening week starter, in Tampa. Linehan and former Ram offensive assistant Jeff Horton will be in charge of bringing Matthew Stafford along in Detroit.

I know who I'd put my money on, and against.

Photo from the St.Petersburg Times "Bucs Beat" blog at blogs.tampabay.com

Frank Gansz 1938-2009

With the very recent deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon, it's not exactly topical to be talking about Frank Gansz, the former Rams special teams coach who passed away a couple of months ago. But he's one of the important figures of the St. Louis Rams' brief history, and I've had a note ever since he passed to mention him here. I just regret it took two months.

Gansz was the best (unfortunately the only even-good one so far) special teams coach the Rams have had here. Many coaches seem to have problems getting their point across to players. This was no problem for Frank, who charged around practices barking out orders over a bullhorn. This intensity in a part of the game that revolves a lot around intensity served him well here and at Kansas City, whose special teams of the late 80s were incredible, and where Gansz won the NFL's Special Teams Coach of the Year award in 1989.

He repeated that feat here in 1999, and it's easy to see why. The '99 Rams led the league in kickoff returns, with Tony Horne averaging nearly 30 yards an attempt. The Rams were fifth in the league covering punts. That's fifth-best, not fifth-worst (or worse) like we've gotten used to around here. Special teams scored three TDs in 1999. We remember Az Hakim breaking that early October game in Cincinnati open with a punt return TD. We certainly remember Horne's kick return TD right after halftime of the 1999 divisional playoff against Minnesota. It changed the tone of the game and got the Rams' feet firmly on the road to Super Bowl XXXIV.

Super Bowl XXXIV would have been impossible without Frank Gansz's special teams, and not just because of those showy return TDs. Anybody remember that Jeff Wilkins set a record that year for most extra points without a miss? And special teams were critical in the game itself. Wilkins hit all 3 FGs he got his foot on (Mike Horan muffed the hold on a 4th attempt) for all the Rams' first-half scoring. He'd score 11 points in a game the Rams won by 7. Meanwhile, Tennessee hit only 1 of 3 FG attempts. Anybody remember Todd Lyght blocking a field goal in the third quarter of that game? Preserved a shutout at the time.

Then there was the holding penalty Leonard Little drew on the kickoff after Isaac Bruce's historic TD put the Rams ahead 23-16. Instead of having to drive 78 yards for a TD, a difficult-enough task on its own, the Titans had to drive 88. They got 87 of those yards, and besides Mike Jones, Rams Nation might want to thank the Rams' special teams for putting the Titans in a ten-yard hole at the outset of the drive.

Dick Vermeil has said that the Rams wouldn't have won the Super Bowl without Frank Gansz, who he's also called the greatest special teams coach ever. He is certainly right on the first count and may very well be right on the second. A belated final farewell to an outstanding coach and one of the Rams' less-sung heroes.

photo from stltoday.com

Rams vs. the AFC

Against the AFC, the Rams' streaks never figure to be very long numerically, but they sure can be chronologically, as we'll see here. There's a lot of bad trends here as well, but maybe it's good they're playing the AFC South this year.

AFC East:
The Rams have lost seven of their last eight regular season games against AFC East opponents.
Patriots - three straight losses, including Super Bowl XXXVI. Last win: 24-17 at New England, 11/18/01.
Dolphins - two straight losses. Last win: 42-10 here, 9/30/01.
Bills - two straight losses. Last win: a Tony Banks-led 34-33 come-from-behind victory in Buffalo in 1998. (Sept 20)
Jets - one-game losing streak. Last win: 32-29 here in OT, 1/2/05.

AFC North:
The Rams were 0-4 vs. the AFC North in 2007; 4-0 in 2003. So they have a one-game losing streak against the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals and Browns.

AFC South:
Colts: one-game losing streak. Last win: 42-17 win here, 12/30/01.
Titans: two-game winning streak dating back to Super Bowl XXXIV. Last loss: 24-21 there, 10/31/1999.
Texans: the Rams won the only meeting between the teams so far, 33-27 in Houston in OT, 11/27/05. (Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for over 300 yards).
Jagwires: two-game winning streak, both meetings between the franchises since Jacksonville entered the league. Dates back to a 17-14 Rams win here on 10/20/96. This year, though, will mark the Rams' first regular season trip to Jacksonville.

