So the Rams talked with Steve Sarkisian also?

One published report indicates that the Rams made contact with form USC offensive coordinator and current Washington Huskies HC Steve Sarkisian.  Kroenke wanted him to fill our currently vacant offensive coordinator position.  You can read about it here.

Sarkisian would have been a nice fit for the job, IMHO, as he is a bright offensive mind, a former QB, and a Pisces dude.  He would have had good synastry with Sam Bradford.

Unfortunately, Sark has already turned us down.  He simply had no interest in the position.  It's just too much of a lateral, if not southward, move in the pyramid.

I am worried that we are addressing our deepest needs last.  Fixing our offense is our most pressing, urgent, imperative goal of the off-season.  Our offense is what is stopping us.

Catching up with the Rams

I've had a couple of funny nights and days (in a row) due to Bod Pod testing and dietary change.  For these reasons, I haven't had a lot of time to blog about what's up with my Rams.  There have been a lot of news bits flying around on the wire.  The purpose of this entry is to filter and condense them all here.

#1 Stan Kroenke and the Patriot-Way

Imagine my distress when I came across a piece in the Boston Herald declaring Stan Kroeneke's admiration of the Patriot-Way? You know how I feel about this subject.  The Patriot-Way is just a fig-leaf covering Bellichick's totalitarian approach to doing business.  It's another way of saying 'my way or the highway' from a Bellichick perspective.

Since this guy hasn't managed to win a playoff game since he was caught cheating, I see no real point in lionizing this little bastard.  He's easily the most over-rated coach of all time.  Furthermore, this guy has no coaching tree, as is often mistakenly alleged by the media.  His sycophants continue to flunk-out in both the Pro and the college ranks.  This guy is no Paul Brown.  He is no Bill Walsh.  He is no Tom Landry.  He is no master innovator, nor is he a coach of coaches.  Fuck Bellichick.  May he eat shit and die.

According to the quotes, Kroenke read "Inside the War Room", which is subtitled "Building the perfect football team".  Kroenke proclaimed that this book described a wonderful business culture in which there were clear-cut responsibilities, clear cut assignments of final authority, and no escape from final accountability.  No shit, eh?

This immediately raises question marks in my mind.  What the hell does Bellichick know about building the perfect football team?  At the the end of the day, this dude is famous for just one thing:  Never having had an undefeated season.  Yep, you read that right.  Straight word to the moe-foe there.  Furthermore, the purported 'defensive genius' has the last-ranked defense in the NFL.  What does he know about the perfect football team?

Stop licking this guy's ass, for Christ's sake.  It is most unseemly for for a weak-minded fool to apply the yardstick of his wretched intellect to the game of Pro Football.  It is disgraceful for the same wretched fools to be caught licking the arse of Bellichick in public.

With that said, I am all in favor of clear-cut responsibilities, final say, and unavoidable final accountability... just as long as it doesn't all end up in Bill Bellichick's hands at the end of the day.

#2 Kroenke releases Josh McDaniel's from his contract

And McDaniel's immediately rejoined the Patriots' staff.  Speaking of Bellichick sycophants who flunk-out all over the place... and speaking of the Patriot-Way..

If Stan Kroenke's vision lies in New England, you sure can't prove that by his #3 move.  After sacking GM Billy Devaney and HC Steve Spagnuolo, the only coach under contract with the Rams was Bellichick Sycophant Josh McDaniels.  For approximately 24 hours, I was sweating bullets over the question of whether Jeff Fisher or Josh McDaniels would become the next Rams-HC.  Knowing that:

1. The Rams were reluctant to change offensive coordinators and systems for a 3rd time in Sam Bradford's brief 2 year career.
2. That Kroenke was (is) in-love with the Patriot-Way.

It was somewhat logical to conclude that McDaniels had to be in the running for HC.  Then sigh not so, but let him go into hey nonny, nonny.  McDaniels was released from his contract either Friday or Saturday morning, and he resigned with the Patriots sometime Saturday afternoon.

Good riddance.  I never liked the guy in the first place.  I still blame him for the destruction of a pretty good Denver Bronco team.  As you know, I just don't like Bellichick sycophants.  

I regret the fact that Sam has to go through another offensive transition, but if we face the facts, we must realize that he had no chemistry with McDaniels in the first place.  Those two gave it a try, but they just didn't mesh well at all.  Sam never grasped McDaniels' passing scheme, and McDaniels seemed unable to help him master it. The lines of communication were down.  This is all the more curious since McDaniels runs a spread offensive not all that different from the one Bob Stoops runs at Oklahoma.

There's something wrong with that McDaniels kid.  He is a weird Taurus.  As a Virgo, I aught to love the guy.  I don't don't.  Furthermore, as a Taurus, he aught to have great chemistry with a Scorpio like Sam Bradford.  Clearly, he didn't.  Further, he aught to have good and cordial relations with an Aries like Bellichick, but he shouldn't worship at the guy's arse.

There is something bad-wrong about that Josh McDaniels kid.  He just ain't right.

#3 All signs are pointing towards Jeff Fisher

In the past 24 hours, a significant number of facts have become evident.

1. Most of the so-called 'coaching A-Listers' are not interested in returning to the job in 2012.
2. The pool of available Head-Coaching Candidates has never been thinner than it is today.
3. There aren't many hot coordinators in the league right now.
4. Stan Kroenke wants to end the coaching carousel in St. Louis by bring in a veteran head coach.
5. The only guy who fits the suit is Jeff Fisher.

We've seen many other news blurbs about the Rams having the edge because of Sam Bradford, the Dolphins loosing their grip on Jeff Fisher, Fisher being close to delivering his decision, etc. Jason La Canfora has been on the record for a week now declaring that Fisher would be the next coach of the Rams.  Chris Mortensen has certainly backed these claims up.

As you know, I am not particularly pleased by any of this.  I don't think we made a sufficient effort to bring Gruden out of retirement.  Money talks.  Let's buy him out of Monday Night Football.  If you made him a whopping offer, I bet you he would come along.

So why do I object to Jeff Fisher?

1. I already made my case about his mediocre record.  No need to cover this again.
2. I don't think he will go well with Bill Polian.
3. I don't think he will go well with Sam Bradford.
4. He comes from the defensive side of the field.  He was a DB with USC and Chicago.
5. Our problems are on offense.  We need an offensively-minded, point scoring head-coach.
6. Given the fact that the NFL has illegalized defense, and given the fact that you have to look around for a yellow flag every time you hear the pads pop, I am not sure you can even hire a head coach from the defensive side of the field anymore.  Believe me, I choke as I write this.  I am from the defensive side of the field.

I just don't think Jeff Fisher meets our most pressing needs.  It would be better to bring back Mike Martz as head coach.  I would favor that move.  I can't believe the Bears have released him from his contract.

#4 Gregg Williams for DC

A number of reports, particularly those from Adam Schefter, state that Gregg Williams will be the next defensive Coordinator of the Rams.  Why?

Greg got his start in Jeff Fisher's coaching tree.  Gregg Williams has no contract for the 2012 season.  He is a coaching free-agent.  Although some have mentioned him as a potential HC candidate, and although there are openings available, it seems increasingly unlikely that Gregg Williams will get an HC position this year.  Many dispute whether he has the demeanor of a head coach, and whether he can delegate authority.

Further, we know there are now issues surrounding the hiring of an aggressive defensive coach as your HC, thanks to the NFL Competition Committee.  Anytime the pads pop, you have to look around for the yellow flag.

I am not sure why Gregg Williams would want to leave New Orleans.  I am not sure why he would rather work with Jeff Fisher than Sean Payton.  I am not sure why he would leave a good thing when he's got one.

Still, Schefter is almost never wrong.  This report has to be taken seriously.

#5 Jeff Tedford for OC

If Fisher is the head coach, and Williams is our DC, who will be the man tasked with repairing our woeful offense?  This is the Achilles' heel of our football team, you know?  We suck because of our offense.

Some rumors are circulating--very underground--that Stan Kroenke wants Jeff Tedford, head coach of the Cal Berkeley Bears to fill this position.  I am not sure Tedford would be interested in semi-demotion from head coach to offensive coordinator, especially when some consider him worthy of a full NFL HC position.  Still, the rumor is circulating that Kroenke has reached out to Tedford.

