I have to give the St. Louis Rams credit for one thing. Whether they win or lose, they will do it with their people.
If you have not noticed, the Rams have nearly wiped out all of the organization’s previous regime’s mistakes when it comes to free agents and draft choices – and it appears that they could care less. It is really hard to lose 15 out of 16 games in a season and be labeled the worst team in all of the NFL, but they did it. If the current hierarchy has anything to say about it, it won’t happen again; or it least if it does, it will be with some new players.
The most recent departure is that of former first-round pick Alex Barron, who was traded to the Dallas Cowboys. If there was ever an example of a player who apparently had no interest in playing football, other than the fact he was big and someone told him he could get paid, it would be Barron. While he is not of the JaMarcus Russell ilk when it comes to disappointment, the man played like he rarely cared.
Some of the shills would point out that you could count on him being in the lineup on Sunday and he played well against some of the better players in the league. But what good is he if he is going to set your offense back by taking one dumb penalty after another? As a matter of fact, he lead the league last year in penalties. Well, at least we had a Ram that was number one in something other than getting picked first in the draft.
I don’t know if the current regime is the answer with respect to turning this thing around. I want to believe they are. There was a lot of learning that we all went through. The Rams didn’t get this bad overnight. It may take as long to get good again.
Let me know when they get better. Maybe they already are. I would rather watch a rookie make mistakes than to watch the likes of Alex Barron make the same mistakes he made when he was a rookie five years ago.
Family affairs
Well, what do you know. Stan Kroenke speaks. He gave an interview to the daily newspaper recently to remind us all that he has it like that. Miffed about the fact that he made $2.9 billion on his own and his wife has her inheritance money of over $2.5 billion, Kroenke is far from being the self-made billionaire. He had to get the loot from somewhere to get it started.
As Kroenke makes his bid to buy the Rams, he has the problem of owning other pro teams in another city which is against the rules of the NFL. Kroenke is trying to sell the idea that he would sell his interest to his wife. Nice try, Stan, but I think there are a couple of obstacles here.
First, can you do that with Shad Kahn in the bidding as well? Does the right of first refusal give you the right to make it a family affair?
Second, while I have no idea of the marital status of the Kroenke family, after watching the owner of the L.A. Dodgers go through a messy divorce that saw him cut the team’s payroll and pay his wife nearly $650,000 per month, one has to say, “What if?”
How about selling the hockey and basketball teams to your wife and then have your son run both? Even Sly Stone would call that a “Family Affair.”
The NBA
Has anyone been watching the NBA? Kobe, Lebron, Dwight, Garnett. Man, oh man. With all that star power, I cannot get enough of Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns.
Don’t tell me he shouldn’t be out there because he is too small. Don’t get stupid and say because he is white. Back-to-back MVPs is all you need to know. He plays hurt. He makes everyone around him better. What more could you want?
I want one thing. That is for my Lakers to send him and the Suns home.