AFC West:
Chargers: one-game losing streak. Last win: 28-24 here, 11/10/02, a Marc Bulger miracle comeback game.
Broncos: one-game winning streak. Last win: 18-10 here, 9/1/06. Scott Linehan's first game as head coach. Everything seemed so good back then.
Raiders: two-game winning streak. Last loss: 35-17 at Oakland, 9/28/97.

Then there's the cross-state rival Chiefs, whose streak over the Rams is nearly as vexing as the Rams' current woes against the Seahawks and Big Dead. The St. Louis Rams, or as Jim Thomas would annoyingly put it, "St. Louis" Rams, have yet to beat Kansas City. The franchise's last win over the Chiefs was a 16-0 win at Arrowhead 9/18/1994 as the Los Angeles Rams. (Jim Thomas never says "Los Angeles" Rams.) Even the Greatest Show Rams couldn't top the Chiefs, going down there in flames 54-34 in 2000. The Chiefs' average win over the Rams since the move to St. Louis is 41-20.

And though the Chiefs have fielded some good teams the last 15 years, only one year the two teams met, 1997, were they significantly better than the Rams:
1997: Chiefs (finished 13-3) 28, Rams (5-11) 20.
2000: Chiefs (7-9) 54, Rams (10-6) 34.
2002: Chiefs (8-8) 49, Rams (7-9) 10.
2006: Chiefs (9-7) 31, Rams (8-8) 17.

You're never going to convince me the Rams shouldn't have been able to beat the Chiefs by now, let alone that they should get blown out the way they have been. I see this partly as the Chiefs being not just a classically physical team those years, but a classically turnover-ratio-oriented team, and also a team that can "get up" for a particular opponent.

And that's three things the Rams have generally lacked in recent years. Physical play, a positive turnover ratio (though 2006 went well) and a coach who can motivate. Steve Spagnuolo appears to have those items on his coaching checklist, and would be well-advised to keep them there.

And be able to checkmark them off a time or two this season.

Rams vs. the rest of the NFC

The Rams' streaks against the rest of the NFC aren't that much better than their futility within the division:

NFC East:
Giants: four straight losses. Last win: 15-14 at St. Louis, 10/14/01.
Eggles: two straight losses. Last win: 20-7 at StL, 12/27/04, and Philly rested most of their starters that game.
Redskins: two game winning streak, including one of last year's two wins. Last loss was 24-9 at StL, 12/4/05.
Cowboys: one game winning streak, last year's other win, 34-14 in StL. Last loss was 35-7 at Dallas, 9/30/07. You know, the one where Tony Romo ran for a first down on 3rd-and-6 after recovering a bad snap thirty yards behind the line.

NFC North:
Vikings: one game winning streak, 41-21 win at Minnesota, 12/31/06. Last loss was 27-13 there, 12/11/05.
Packers: one game losing streak. Last win: 23-20 at Green Bay, 10/8/06.
Bears: two straight losses. Last win: 23-12 at Chicago, 11/16/03.
Lions: one game winning streak, 41-34 win here, 10/1/06. Last loss: 30-20 at Detroit, 12/28/03.

NFC South:
Falcons - one-game losing streak, last season's last game. Last win: 28-16 here, 12/2/07.
Buccaneers - one-game losing streak. Last win: 28-21 here, 10/18/04. The Bucs are 4-1 against the Rams since the Rams beat them in the 2000 NFC Championship Game.
Panthers - four straight losses, including the 2003 Divisional Playoff here. Last win: 48-14 here, 11/1/01. (Both Faulk and Canidate ran for over 100 yards.)
Saints - two game winning streak. Last loss: 28-25 overtime loss in StL, 9/26/04.

The Rams haven't been a team that beats you black and blue, which shows up here. They haven't beaten the Giants or Panthers in eight years, or the Bears in six. And the Bucs only once in basically a decade. Sure, that's partly schedule quirks, but those are all classically physical teams. Steve Spagnuolo's right, and Billy Devaney's right, to try to put together a roster capable of dealing with physical play and returning it in kind. That's what it's going to take to get the Rams back on the right track.