If he will take the position, I am all for it.  Tedford is my homeboy.  He's from SoCal originally, but he went to Fresno State where he was a very memorable Bulldog QB during my High School years.  He became the OC of the Oregon Ducks, and then the head coach at Cal.  I happen to be a UCLA guy.  He's been a serious thorn in our Bruins' side for years now.  Let's fetch him out of there to coach the Rams.  He is responsible for the early development of a QB you may have heard of:  Aaron Rodgers.

Jeff also happens to be a November 2, 1961 Scorpio dude.  Sirius 1.1 claims he has extremely high synastry scores with Sam Bradford, something Josh McDaniels didn't have.  They should be very good together.

#6 No sign of Bill Polian

At the moment, there is no sign of the Rams or Kroenke communicating with Bill Polian. The only word published on Bill Polian all week long stated that he was interested in the vacant Chicago Bears' position.

As you may imagine, my outlook is glum. I really, really, really want to see Bill Polian take over this organization. Bring Chris along with you.  There is nothing wrong with the way the Rams do things that cannot be addressed and corrected by hiring Bill Polian.  I am sure this guy can fix the organization.  He's fixed every organization he's ever been in, no matter how dysfunctional.

At the moment, all reports state that the Rams want to pair an experienced veteran HC (read: Fisher) with a young and hungry GM (read:  somebody Fisher would select).  Given the notion that Fisher is doing the selection, can you guess who we are talking too?  Titans VP of Operations Lake Dawson and VP of player personnel Ruston Webster.

So we are going to be the Titans-West instead of the Giants-West now, eh?  I am not too pleased by that.  I would sooner be the Colts-West.

The biggest news of the day: Bill Polian has been fired

Wow... shock of shocks!  The rumors were true.  Jim Ersay, owner of the Colts, has fired Bill Polian.  Rumor had it that Ersay was irate over the position Peyton Manning's contract has placed the organization in.  A tool that was intended to retain Peyton for the remainder of his career has backfired and become the booby-trap that virtually assures Peyton's release this off-season.

You know this is the one and only error that brought down the thunder.

I hope Silent Stan is listening out there somewhere.  Readers of this blog know how I feel about Bill Polian.  I fucking love that guy!  I think he is the best damn executive in the league.  He's been elected the NFL executive of the year 5 times, and that doesn't give him enough credit.  He's better than that.  Several years ago, I wrote a blog entry about how much I would love see Bill Polian take the helm of my Rams.

Now it is possible.

Let's get the Polians to take over command of the organizations.  Let's make it a father and son organization.  Trust me Stan, you're going to love this guy.  You're a Leo.  He's a Sagittarius.  It will work. You'll have a nice accord and it will produce the results you want to see.

The 2011 NFL Season is over... mercifully enough!

So the regular season ended yesterday.  Thank God!  Not a moment too soon if you ask me.  You may be experiencing a sense of loss, but not me.  If you are a Ram-fan, you have been waiting for the end of this nightmare for sometime now.  It couldn't end soon enough.  You are glad you finally woke up from a long and tormented sleep.

The deed has been done.  Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney have been fired.  You can read about it here. As you know, I have been gunning for Devaney for the better part of two years.  His poor eye for talent and his sub-par drafts are what got us here.  You can seriously question his priority list also.  I am less keen to see Spags go.

Now it is time for the real work to begin.  Now we have to begin the rebuild in earnest.

I will be out of my mind with rage if we hire Jeff Fisher.  I won't have it.  That just might be the end of my 31 years as a Ram-fan.  I don't care what anybody says, Jeff Fisher is not a coaching A-Lister.  His record with the Oilers/Titans was very mediocre.  He never won the Super Bowl, we beat him in the Super Bowl, and his Titans often failed to make the playoffs. He was the most over-rated coach in the league during his long tenure with the Oilers/Titans.

The only big credit to Jeff Fisher's his name is the fact that he knows how to last in a Bush-League organization.  I want Stan Kroenke to know that if he hires Jeff Fisher, he's sending the wrong message.  He's sending the message that he wants a coach who can last in a Bush-League organization... like the Rams.

Furthermore, I am hoping and praying the Chargers will not fire A.J. Smith.  I am hoping and praying he will not  even be available for the Rams' candidate list.  Hiring A.J. will certainly be the end of my 31 years as a Ram fan.  I hate that guy with a passion.  He is an A-Lister on the ass-hole list.  He is one of the few 100% pure, unrefined, unadulterated assholes in the NFL.  Most assholes have at least a few trace quantities of impurities in their asshole nature.  Not A.J. Smith.  He is 100% pure asshole.

Ram Rumors are flying. Let's untangle fact and fiction

Four significant pieces have been published in the past 24 hours outlining some spectacular Ram-Rumors.  The jist of these pieces are as follows.

• Apparently, Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney await the gallows.  Their fate is sealed.
• Jon Gruden has decided to return to coaching in 2012
• This would apparently void his 5 year contract with Monday Night Football
• The Rams mean to get him
• Should the Chargers fire their GM, A.J. Smith, Stan Kroenke intends to make him GM of the Rams.
• According to the bullshit, A.J. Smith has the wherewithal/clout to bring Gruden into the organization
• Some Ram fans are sweating the fear that Gruden would dump Sam Bradford, and want to roll with Andrew Luck

First, let's temper all these scrambled eggs with some facts:

1. Most hope/believe that Spagnuolo and Devaney await the gallows.  I am gunning for the second name, not the first, but I accept the fact that they rise and fall together.
2. Stan has said nothing.  That's why they call him Silent Stan.  We all hope he will do the deed.
3. I am going to peel back-flips and celebrate overindulgently if we nail Jon Gruden.  I fully endorse & support this move.  I love it.
4. Jon Gruden has said nothing.
5. ESPN claims Jon Gruden is fully committed to Monday Night Football.
6. If Stan tries to hire A.J. Smith, I will fly to St. Louis with a .460 Weatherby Magnum sniper rifle and make sure he never enters the building alive.  In all seriousness, I can hardly think of a worse candidate for the job.  This is absolutely not the man for the job.
7. The notion that A.J. Smith has the wherewithal/clout to deliver Jon Gruden is spectacularly fictitious bullshit.  I will continue to say this until someone shows some proof of a connection.  I know of no connection, direct or indirect, between A.J. Smith and Jon Gruden.  
8. Jon has never voiced any love for this guy.  I don't know why he would.  I certainly wouldn't. Would you?  Of course not!  You would never do a thing like that.  Neither would I.
9. Why does anyone think A.J. Smith, a guy whose stock is about to be delisted on the Dow Jones, has the clout to deliver Jon Gruden?
10. Kevin Demof is the guy with the most likely open-connection to Jon Gruden.  He worked with Gruden in Tampa Bay during their championship run.  Demoff is vastly more likely than A.J. Smith to deliver Jon Gruden.  Further, using this connection could be the move that saves Demoff's neck.
11. Most writers have correctly slapped down rumors that Gruden would dump Sam Bradford.  This is utterly baseless.  He hasn't even accepted the job.  This is just pure fear.  Gruden worked with Sam during his QB camp two years ago, and said tremendously flattering things about him... aside from declaring him the world's worst slider.  There are presently no reasons to believe Gruden would dump Bradford.

Anyhow... here are those pieces for your consideration:

• Business Insider
• ESPN NFC West Blog
• NBC Pro Football Talk
• Bleacher Report

I would feel much better about the whole thing if the rumors said "Dick Vermeil declared Team President, and presently negotiating for Jon Gruden's services."

Can somebody please start that rumor?  That would be good.

One very nice footnote to report:  Highly-esteemed Sports Illustrated writer Peter King declared that the Ram-jobs could be the most desirable and best landing spots for candidates during the 2012 hiring cycle.  Why?

1. Sam Bradford
2. The #1 absolute pick in the 2012 draft
3. The greatest projected cap room of any NFL franchise come 2013.

The Rams have better than a puncher's chance of drafting #1 in 2012

Ryan Van Bibber over at the Turf Show Times summed things up succinctly:

1. Right now the Rams and Colts are tied for the worst record in professional football at 2-13
2. One game remains.
3. Should both end in a tie, the Colts will draft first based on a weaker schedule.
4. The Colts play the Jags, and they have a reasonable shot at victory in a game that is almost meaningless for both.
5. The Rams play the 49ers.
6. The 49ers need to win in order to secure a bye-week and the #2 seeding.
7. The Rams's chances of victory are slim and none.  We have no reasonable expectations for victory in this game.

It logically follows that, at the moment, the Rams have better than a puncher's chance of drafting #1 overall in the 2012 draft.  Would this be a bonanza or would this be a disaster?  It depends on how you play it.  If you intend to deal that pick, and know how to stoke the fire, it could bring a king's ransom.  Many interested parties around the league will compete for the right to draft Andrew Luck. 

I contend the following: If we do not sack Billy Devaney at the end of this season, more disaster is sure to follow.  This dude has never succeeded in trading down in his career, and there is no reason to expect him to rape and pillage now.  Further, the guy couldn't draft a wide-receiver to save his life, and would probably never do such a thing with the top pick anyhow.  If we are to parlay this consolation prize into a chance to rebuild our team, the pick must be dealt, and dealt well.  This means Devaney has to go on Black Monday.

Off with his head!  To the gallows.  Burry him in an unmarked grave in the Nevada desert.

I want to restate my position that the team has not found its footing in 4 years primarily due to poor and sub-par drafts.  Billy Devaney is the prime suspect with Scout-Boss Lawrence McCutcheon in the #2 spot.  If we are to stop being a Bush-league organization, the first thing we have to do is acquire some men with a real eye for talent.  Getting a real-wheeler dealer would provide a double-bonus.

I, for one, tremble at the thought of Devaney being allowed to handle the 2012 draft.  It is terrifying to think of this guy orchistrating any deals or actions surrounding that #1 overall pick, especially with the stature of Andrew Luck drawing even more attention than ever to this process.  You're putting C4 in the hands of children without any adult supervision.

I sure hope the rumors of Devaney's immanent departure are correct.  Further, I sure hope we will offer the presidency to former HC Dick Vermeil.  Further, I sure hope the rumors of coach Jeff Fisher's arrival in town are totally wrong.  Let's put Dick Vermeil in charge, and let him pick his people.  

We have apparent confirmation that Coach Spags and Devaney are on the Hot Seat

Today, November 28th, 2011 is the day when we got our first apparent confirmation that Coach Spags and GM Devaney are on the Hot Seat.  The word comes from none other than Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network, and it was published in print on the NFL's own website.

You can read it here.  SB Nation has another piece here.

We can now say, with honesty, that a serious source indicates that these two are in trouble.  La Canfora deals in rumor and innuendo, but he is seldom wrong.  I have gone hard against him a couple of times (in the case of the Donovan McNabb trade) and I wound up with egg on my face.  He was right, and I was wrong.  This guy doesn't piss in the wind.  If Jason says it, it has to be taken seriously.

There is just one caveat:  Farmers Field in Los Angeles.  Everybody knows the Rams are the #1 contender to play in Farmers Field.  Everybody knows AEG Productions are looking for two teams and not one.  How else do you get the full 1.2 billion stipulated in the Farmers Insurance contract?  They aren't going to leave that money on the table without a fight and half to get it.

With two teams headed to Los Angeles, it hard to imagine a scenario in which the Rams aren't one of them.  You just haven't heard it from officials sources due to the gag order issued by NFL HQ in New York.  Yep, that's right, the Commish done issued a gag order.  Keyshawn Johnson spilled the beans about that one on ESPN Radio.

I seldom discuss this subject because it upsets my St. Louis brethren so deeply.  Believe me, I know how they feel.  We went through it in 1994 here.

In short, La Canfora eludes to the often whispered conspiracy theory that Stan Kroenke will allow this inept front office to struggle for one more year before executing a 100% rebuild of the organization on the West Coast.  It's not so much that it will drive the box office revenues down, thus permitting a move.  Rather, its a question of how to rebuild the team most effectively in concert with a big move across country.

As I have said before, I would prefer that Spags stay, but I am increasingly alone on an island.  Most fans have had it with his offensive & special teams conservatism, as well as his clock management skills.  Perhaps it is because I am an old nose tackle who wished he had played in Spags' 4-3 scheme, but I think well of him.  He will be rehired immediately by the Giants, I can assure you of that.  They just haven't been the same without him.

Still, If Stan Kroenke does what I suspect, he will clean and flush the front office this off-season.  A new management team will be given instructions to do everything necessary to prepare the team for the move to the West Coast.  Stan may even appoint a new Team President, something he has not yet done.  The post has been vacant since former President John Shaw snuck out the back door.  

I, for one, would add my voice to those clamoring for Dick Vermeil's appointment as Team President.  Let's make him the boss, and let him pick his management team.

So Kroenke is planning to blow up the front office...?

Ryan Van Bibber of the Turf Show Times is reporting that Rams' owner Stan Kroenke is planning to blow up the front office and hire a new head coach.  That's the Rams' front office and the Rams' head coach, just to make sure we are clear.  Stan owns a lot of sports franchises.  Just wanted to avoid confusion there.

You can read about it here.

I place a question mark at the end of my title because I was unable to follow the trail of breadcrumbs back to the original source.  The links provided on this article point to the San Diego Union Tribune, and a piece detailing the Chargers' need for fresh blood in the management suites.

I do not deny the fact that both teams need new management.  I've been saying it for years.  I just couldn't find any reference to the Rams in that piece.  The piece is 3 pages long, and I grepped each page.  The word 'Rams' does not occur on any of the three pages. Since it is an online article, a revision and partial retraction may have been published.

I think we are all at the point now where we have rejected Billy Devaney's eye for talent.  More specifically, we don't think he's got one.  The thought of Devaney running another draft makes the hair on my neck stand on end.  The dude can't draft a wide receiver to save his life, and this is precisely the player we need the most.  I think we are all hoping that a transition will be accomplished quickly after the season ends.

However, with that said, they don't call him Silent Stan for nothing.  As far as I know, Silent Stan has been silent on this subject.  I would not expect him to telegraph his punch in this situation.

I sure hope Van Bibber is correct about this, but the prospect also fills me with some dread.

I had a lengthy conversation about this with some fellow Ram-fans at work, and we discussed the implications of firing the EVP and GM in some detail.  I am a fan of Spagnuolo's, and would prefer to see him stay on.  However, we know that this is bloody unlikely if both the EVP and GM are fired, as need be.

When you appoint a new Team President, EVP and/or GM, you almost always delegate the authority to remake and remodel the team.  Some owners can and do established protected players and coaches, but this can interfere in the rebuilding process.  Generally, you don't bring in a man at the rank of President/GM unless you are ready to trust him with the reigns of power, and the right to select his coaching staff.

More precisely, it would be unwise to talk Dick Vermeil into accepting the job of Team President, and then tie his hands by now allowing him to pick his coaching staff.  You have to allow Coach Vermeil to remake the organization in his own image.  Preferably, something a bit more like the good 'ole days of the Greatest Show on Turf.

All of this implies that we can't get rid of Demoff and Devaney without also sacking coach Spagnuolo.  Many will be glad to see him go.  I will not.  I have admired his defense mind for some time now.  I like what he has done with our defense.  Unfortunately, offensive power has been Priority-Z under his administration, and we have shown very little of it.

I am afraid that a lack of attention to scoring offense is going to cost another defensive HC his position.  It's an age-old story.  I have seen it many times before.  Names like George Allen, Chuck Knox, John Robinson, and Marty Schottenheimer come to mind.  All of these men have been hired and fired many times because of their strong defensive minds, and their offensive conservatism.

Shout out to E. Stanley Kroenke: OYE! BUY THE DODGERS!

I am an old time Los Angeles sports fans: Lakers, Dodgers and Rams, but not in this order. It would be more like Rams, Lakers, Dodgers.

I may not be much of a baseball fan, but I am a committed Dodger fan. I don't talk about it much because we have had three years of absolute misery, minus an NLCS appearance. Wanna know why? Just read some news on dodgerdivorce.com. You will get the picture. It's pure hell, and our team is in limbo.