Rams vs. the NFC West: streaks of futility

As you might suspect of a team that's gone 5-27 the last two years, the Rams aren't on the good end of very many streaks in the NFL right now. In fact, they don't have a winning streak longer than two games against any other team. They're on a losing streak against 21 of the 31 other NFL teams.

Nothing's more appalling, though, than their current trends against their NFC West rivals. Scott Linehan (and Jim Haslett) went 3-15 against the rest of the division: 2-4 in 2006, 1-5 in 2007 and 0-6 in 2008. They've lost two straight to the Whiners, both meetings last year. (Last win: 13-9 at San Francisco, 11/18/07). Their recent futility against the hated Big Dead is enough to frequently wake RamView up in the middle of the night. They've lost FIVE straight to worthless Bill Bidwill's team. Arizona, oddly, has scored exactly 34 points in four of those wins and the average score of those five games is 37-19, Big Dead. Not only that, the Rams' last win over Arizona was pure luck, 16-14 on 9/24/06, the game where Kurt Warner fumbled the snap away with the Big Dead in imminent game-winning FG position. (and Jim Hanifan got a cramp.)

And that's not even the Rams' worst losing streak. Their worst streak, beginning to rival the old SOSAR 17-game losing streak to the Whiners, is their EIGHT-game losing streak to the Seahawks. They haven't beaten the Seahawks since going 3-0 against them in 2004-5, including the wild card playoff win in Seattle (27-20, 1/5/05). How bad has this streak gotten? The Seahawks went 4-12 last year and the Rams STILL couldn't beat them either time!

And the ways the Rams have lost to Seattle over that stretch are galling. Seattle's beaten them more than once with their top receivers missing. The first game in 2008, they arguably had their top SEVEN receivers out. (And the Rams still couldn't cover anybody.) Josh Brown beat them twice in 2006 with buzzer-beater FGs. Gus Frerotte fumbled at the goal line in the Dome in November 2007 to keep the streak alive. Of all the streaks in the football world, Seattle's against the Rams has to be the least-deserved, but it rages on.

That's a lot of negative momentum to reverse, but it's where Steve Spagnuolo's going to have to make pretty quick inroads against to get this team turned around. Even with the Cardinals coming off a Super Bowl run, the Rams' NFC West opponents are all highly beatable teams.

Time to start making that stand up on the field.

Hello, Federal? Not so fast

Fred Smith is not interested in buying the St. Louis Rams, according to a report from the Memphis Commercial Appeal yesterday. And here it is:

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Source: FedEx CEO Fred Smith not interested in Rams

By David Williams (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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FedEx founder and CEO Frederick W. Smith is not interested is buying a majority share of the NFL's St. Louis Rams, a source close to Smith said Tuesday.

The St. Louis Business Journal reported on its Web site Friday that Smith -- a former leader of Memphis' NFL expansion effort and 10 percent owner of the Washington Redskins -- was on "the short list of people whose names are circulating as potential bidders."

However, the report appeared to be based more on Smith's natural fit as a majority team owner -- his wealth, ties to the NFL and passion for football -- than on any evidence of him showing interest in the Rams.

FedEx spokesman Jesse Bunn declined comment Friday and again Tuesday on the St. Louis Business Journal report.

The report had led to speculation about whether Smith might buy the Rams and relocate them to Memphis, given this city's long history of NFL pursuit as well as stadium issues in St. Louis. A clause in the Rams' lease states that if the Edward Jones Dome is not ranked among the top eight in the NFL, the team could opt out of its lease after the 2014 season.

-- David Williams

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So, at least that rumor's out of the way quickly. Also, it makes all of the current rumored candidates to buy the team - all two of them, Kroenke and Checketts - arguably local people, so that's a good thing.

Where the heck are they now?

You already know a lot of players and personnel have left Rams Park this offseason. You know Torry Holt's in Jacksonville. You know Orlando Pace's the new Sporting News cover guy for the Bears, and that Pisa Tinoisamoa's in Chicago with him. You know Trent Green and La'Roi Glover just retired.