Today, I take back all the bad things I have ever said about Bud Selig. The guy stepped up to the plate like a man and executed a move that took some real balls: He seized operational control of the team from Frank McCourt. He did so on the grounds of financial mismanagement that sounded almost like embezzlement when read for the press. He has strongly implied that he is considering using his powers to force McCourt to sell the team. He can do this under several ownership contract clauses.

Selig made it clear that a flagship team like the Dodgers, the Dallas Cowboys of baseball, cannot be allowed to collapse into fiscal insolvency. The damage to major league baseball would be much too great. Amen brother.

Folks, I want you to know that several of us were dancing in the corridors at work when this news rang out. There was much rejoicing. Although he will never make up the distance now, Frank McCourt was drawing perilously close to Georgia Frontiere levels of hatred here in Los Angeles. That's a hell of a lot of hatred folks. I'm talking powerful hatred.

While the team is not out of his hands entirely just yet, we consider this an excellent first step towards organizational sanity. We love it.

Now on to the key point: Stan, we need you to buy the team. I know there is this little cross-ownership thing, but you know we can get around it. Ann can write a loan check to Josh and he can buy the team. So what if you operate through surrogates? No big deal.

The Dodgers would be one hell of a jewel in your empire. I know you want to buy the team. I am just here to give you some strong encouragement.

A long time ago in 1993-1994, a bunch of Rams fans like me pinned our hopes for better ownership to your band waggon. It took awhile, but it finally happened. A lot of Dodger fans are hoping for drastically better ownership than what we have had. If you buy the Dodgers, you will own two-thirds of the hearts of all loyal Los Angeles fans.

That's pretty good for the empire.

We better get Nnamdi Asomugha

So, whilst in recovery from surgery, I have been trying to avoid hot subjects that will get my blood boiling. Such a subject is O.J. Atogwe. As you might imagine, I am not particularly happy about my Rams' recently release of Atogwe.

I have mixed feelings about Atogwe. It's mostly good, but not all sweetness and light. If asked to summarize my thoughts, that summary would go a little like this:

1. He was one of the few picks in the 2000s that actually worked out for us.
2. He's a heck of a ball-hawking thief. As many have stated, he has created 44 turnovers in the past 5 seasons. Many of those were clutch plays, when the team needed it most.
3. He's a bit of a gambler, and can miss big.
4. He was clearly the leader of our secondary
5. He was one of only 3 of our defenders who would earn a starting position on most teams in this league (the other two are Chris Long and James Laurinaitis)
6. He's been injured quite a bit.
7. Strangely, he's a bit over-rated by our guys and under-valued by the rest of the league.
8. He has commanded remarkably high contract figures considering his actual value.

With all this weighed in the balances, I can tell you I know why the organization did this, and I am not happy about it. Devaney and Co. clearly felt they were over-paying for Atogwe. They had qualms about writing that 8 million dollar roster bonus check. They are betting they can resign him for less.

For those who don't remember it well, O.J. was a true free agent last season, and saw little or no interest from the rest of the league. After making many claims about interest and feelers from other teams, he accepted the offer tendered by the Rams. There were concerns about the health of his shoulder at that time. There may or may not be such concerns now. We will have to wait and see.

At this point, it does appear that Atogwe has cleared waivers, and no one else is negotiating. We also have reports that he wants to resign with the Rams. If he is willing to resign at a moderately lower price, we would be stupid to pass on the offer.

As many have sited, the organization is not treating our top ball-hawk very well. I don't really like the fact that we're jerking around one of better players over a few million here and a few there.

Yes, I understand the Rams are in a very small market... for the moment. I understand that we have had to kick out major bucks to top 2 draft picks for the past three seasons. We have some cash flow problems. Kroenke can remedy this with his ample resources, but the team needs a balanced balance sheet, just like any going concern.

All I can say is this: Our secondary is going to be substantially weaker without Atogwe than with him. If we do not resign him, we better be planning to use some of that money to go get Nnamdi Asomugha.

Yes, I am aware of the fact that Asomugha is a corner, and Atogwe is a safety. I hope you are aware of the fact that the more dominant your corners are, the less you need safety help over the top. Of course, it would be best to resign Atogwe and use some of the savings to get Asomugha. Now that would be a sizable improvement in the shape of things to come.

At the moment, the Rams are not thought to be in the running for Asomugha. Some believe he is headed to either the Cowboys or the Eagles, with the Eagles as the leading candidate. I hope we can get in there and disrupt that flow.

The Kroenke era begins with a boom. The Georgia curse has been ended.

Surely you jest! Surely you are pulling my leg! Nah! Not true! Are you serious. The Rams defeated the Patriots 36-35 in Boston? NAH!

I want to carefully qualify my remarks. I do not believe the Patriots are the ruling dynasty of the NFL. I do not believe they are a Super Bowl contender this season. Nevertheless, I do expect them to post a winning season. I do not expect the same thing from my Rams.

Still I cannot deny the reports the NFL Network is throwing at me. Evidentially, my 1-15 team just went into New England and scored 36 points against the Patriots. Do you understand that this was the 32nd ranked offense in the NFL last season? This was an offense that had trouble putting 11 points on the scoreboard, and was shutout by the Redskins and the Seahawks, both of whom were bottom 10 teams.

How did you fuckers give up 36 points? Mel Kiper was more right than I though he was, and I thought he was pretty accurate on this question. The New England Patriots have real problems on defense. I haven't seen a lot of things that impressed me this preseason (except Javid Best) but this impresses me.

You mean to tell me that Sam shot 15 for 22 for 189 yards and a pair of touchdowns behind one of the most... er... ah... lines in the league? That is a pretty good QB rating there kid. Keep it up.

I don't know what to say. I guess my guys have gotten better and yours have gotten worse. If I were the Patriots, I would pretty intensely humiliated by this.

Hallelujah the Georgia curse has been lifted! The Kroenke era begins with a bang.

Good job guys.

Bouy... starting to doubt these Synastry tea leaves

After having several weeks of fun comparing my chart to those of innumerable famous and not-so-famous women in this world, I decided to train Kepler 7.0 on some of the football personalities I seem to pay so much attention to.

The results seem pretty askew from reality, or at least the way I perceive it. You never know about people until you work and live with them for real, so who can say?

Still I find these reports questionable.

For the record here is the key to decoding these scores:

Above 150 is very high. This trait is VERY strong!

125 to 150 is above average. The trait is strong.

115 to 125 is slightly above average. The trait is slightly strong.

85 to 115 is average.

75 to 115 is slightly below average. The trait is slightly weak.

50 to 75 is weak.

50 or lower is VERY weak!

Billy Devaney and David Leon

Category Totals

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 229

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 85

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 117

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 70

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 96

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 142

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 135

Shocking... but then again it is not. Devaney has his sun in Pisces and his Mercury in Aquarius. That is very formative. I know these people well. My brother Ben, my cousin Ana Julia, my former business partner John Z, my favorite evangelical preacher Jimmy Swaggart, and couple other you wouldn't know. All of these people have their Sun in Pisces and Mercury in Aquarius.

Yep that's right, Devaney and Swaggart...

While somewhat low, the mutal kindness is higher than I would have predicted. The aggression score is lower than average, which is remarkable.

For the record, Pisces is in my 7th house. This means my business partners and my future wife are all supposed to come from the Pisces clan. Certainly, several of my realtives do. Virgo/Mercury is one of only two signs that can run with Aquarius/Mecury.

Steve Spagnuolo and David Leon

Category Totals

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 229

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 137

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 118

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 43

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 78

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 80

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 88

Wow... pretty good scores there. No wonder I like the guy. Incidentally, Spags is a major league Sagittarius. It may not be friendly, but it isn't violent either.

David Leon and Dick Vermeil

Category Totals

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 29

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 131

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 3

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 115

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 377

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 176

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 132

Damn... That breaks my heart and wounds my soul to the core. Of all the guys I have held in high esteem over my life as a football fan, Dick Vermeil is pretty damn close to #1 on my list. It kills me to think that we have no mutual understanding and aggression score of 377. The mutual success score is reasonably strong. Understand that this could flip the aggression score and make it a success score. If so, that score is outstanding.

The temperment is totally different though. He is a very emotionally expressive dude. I am not. I have a poker face in pressure situations that just won't quit. Dick is not like that.

I admire the guy so much I doubt we would have that level of violence, but you never know until you work together under pressure.

David Leon and Stan Kroenke

Category Totals

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 0

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 32

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 131

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 67

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 316

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 140

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 157

Wow... well, he is a billionaire. They say these fellows have a totally different mindset all together. Working with them and thinking with them is ostensibly like working hand-in-hand with aliens from another world. The aggression score is once again disturbing.

They say fights happens when strong willed people with strongly held ideas get together...

Dick Vermeil and Stan Kroenke

Category Totals

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 143

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 187

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 100

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 68

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 264

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 146

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 151

Look at 'dem apples. They have pretty damn good scores until you get to kindness and aggression. Whilst not as bad as my scores, those don't look too... pleasant. Nevertheless, you can see why there was ground there for a successful business partnership.

Perhaps it is just the very nature of the beast. Football is so damn aggressive, violent, and competitive that you just can't have an afternoon tea party environment, even in the best situation. The pressure is horrendous.

Dick Vermeil and Sam Bradford

Category Totals

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 171

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 182

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 161

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 44

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 196

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 180

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 50

Interesting... the two Scorpions have very good scores together until we get to kindness and aggression. The mutual success score is so good that it suggests that the aggression score will flip and become success. If I was Kroenke, I would take note. But then Kroenke is not interested in any of these things.

Just for shits and giggles I decided to throw in a few NFL Network personalities to see how this works out.

Rich Eisen and Jamie Dukes

Category Totals

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 29

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 167

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 98

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 266

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 96

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 176

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 109

The similarity of interests and temperment score should send up red flags. Perhaps their temperments are different, but I suspect they have many common interests. They do seem successful and pleasant together. There is some adventure and surprises in their business. There may be some aggression and competition, but it is below average. I would agree with that.

Rich Eisen and David Leon

Category Totals

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 171

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 12

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 80

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 152

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 0

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 61

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 107

Wow... very similar interests and temperment. No success and no aggression. Interesting...

Jamie Dukes and David Leon

Category Totals

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 0

2. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 117

3. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 104

4. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 121

5. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence 101

6. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 126

7. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 110

Wow... now that aught to throw the whole scheme in doubt. How in the world can I have a shared interest score of 0 with Jamie Dukes? I guarentee you that isn't correct. The rest of the scores are moderate average scores, but the top score must be wrong. I have always felt a great kinship with Jamie Dukes. I think we think similary. Not the same, but similarly. Since we are both interested in football and bariatric surgery, the score must be higher than zero. I guarentee you we have some shared interests. That just has to be wrong.

Now he was a center and I was a nose tackle...

So the Kroenke era begins...

Last night the NFL Network broadcast limited information on the NFL owners meeting taking place at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta Georgia. They did mention that there was a vote on Stan Kroenke. It was not precisely clear whether he won or not. I immediately looked it up on News.Google.com. The answer was yes, Stan has been approved as the new majority owner of the Rams. The facts of the case are these:

1. The approval vote was unanimous
2. Commissioner Goodell gave Stan a very nice endorsement.
3. Stan will be the 7th Ram owner in 73 years.
4. Many sources are reporting that Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez will still retain some interest in the team
5. Reports conflict, but VanRam states that Kroenke bought nearly all of the remaining 60% of the Rams for the sum of $450 million.
6. It is unlikely Chip Lucia will hold more than token stock in the Rams.
7. Stan has been given a grace-period to divest himself of the Nuggests and the Avalanche.
8. Regrettably, the NFL has not done away with the cross-ownership ban, or given Stan a pass. Rather he has a temporary exemption so that he can get into compliance with the rule.
9. Stan has until December of 2012, or until the end of the world, which ever comes first.
10. NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman says the Nuggests and Avalanche will be passed over to John Kroenke, the 30 year old son of Stan and Anne.
11. The spectre of a potential move to Los Angeles was raised immediately by the Atlanta media.
12. Stan said he would never lead the charge out of St. Louis, but he has to remain competitive, and to be competitive he needs revenues.
13. VanRam is reporting that the first item on Stan's agenda is a new Stadium and a return to profitability.
14. Certainly, a return to profitability is a critical aspect of the rebuilding project. You can't keep operating at a loss. You either staunch the bleeding or die at some point.

According to my fading memory, Stan began this trek back in late 1993 and early 1994 when a couple of guys named DeBartolo and Jones has spent Georgia under the table. The Rams were in considerable financial difficulty back then also. Georgia had no real money of her own. She was a Las Vegas Showgirl who had been married 5 times. She had nothing more than the money she inherited from Carroll Rosenbloom. While sizable by ordinary middle class terms, that fortune provided no means to compete with real billionaires like DeBartolo and Jones.

As an erstwhile NFC contender, the Rams needed to spend like the 49ers and Cowboys if they were to have any hope at all of launching a Super Bowl run. Georgia was basically forced to find a partner. Stan made it pretty clear he wanted to buy the whole enchilada outright. Georgia wouldn't sell the Rams outright. Eventually, they struck on a deal in which Stan bought 40%.

The first-refusal right Stan negotiated in that purchase contract made it absolutely clear that he was waiting on line to buy the rest of the team. Yesterday, 15 years of waiting in line came to an end. He could have made this process a year shorter, but with such monumental problems to grab hold of, why rush?

His timing makes sense. He will have approximately 4 calendar years in St. Louis to work out a new stadium deal before he can move to Los Angeles, if no progress is made. It should be noted that Stan could move the team tomorrow. He would simply have to pay penalties for breaking his lease early. No one expects him to do such a thing. The L.A. County stadium, either in Industry or downtown, is not ready yet.

It is unclear just who the progenitor of the move to St. Louis was in 1994. Stan is from St. Louis. Georgia was also from St. Louis. The city of St. Louis itself was beckoning a team. Some say that former President Shaw was the key exponent of the move. It's clear that Georgia finally made the move because she was (is) deeply hated by the people of Los Angeles, who believe she hijacked, then ruined the Rams. Georgia summed it up best when she said "I want to go where I am wanted."

You would be hard-pressed to find a more hated figure in Los Angeles sports history than Georgia Frontiere.

One thing the world must acknowledge: The Rams are now owned by the world's greatest sports Mogul. We'll see if he can return us to old form again.

I have to tell you, this news has had a strangely tranquilizing effect on me. I feel my heart strangely warmed, as John Wesley once did... I feel as if the Babylonian captivity has come to an end. Why do I feel that way? Well, let me tell you about it.

The subject of the first ever episode of PBS Frontline was the seamy, lurid and nasty side of sports. They spent a large block of time dealing with the very strange death of Carroll Rosenbloom. This is a fact not a theory. Check out the documentary.

Carrol was a guy who kept uncomfortably close ties with gambling men in Las Vegas. So close were these connections that he actually hooked up with their ex-wives. That would include Georgia. You see, Georgia was a Showgirl who had been married to a few managers of Las Vegas enterprises during the course of the 1960s and 1970s. You know what that means.

On April 2, 1979, Carrol decided to take a little swim in the Atlantic Ocean, off his private beach in Florida. There, he mysteriously encountered heart problems and drowned. PBS Frontline showed videotape interviews with mobsters who claimed Rosenbloom had been dragged under water by the legs and held down until he drowned. Steve Hartman of L.A. Sports talk fame, frequently claimed he had seen photos skin divers swimming away from location moments after Rosenbloom died. There were many gruesome autopsy photos taken of Carroll. Some of those photos alleged show electrical burn marks on one of his ankles.

Shortly thereafter, Georgia had Carroll's body cremated (something you never do to a Jew), she inherited the team, fired step-son Steve Rosenbloom (who was doing an absolutely fantastic job) and moved the team to Anaheim.

We all believe Georgia had Carroll hit by some of her ex-husband(s)'s associates, not to put to fine a point on it. Steve Rosenbloom always believed the same thing. Still does, according to what I hear.