But where are some of the other names we came to love and/or loathe from last season? Here's a rundown I was able to assemble after about an hour of Googling this morning....




The 2008 Coaching Staff
* Scott Linehan, laughably, is the offensive coordinator for the Lions. Jeff Horton, a mere "offensive assistant" here, has been entrusted with Matthew Stafford's development as Detroit's QB coach.
* Jim Haslett is the head coach of the Orlando franchise of the United Football League, which supposedly begins play this autumn. Haslett says he'd welcome Michael Vick to the team if he wants to play. If you want to see something truly scary, hit the UFL website until their picture of Las Vegas coach Jim Haslett pops up. Shiver.
* Al Roberts will be Haslett's special teams and tight ends coach in Orlando.
* Shockingly, Rick Venturi, the Ed McMahon (RIP) to Haslett's Johnny Carson, does not appear on the list of Orlando assistant coaches I found. Haslett didn't appear to name his defensive coordinator at that press conference, though. For all we know, Venturi's just enjoying retirement at the moment. He did talk to the Chicago Tribune recently about Pisa.
* Al Saunders interviewed for the Raiders OC position earlier this year but didn't get it. So no smoke routes for you, Al Davis. Not sure what Al is up to now.
* I could not locate Bob Saunders in any NFL capacity. Perhaps that is not surprising since Al Saunders is not currently serving in an NFL capacity.
* Henry Ellard is wide receivers coach for the Jets.
* Defensive line coach Brian Baker is now with the Panthers in the same capacity. He is joined by secondary coach Ron Milus, and they're working for another former Rams coach, Ron Meeks.
* Assistant o-line/TE coach Jim Chaney is offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.
* Offensive QC coach Keith Murphy also got work right away, to coach WRs and special teams at New Mexico State.
* As did defensive QC coach Mike Cox, now LBs coach at the University of Washington.
* Steve Loney stayed aboard as offensive line coach.
* Chuck Faucette remained with the Rams as assistant strength coach.
* Art Vandelay moved from assistant head coach/RB coach to assistant o-line coach.
* I mean Valero.

Players
*The Orlando UFL franchise drafted several former Rams to re-unite with Haslett:
LB Tim McGarigle, T Rob Petitti, WR Dominique Thompson and CB Darius Vinnett.

* Those aren't the only former Rams headed to the UFL. Marc Magro is headed to New York; Denzel's kid John David is going to San Francisco and Gary Stills and, yes, Adam Archuleta are headed to Las Vegas.

* Nick Leckey was picked up by the Saints. He just had surgery on his ankle but is expected back for the start of training camp.
* Brett Romberg was signed by the Falcons, where he'll compete with Jeremy Newberry and Alex Stepanovich for a roster spot behind starter Todd McClure.
* Ah, yes, Drew Bennett. Still a free agent, he worked out for the Buccaneers last week. He visited Cleveland in April without receiving an offer and has reportedly also visited the Titans. Atlanta is also reportedly interested in Drew's services, as is this badly-misguided Chicago Bears blogger.

Also still free agents as of June 4:
* Corey Chavous (though his jersey still appears to be available)
* Fakhir Brown (shockingly, Haslett hasn't signed him yet)
* Jason Craft
* Dante Hall (not to be confused with this theater in Atlantic City)
* Dane Looker
* Ricky Manning Jr.
* Travis Minor

I'm not sure why the Rams haven't signed Craft. They were supposedly interested in him, and he played pretty well last year. I also don't understand why they wouldn't bring back Looker, who's a contributor on special teams and would give the Rams some semblance of experience at wide receiver, all at a very low price in NFL terms.

Sorry, I have no Dana LeDuc update. But whenever I can dig up anything on him or the many players I don't even have listed here, I'll post an update.

Torry Holt update

Excerpted from Vito Stellino's Jacksonville Times-Union article:

(photo from espn.com)

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Holt factor

Holt, an 11-year veteran, paced himself in the OTAs, but the Jaguars think he'll have a major impact on their receiving corps, on and off the field.

"I think the one thing that Torry has brought is a level of trust for David [Garrard], so he's aware that at third-and-7, he's going to run more than seven yards. I think that'll be good thing for David," Smith said.

Holt's also working with several of the team's young receivers, including rookies Mike Thomas, Jarett Dillard and Underwood.

An improved receiving corps, along with a healthy offensive line, could help Garrard return to his 2007 form and give the Jaguars more of a deep-passing threat.

"If we're protecting our quarterback, we'll have an opportunity to look down the field," Del Rio said. "If David has the time, I think you'll find he completes some of those balls."

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Torry Holt's going to be the best thing to happen to the Jagwire receiving corps in a very long time. The Jagwires' young WRs are going to benefit from Torry's leadership and the knowledge and work ethic he passes down to them.

Somehow I don't see Laurent Robinson having the same effect on the Rams' callow receiving corps. The Rams front office is a long way from convincing me the move to release Holt this offseason was anything other than shortsighted.

The ownership merry-go-round

Not a lot happening on the sale of the team at this point. Here's what we know, most of it because Bernie Miklasz has the right connections...

It was reported May 31st that Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez hired Goldman Sachs to sell their majority share of the team. At that point it was also reported that Chip was disappointed in the lack of local investors to fulfill his preferred choice of selling the team and keeping it in town, so the bidding was opened up to everybody from anywhere.


A couple of days later Blues owner Dave Checketts emerged as a candidate to buy the team. Checketts indicated he approached the Rams as an interested buyer "months ago" and that he contacted Chip the previous week to tell him he's the local buyer (at least in terms of keeping the team in town - Checketts lives in Utah) that Chip is looking for.

What's puzzling about that is, if everybody's telling the truth, Checketts expressed interest in buying the team to Chip and Chip still came out later that week to say he's disappointed in the lack of local investors.

Does Chip not consider Checketts a serious investor? Does he not consider him a local investor? Does everybody have their timelines straight?

Or is Chip actually disappointed he had to go outside of St. Louis to drum up enough interest to bid his price up?

RamView heartily endorses Checketts should he prove to have the juice to pull off the purchase. He's run the Blues really well. The franchise is run by "hockey guys", top-notch ones like team president John Davidson, and they're really responsive to the fans. If Checketts keeps the Rams in town, I may even go to a hockey game here again someday.

But Checketts may have some competition. Last week we had this report come out reporting that Federal Express founder Fred Smith is interested in owning the Rams. He's got the money and the NFL connections, as he currently owns a small piece of the Redskins.

The idea that Memphis native Smith would buy the team and move it south has been dismissed by everyone in this scenario. Well, except me. Supposedly Bud Adams would keep it from happening because he has the Titans in Nashville. Of course, that same theory didn't keep the Raiders from moving to L.A. Smith's ties to Memphis are surely stronger than any tie he'd have to St. Louis. Checketts at least has another business here. I don't know why Smith would buy a team and build a stadium here. It seems like remodeling the Liberty Bowl or putting up a football palace to further enshrine himself in his home town would be more logical options. I'd be worried if Smith buys the team, but that's just me.


Meanwhile, Michael Silver claimed in a column last week that the NFL would waive the cross-ownership rule to let Stan Kroenke acquire majority ownership of the team. Bernie Miklasz says Kroenke is biding his time for now and is happy to let others set the market price. He's not going to bid against himself.

That alone makes Kroenke smarter than half the current NFL owners. I wish I shared Silver's conviction the NFL would waive its archaic cross-ownership rule, though. It's not like they're getting rid of the equally-archaic local TV blackout rule any time soon.

This is probably where we'll be for quite a while with the Rams: in ownership limbo while interested parties round up funds and/or ownership groups, kick the team's tires and figure out how badly they can hoodwink the taxpayers into kicking in for a new and/or improved stadium.

I'll do my best to stay on top of things from here, but that should be an up-to-date rundown of the current Rams sale rumors, the perpetual Rush Limbaugh rumor notwithstanding.

Kroenke photo from nba.com

Worst Rams blog on the internet...

...has to be this one, doesn't it? With everything that's been going on, there's only been a few posts here since the draft.

I'll set aside the excuses this time around and try to make up for my recent activity and try to catch up with the last couple of months in Rams Nation. It's been busy.