In any case, the spectre of Carroll Rosenbloom's death/murder has hung over the team for a very long time. Whilst I doubt he would have objected to son Chip running the team, I hope he can rest in peace now that clean hands own the Rams.

So I missed by $2 million dollars, so fucking what?

So, the news just broke. Sam Bradford has signed a 6 year $78 million dollar contract with $50 million guaranteed. Throughout the entire 2010 draft cycle I warned it would cost the Rams $80 million over 6 years with $50 million guaranteed.

One desperate shill... er... Ram fan, just as desperate as Devaney, chastised me for throwing around "...completely irresponsible PFA numbers when no contract figures have been discussed." Well, ghee whiz, you are just going to have to pardon my analytical Virgo ass again, I guess.

I was 97.5% accurate on the top figure ($78m vs $80m), and 100% accurate on the bottom line ($50 million guaranteed money). So I missed by $2m bucks? So what? You can miss the bottom line by $2M these days and still be 97.5% accurate. How 'bout 'dem apples?

How did I do it? Its super simple really. You just make a curve plotting all the contract figures for all the #1 pick QBs, and you can see the price has been going up roughly 20% per year. Then you add the fact that Adam Schefter announced that Tom Condon would be seeking a 20% premium over Matt Stafford's contract, and there you have it.

It's so easy a caveman could do it.

Still, the Shills were in denial. They knew that such large figures would be a serious turn off for a lot of Ram fans. They wanted to hush me in the worst possible way. You know, I cannot abide illogical, emotional, irrational thought processes, including those aimed at political manipulation of a situation. Call a spade a spade. Have some balls, you faggots. Admit the facts of the case. Don't shill you pussies.

You won't get more accurate prognostication anywhere folks. I am accuracy incarnated. I have balls. I tell it like it is. Of course, this doesn't mean that Billy Devaney is willing to listen to me regarding anything, now does it?

I hate being right all the time. I am a male version of Cassandra. I know what is going to happen, and I am cursed by the fact that nobody listens or cares. I can never convince anybody of anything for any reason. So why bother?

Update

The NFL Network and ESPN are reporting that the Bradford contract contains playing-time and performance incentives that could drive the maximum value of his contract to $86 million. Now wouldn't it be interesting if it wound up landing right at $80 million.

Now, for this to happen, Sam would have to play all 6 season under his current contract, without renegotiations started by either side, and he would have to hit performance incentive number. Of course, if what I think will happens, happens, that will never happen.

We'll see happens.

I think it's just about time to tune out on the NFL for 2010

So we are now in the deep off-season. The die is mostly cast for 2010... as much as it will be until final roster cuts come up, and the Rams get a shot at acquiring one or two valuable cast-offs.

It's no secret that this off-season did not go the way I hoped it would. Let us count the things that did not happen:

1. We did not fire Pat Shurmur.
2. We did not abandon our attempt to implement the West Coast Offense
3. We did not hire Mike Leach.
4. We are not implementing a Spread offense (for Bradford or Tebow)
5. We did not draft Tim Tebow.
6. We did not draft Toby Gerhart
7. We did not draft Dexter McCluster
8. We did not draft Ndamukong Suh
9. We did not acquire Albert Haynesworth
10. We did not acquire Brandon Marshall
11. We did not acquire Alan Faneca
12. We did not acquire Thomas Jones
13. We did not draft a few the excellent receiver prospects we could have taken in the 5th through 7th rounds.
14. We did not both to sign Jevan Snead when we could have had him for free.
15. We did not sign O.J. Atogwe.
16. We did not get a speedy resolution to our ownership muddle.

This is not to say that all of these things could have been accomplished. Most of those things could have been accomplished... if we had done the deal with Cleveland. So what did we do:

1. We kept Shurmer
2. We're supposedly going to run the West Coast this year
3. We drafted Sam Bradford
4. We drafted Rodger Saffold
5. We drafted Mardy Gilyard
6. We dealt Adam Carriker for a 5th rounder
7. We traded Barron for Carpenter
8. Steven Jackson had back surgery for a herniated disc
9. So far we manifest no signs of assembling a running back committee.
10. We're thinking about making an offer to Brian Westbrook.
11. We're going to let O.J. Atogwe go.
12. Kroenke's screwing around with the finance committee.

If you think I am painting a grim picture, it is only because I am painting a grim picture. Things are not well in St. Louis. The battle does not go well. We are not making a lot of progress.

A little while ago, I posted that the Buffalo Bills are a franchise drifting without a rudder, and in danger of foundering. Right now, ESPN expects project them as the team drafting #1 next year. Folks, my Rams resemble that remark. We are pretty damn close to drifting without a rudder and in danger of founding again.

I understand Steve Spagnuolo appeared on the Jim Rome show this morning, I look forward to hearing his comments with great interest. I wonder how he perceives the situation? I wonder how he can spin the circumstances. I am sure Rome asked him how he could pass on Ndamukong Suh. I look forward to that answer. I bet he tows the party line and says what you would expect.

"We're very excited about our choice, Sam Bradford. It's tough to win in this league without a quarterback, and we felt that quarterback was our most pressing need."

Just remember: I haven't heard the interview yet. I bet he said something almost exactly like that. It is predictable.

Anyhow, I have made my voice heard. I protested all of the management decisions made this year. I clearly presented an alternative program that would have been better. I have clearly pointed out why the present management direction (or direction-less-ness) should inspire no confidence in the fan base. I have clearly pointed out why implementing a WCO with Shurmur and Sam Bradford will end in tears.

It is clear that Devaney has set his course, and he is not entertaining suggestions for course-corrections at this time. So now we just have to wait for it all to collapse. It's a poor plan, so I think it will collapse. It's going to take a couple of more years in the basement, then maybe we can break out of this muddle.

The current moment in Ram history can be compared to the Richard Brooks moment in the 1990s. That was basically our 2nd failed coaching administration before Dick Vermeil showed up and fixed things.

Many of us believe Richard Brooks got a raw deal, and unfortunately, I think Spagnuolo might also. This time, I think it is really Devaney's fault.

The whole strategy and current direction is just badly thought-out and poorly conceived. The strategy is just bad. There are obvious foundational weaknesses in the program which should cause the house of cards to collapse.

Anyway... it is time to pack it in for another season. We missed our chances in 2010. Just put it away and drop it. Just leave it alone, cause we don't see eye-to-eye. There's only you and me and we just disagree.

When next I blog, I will blog about the Google Android kit. I intend to take all the time I have been wasting on Devaney's Rams lately and put that into something constructive. Namely: How to develop software for the latest rev of the Android OS. There are some exciting things happening there. They are building a champion... unlike my Rams.

Pardon my inattentiveness to this blog

I have been writing a more public forum, trying to head off disaster in this year's draft. I haven't had much time to devote to my private blog.

What is this disaster? I think it is a profound mistake to take Sam Bradford with the #1 pick in 2010. If were my call, it would be Suh in the first and Tebow in second. I would fire Pat Shurmer. I would end our fatuous attempt to implement the West Coast. I would hire Mike Leach. I would acquire some O-Linemen, most particularly Flozell Adams and Bobby Williams. I would make the deal for Albert Haynesworth.

"But Tebow won't be ready for several years?" Neither will the rest of the team. Get used to it. Bradford won't change that fact. You will see how much of impact Bradford makes on our wins and losses when they cart him off the field during game 3. No folks, the Rams are a couple of years away. This is the truth of the matter. In a couple of years, I want to have real gem of this draft ready to go for us at QB. I don't want to have a banged up medical bust on my hands.

To wit, I am amazed by the specious arguments made in favor of our offensive line. These are dimwitted arguments made by fans who have been drinking VanRam's Cool Aid. They do believe that living in denial is a good thing. What you don't admit can't hurt you. All we need to do is deny that we have a bad line and Sam won't get hurt next year. It is as simple as that.

Fallacies, fallacies everywhere! I have seldom seen such fallacious reasoning. Consider this tour de force of fallacious reasoning. When confronted with the fact the fact that the Rams line allowed 44 sacks last season. The typical Cool-Aid drinker responds "It was only 14 over 9 games." So the Rams only played 9 games last season? Well... no... they played 16, but Bulger was only sacked 9 times. No, he was sacked 14 times for a loss of 85 yards. Oh, well, we only gave up 14 sacks, everything after that doesn't count. Sorry, your argument is rubbish. The Rams line surrendered 44 sacks. That is an empirical fact.