Notable retirements #1: Deacon's jersey

I'll start with the good news that came out a little bit ago: the Rams will retire Deacon Jones' #75 at one of this year's home games. (I certainly hope it will be one of the weeks they're wearing throwback uniforms.)

It's always been one of the biggest and oddest of this franchise's failings that Deacon's jersey was never retired. The unofficial reason is that Deacon and ownership never got along. But never mind that. Deacon is certainly the best defensive player in Rams history, and you can make a very good case that he's the best in league history; top five, certainly. He's already enshrined in the Hall of Fame; honors from the team have been decades late in coming.

Thumbs up to Chip Rosenbloom for correcting a years-old injustice and finally getting the jersey of one of the Rams' greatest retired.

No word yet, however, if the Rams will publicly apologize for allowing Claude Terrell to wear #75 a few years ago.

photo from www.profootballhof.com

Notable retirements #2: La'Roi Glover

Defensive tackle La'Roi Glover announced his retirement this morning, bringing an end to a solid 13-year career with the Raiders, Saints, Cowboys and Rams. Glover was a Rams terror when he played with the Saints from 1997-2001, and he played in six Pro Bowls. He had a career year with 17 sacks in 2000.

The time was right for Glover to retire; he's 35, missed about half of last season and was becoming a diminishing factor on the Ram d-line. Having said that, his 11.5 sacks here in 2006-7 are nothing to sneeze at. He was a solid veteran leader for this team and was widely regarded as one of the Rams' toughest players.

And so time accomplishes something the early St. Louis Rams offensive lines never could: taking La'Roi Glover out of the game.

photo from stlouisrams.com

Notable retirements #3: Trent Green

Trent Green retired last week, putting the wraps on a 15-year career that included a Super Bowl championship and two Pro Bowls. Trent never should have come back in 2008, having suffered severe concussions in Kansas City in 2006 and in Miami in 2007. Rams Nation is grateful he's just getting off the field in one piece with all his faculties intact.

Trent returned to his hometown Rams for a last hurrah in 2008, but it was mostly raspberries for the veteran QB. He threw six INTs in three games, and in two of those games, he would have had a higher passer rating by spiking every pass into the ground. The nadir was a four-pick game in a 27-3 loss to the Bears.

But Green's place in Rams history was, and is, already secure, as the man who unofficially launched The Greatest Show on Earth. His big-ticket free agent signing here prior to the 1999 season set a new tone for the Rams front office, and in the 1999 preseason, Trent looked nigh unbeatable, running then-new offensive coordinator Mike Martz's offense at peak efficiency.

Then it hit. It, of course, being brutal cheap-shot artist Rodney Harrison, who leveled his specialty at Trent's knee in the third preseason game, ending the QB's season and apparently blowing up the Rams' 1999 season in the starting blocks.

But that, of course, led to the rise of Kurt Warner and an as-yet unparalleled offensive surge, along with two NFC championships and a Super Bowl title.

And I don't think the Rams win those Super Bowls with Trent Green behind center. He did have success in Kansas City after leaving St. Louis the first time, but he never had Warner's uncanny accuracy and was a rather mistake-prone QB. The Trent Green I saw play after 2000 never would have beaten Tampa to get the Rams into Super Bowl 34. He would've thrown a bunch of picks.

But that doesn't make Green's years here in St. Louis unsuccessful or unimportant. He helped a losing franchise adopt a new attitude. And when he came back healthy for the 2000 season, he had every justification in the world to shout that he wanted his starting QB spot back. He easily could have created a team-dividing QB controversy. It wouldn't be the first or last time a QB in Trent's position has done so.

But Trent didn't. He took his clipboard (and generous backup-QB paycheck) gracefully, didn't split the team, didn't snipe at anybody, and when called on to sub for Warner, did a decent, if slightly turnover-prone at times, job. The harmony at the team's most important position helped it on to a couple more years of outrageous, memory-making success.

We thank Warner, and Marshall Faulk, and Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, and many, many others for those great seasons. But we shouldn't forget to thank Trent Green, limited though his on-field contributions here were. For Trent lived up to one of the great virtues of athletics.

He was a team player.