"But that wasn't their fault!" Then whose fault was it?

"The quarterbacks! The new scheme! The injuries! The release of Incognito!" Excuses, excuses! The record shows that the Rams offensive line has surrendered 40+ sacks for 9 years straight. The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Now do something about it.

Why live in denial? Because the fans in St. Louis really want Jesus Christ to return... errr they really want the Rams to draft the savior Sam Bradford. They want to believe he will turn everything around. Understanding that we have a weak line that will allow a frail quarterback to get injured is the best possible argument against spending the #1 pick in the draft, and something like $80 million, on Sam Bradford in this draft.

I am throwing punches at a bullet wound, so there is a reaction. It s a bad reaction, but there is a reaction.

Frankly, I am going to be very glad when this draft is over. The dice will be cast. We will have rolled our bones. Then I can forget about our chances of improvement for another season.

But enough of this... only a fool worries about that which he cannot control, so I guess I am being a world class fool here. Devaney is locked on to his game plan. We'll see how it works out.

In other news, I am amazed at the negative press Kroenke is getting in St. Louis. He has not addressed the question of whether he intends to keep the team in St. Louis. Each day that goes by, the local sports writers try to apply more and more pressure on him to address this this question. No word.

They say silence speaks volumes sometimes. I remain convinced that things are on track for the city of industry. Ram Park... it has a certain ring to it doesn't it? They will probably license the stadium rights though, so they will call it "Oracle Park" or "Universal Studios Park" or something to that effect.

Khan vs. Kroenke! Fight!

So the other ownership shoe dropped last night. Adam Schefter announced on ESPN's NFL Live that Silent Stan Kroenke has decided to exercise his contractual right of first refusal to purchase the Rams. I wanted to wait for confirming details before blogging about it. The report is correct. Enos Stan Kroenke has decided to exercise his contractual right of first refusal to purchase the remaining 60% of Ram stock he does not already own. This puts him squarely at odds with league rules and with Shahid Khan.

First the league rules.

As you all know, the league has bylaws forbidding NFL majority owners from owning a majority share in any other sports franchise in an NFL city. The rule rule used to prohibit ownership of any other pro-franchise in any city. The rule was mildly re-interpreted to allow Paul Allen {owner of the Portland Trailblazers} to purchase the Seattle Seahawks. The league owners wanted Paul Allen in the clubhouse and on the golf course. The owners wanted a league connection to the new silicone economy, and to Microsoft.

League insiders have been divided on whether Kroenke might obtain a similar wavier, and/or whether the league might be prepared to do away with this archaic rule entirely. Many believe that this rule is an archaic relic of a bygone era. Many others believe the league will not change its policy for Kroenke's sake. We are about to find out, one way or the other.

Owning both an NBA and NHL franchise in Denver should automatically disqualify Kroenke, but it just so happens he is a buddy and business partner of Pat Bowlen. Bowlen is the owner of the Denver Broncos, and co-owner of the Colorado Crush of the Arena League... along with Stan Kroenke. Insiders expect Bowlen will plead his friend's case. Pat Bowlen is a powerful owner, and he is also the theoretical aggrieved party according to the strange philosophy behind the cross-ownership rule. Given Bowlen's blessing, the deal might roll.

Several factors militate in Kroenke's favor:

1. The NFL Finance committee already announced that it doesn't like one of the several financial devices Khan intends to use to purchase the Rams.
2. Kroenke is already an insider. He has been partial owner of the Rams since the early 1990s. He has been vice chairman of the Rams' board for some time, and served on several NFL committees.
3. Kroenke has more money than Khan. Kroenke is worth an estimated $3 billion. His wife--Anne Walton, a Walmart heir--is worth $3.5 billion. Together they are worth approximately 3 times as much as Shahid Khan ($2.14 billion).
4. The NFL ownership booth is one of the most exclusive clubs around. It is a consummate old-boys' network. Kroenke is much more their type of guy than Khan.

What is my take on the situation?

On the one hand, I would have been shocked if Kroenke hadn't exercised his right to purchase the rest of the Rams. My memory fails, but I remember Kroenke buying into the Rams back in 1993 or 1994, when the Rams were having serious financial trouble keeping up with the Joneses {Jerry Jones and Eddie DeBartolo}. It was understood at the time that he wanted to buy the whole enchilada. This was the reason for the contractual right of first refusal he has chosen to exercise now. Ever since then, Kroenke has been waiting on line to buy the Rams.

Why didn't he just attempt to buy outright? One word: Strategy. He wanted the market to set a low price in accordance with the financial distress our nation is going through at the moment. There is also the cross-ownership rule which needs to be gotten around. Kroenke wanted to see what sort of ownership interest the Rams might scratch up, and see whether the owner's club might prefer Kroenke to own the Rams.

Will this blow up in his face? I seriously doubt a man of Kroenke's sense would have exercised his right of first refusal if he had not been given some indications, if not outright assurances, that the NFL would hear his case with favor. I think he is confident that he will be approved, or he would not have made this move.

Now the fight with Khan.

If the league rejects Khan and elects Kroenke, the move could be interpreted in racial terms. Would this be a case where collection of white Europeans just didn't want a Pakistani fellow in the clubhouse? This could make for some very interesting league wrangling inside league circles. Pray for the good of the Rams that this doesn't happen. This could hold the Rams' ownership status in limbo for several years. This could make for several years of lost franchise history.

Are the Broncos for sale...?

While looking for information on Enos Stanley Kroenke's position on the sale of the Rams, I stumbled upon a small gold cache of rumors regarding the Broncos. The much troubled Broncos just might be for sale. Pat Bowlen might be ready to throw in the towel. These rumors are reported by respected journalist Mike Florio of NBC Sports.

Many have noted the problems and frustrations Bowlen has experienced since the end of the John Elway era. He is getting older, and the organization is in turmoil. It has been since Bowlen fired his best buddy Mike Shannahan, who just took the HC job in Washington.

If this is true, you can expect Kroenke to make a big move. He already owns the Avalanch and the Nuggets in Denver. He can buy the Broncos clear of the cross-ownership rules that plague him in St. Louis. He can obtain an NFL franchise in his preferred city.

Certainly, if there is any truth in this rumor, we can expect Stan to sell to Shahid. He will need to do so to raise capitol for his purchase of the Broncos. These rumors are coupled with strengthened reports that Khan is buying 100% of the Rams.

Connecting the dots

Had a conversation at lunch with a friend who read my blog earlier in the day. He felt there was a missing link in the argument that I should clear up. If Kroenke is in the pole position for ownership of the Rams, how does this connect with Ed Roski's field of dreams in Industry?

Oh this is the most facinating question (in sports business) currently on the table for consideration. We have scuttlebutt, and scuttlebutt only, but it is highly logical scuttlebutt. The logic goes like this:

1. St. Louis is not a growing city. It is a shrinking city. It's economic base is shrinking. Its population is shrinking. People say that the ghetto covers more and more of St. Louis every year. Many are expressing their doubts as to whether St. Louis can be considered a viable NFL city both now and in the future.
2. Many other cities, particularly Cincinnati, are in the same boat. Around the center of our country, we have a collection dying Midwestern towns that were formerly flagship destinations in the U.S. These are the towns in which the NFL has established camps back in the 1930s through 1960s. Many financial analysts have forecast an unprecedented period upheaval and movement as teams like the Bengals, Jags, Bills, and perhaps the Vikings begin looking for better markets to play in. Do you recall that moment in time when a bunch of NHL teams suddenly packed their bags and moved south? Do you remember the Quebec Nordiques?
3. Other teams in other dwindling cities are not for sale. The Rams are. The Rams new owner is going to have to figure out some way to payoff the sizable debt he will incur by purchasing a minimum of $550 million in stock. We do not expect any billionaire to produce this sum as cash out of pocket. There will be financing in this purchase, probably from Goldman Sachs. This will not be easy to do in a dying city.
4. The specific rumor is the Kroenke is well aware of all this, and it is already in his plan. He has cut a deal with Ed Roski which is absolutely confidential. It is confidential for several reasons. It is confidential because any announcement of this deal would destroy the Rams next several years in St. Louis. This would produce terrible financial repercussion for the new owner, at a time when he needs to pay down debt, and prepare for a move. It is confidential because Kroenke is not yet the majority owner of the Rams. The deal could still fall through, no matter how unlikely that is.
5. Further rumors say that Kroenke will temporarily take 100% ownership of the Rams, and never comment on questions regarding a move to Los Angeles... At least for the next two years. Shortly before the Rams break their lease, something between 33% and 40% of the Rams' stock will be sold to Mr. Edward Roski Jr. Roski will then become the minority owner of the Rams. The Rams will then break their lease on the Edward Jones Dome and head to Industry California.
6. It took the Cowboys 3 years and 8 months from ground breaking to grand opening to get Dallas Cowboy stadium ready. They broke ground on 9/30/2005 and opened for business on 5/27/2009. This is the Taj Mahal of football. It cost $1.8 billion to build. The facility planned for Industry California is not nearly so glorious. Cut a billion off that price tag. We're talking about a much more modest open-air stadium. Let's presume that the Roski needs 2.5 to 3 years to get the stadium ready.
7. This would mean that the facility could be ready for the 2012 season. Yep, right on schedule. That is when the Rams can break their lease on the Edward Jones Dome.
8. This would also make Los Angeles an NFL city just about the right time for Los Angeles to put in a bid for Super Bowl 50.

Yep, it all sounds like a plan coming together. How about that?

The one huge point of inference, rumor, innuendo, and speculation is the connection point between Roski and Kroenke. Some say the two are rivals, competing for ownership of the Rams. Many others think this is not the case at all. Rather, the two are partnering to get the job done.

Next time, we shall discuss the possibility that Los Angeles might windup with 2, not just 1 NFL franchise. Surprise! It ain't the Jags, and it ain't the Vikings, and it ain't the Raiders either. Rather they say it is the Bengals.

A short discourse on the sale of the Rams

Yahoo's top ranked search Tuesday 10/13/2009

I visited Yahoo's front page this morning to consult their financial section regarding the state of current interest rates on real estate. My company provides those rates to Yahoo. I have full database admin rights. I could perfectly well look them up myself right here, but we have an agreement with Yahoo. Our guys are supposed to use their site.

To what did my wandering eye did appear? The St. Louis Rams are actually the top-ranked search on Yahoo's search rankings. This hasn't happened since Kurt Warner blew up in 1999. We out-shot Hedi Klum for the title. Shocking. So how does an 0-5-0 team in the cellar of the NFC West get to the top of the Yahoo search pages?

Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson are pissed that Rush Limbaugh wants to buy the team, that's how. Ah shit... What else can go wrong this year? Fuck... Now we have three (count 'em three) of the world's biggest assholes slapping each other over my team. Please, fuck off and die; all three of you shitheads... especially Jessie Jackson. Jessie is a crap-hound and a manwhore. If Rush pays him $50k, he'll go away, just as he did with NASCar. I think they are all demagoguing this as a publicity stunt.

So without further ado, let us look dispassionately at the facts and assess the situation. I am not thrilled by the prospect of Rush owning the Rams. At the same time I am not concerned about this because I do not regard it as a serious probability. Let me tell you why.

Rush vs. Kroenke: bullet for bullet.

Rush is a poor boy folks. They talk about his vast fortune from broadcasting, and they have no idea what real money looks like. Let me tell you about real money and real pole position.

Enos Stanley Kroenke owns 40% of the Rams. Kroenke has the right of first refusal on any sale of Ram stock. This means he can match any bid, and he gets the stock. Kroenke is estimated to be worth $3.5 billion dollars. This puts him higher than #163 on the Forbes 400 for sure. His wife, Anne Walton, is a Walmart heir. She is thought to be worth more money than he is. It is rumored that Kroenke also holds a poison pill. If he does not like the new majority owner, he has the contractual right to force this new owner to buy his 40% of the stock.

Rush owns exactly 0% of the Rams. He is not worth $3.5 billion. Most people believe his total collective assets are worth far less than $1 billion. By the world's standards, he is not all that rich. Rush is not married. Last time he was married, it was to an Aerobics instructor he met on CompuServ. Do you remember CompuServ?

Kroenke needs to come up with approximately $550 Million liquid cash to close the deal. Rush just might need to come up with $929 million to do the deal. Kroenke just might drop the poison pill, remember?

Now in a financial shoot-out between Rush and Kroenke who do you think is going to win the day? All of you Las Vegas handicappers are laughing your fucking asses off right about now. You might as well put the Indianapolis Colts up against the JV team at East Podunk High School. This is a mega-blow out. Kroenke wins, hands down. It ain't even going to be a close call. It will be worse than Super Bowl XX.

Kroenke holds all the cards. The end of story. Rush better hope that Kroenke loves him, or there is no play on the Rams for Rush.

The Fly in the Ointment

Kroenke owns a lot of sports franchises. He owns the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. He owns the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL. He owns a sizable chunk of the Arsenal FC in England. He also owned the Colorado Crush when there was such a thing as Arena League Football. He was partnered with John Elway and Pat Bowlen in this affair.

The NFL has bylaws which forbid ownership of professional franchises in other leagues... at least if they are in NFL cities. That was the latest ruling when they decided they wanted Paul Allen in the club. Kroenke would run afoul of this rule. Most of his toys are in Denver. This is Pat Bowlen's turf.

However, Bowlen is a buddy, and presumably a political advocate. They have been partners. If Bowlen advocates Kroenke, I think Kroenke is in the owner's booth. Unattributed and unconfirmed rumors say that NFL HQ will waive the cross-ownership restriction for Kroenke. He would seem to be the sort of guy they want in the owner's booth.

So you see, my friends, this PR flap is much ado about nothing. It is an opportunity for political manwhores to jiggle their junk in front of the camera for all to see. The Rams belong to Kroenke if he wants them. I think he does. Rumor has it that he bought 40% to secure his position in line to buy the team. He expected Georgia to sell or die sooner or later. His angle has been well played. He is now about to reap his harvest.

Ed Roski Jr. has been given the greenlight

Ad meanwhile, Mr. Edward P. Roski Jr, ranked #163 on the Forbes 400 with about $2.5 Billion in networth, has been given the green light to go forward with his new $750m to $800m stadium in Industry California. Make no mistake folks, this is L.A. County.

A settlement has been reached in Walnut's lawsuit against Industry. The story is fascinating. When the City of Walnut raised lawsuits against Industry over the environmental impact of a new stadium construction, the State of California Legislature immediately threatened to pass an exemption for Roski, so that he could go forward with the plan. Shortly afterward, crushed opponents agreed (under duress) to terms of surrender. If they hadn't negotiated a surrender, the State would have castrated them legally anyway. It was a no-win situation.

What does this tell you about the situation? Powerful forces in California want this deal to happen. They want an NFL stadium in L.A. county. Presumably, this means they want an NFL team in Los Angeles, and they would like Super Bowl 50 here also. They want it done with private money. They want the stimulus that this construction will bring. Believe me, the politicians are 4-square behind this.

Now you explain to me why Mr. #163 on the Forbes 400 list risks a sizable share of his megar $2.5 billion to build an NFL Stadium when there is no NFL team in the Los Angeles area? I'll tell you why.

There just happens to be a team for sale right now.

The band that would not die

A certain director named Barry Levinson has made a film about the Colts moving to Indianapolis and the Browns becoming the Ravens in Baltimore. It is called "The Band that Would not Die". It is set to air tomorrow on ESPN. The theme is about how devoted fans cope with the loss of their teams when they move.

I know a little something something about that. I lived through 1995, you know. My Rams left town for St. Louis. Now it looks like they might do precisely what the Raiders did before them. They might return home. It is funny how many gaffs I have heard lately on the NFL Network, Fox broadcasts and ESPN where seasoned sports casters (like Rich Eisen) call my boys the Los Angeles Rams. Now why in the hell do you think they are doing that?

This is on everybody's mind folks. I'm telling you, this is on everyone's mind.