This was a book published last year. I finished reading it recently. There are a couple other books out there on the 1950s Rams, but I think this is the best one. Packed with information and little known stories about the Rams back then that you can't find anywhere on the Internet. They picked the Rams to write about because they consider the 1950s Rams to be among the greatest teams ever assembled.

There are way too many anecdotes to include in this thread but I'll just list some that I found interesting.

1951 Rams had an all rookie offensive line. That's the only time in NFL history a team had that and won a championship. And they allowed the fewest sacks in the league while finishing first in both yards per pass attempt and rush attempt.

This book highlights Eddie Kotal's career, who was a Hall of Fame semifinalist last year. He was the first full time scout in the NFL, at a time when no other NFL team had one. So the Rams were pioneers in scouting college talent as well. They say this is how the Rams were able to stockpile so much talent. In 1951, the league had a 33 man roster, and 18 of the Rams 33 players would be selected to at least one Pro Bowl in their careers. Eddie Kotal is credited with finding Andy Robustelli, Tank Younger, Deacon Dan Towler, Larry Brink, Eddie Meador, Deacon Jones, Big Daddy Lipscomb, among many others. The Rams would scout small colleges and black colleges at a time when no other NFL team was willing to.

All that talent is a big reason why they could make some lopsided trades. 11 players for Les Richter in 1954 and nine players for Ollie Matson in 1959.

Their advance scouting is also why they landed Norm Van Brocklin. They knew he would graduate college a year early and took him in 1949. No other team knew he was available to draft that year.

The Rams were so renowned for their scouting that when the Dodgers moved to LA they asked the Rams owner, Dan Reeves, for advice on how they could set up scouting like that for their baseball team.

It is also emphasized the Rams were the ones to reintegrate black players into the NFL. Tank Younger was the first black college athlete to sign with an NFL team.

When the Rams top running backs are mentioned, Deacon Dan Towler doesn't seem to come up much. But it seems like he should be way up the list too. His career didn't last that long and his numbers might look modest. But it is clear he was a superstar in the Bull Elephant backfield.

About half this book is biographies on all the members of the 1951 Rams, including the coaching staff, and their lives both with the Rams and after they left football. I really liked that. Stood out to me that 12 players ended up coaching for either the Rams or other teams in the NFL. Four became head coaches. Others were assistant coaches for 1972-73 Dolphins, John Madden's Raiders and Vince Lombardi's Packers. Norb Hecker was a part of the most championship teams, eight, as a player, assistant coach and front office executive. He won with the 1951 Rams, three with Lombardi's Packers and then four more with Bill Walsh's 49ers.

All kinds of interesting facts like this. The Pro Football Researchers Association is really among the best when it comes to preserving NFL history, especially in the game's first few decades.

It's always been the same for me: the Frisco Niners.
But I noticed when the Rams moved back to LA, many seemed to think the Hawks were the most hated. I won't even consider the Cards in this question....

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I feel like we would benefit from a dedicated Rams MEDIA thread/sticky. Alas, here is another thread with a video link. Great watch here...


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Here is the latest Rams commentary from Vince and Jackie on Matt Stafford -

The Rams, Matthew Stafford, Rumors and the Scoop
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Option 1: Rams are guaranteed to win another Super Bowl within next 5 years (Note: if you don’t choose this option, it does NOT mean the Rams won’t win one - it’s just not guaranteed)

Option 2: the 49ers won’t make it to another Super Bowl in your lifetime.

If I've learned one thing over the past 20 years, it's to avoid predicting what will happen tomorrow. So I hesitate to share some thoughts regarding my Rams as we move forward. With that said, I'm buzzed-up enough to share.

I believe this is the year the F.O. has determined to be the start of a rebuild plan. They have cut all future spending, outside of our HOF's, going into next year. They have invested in the OL, a key for forward movement. I believe our OL is in position to be a perennial top-5 unit. Yes, I have a ton of optimism for Note, Bruss, Jackson, and Avilla. As a Badger, I want to believe we'll bring back Hav at a fair price after his current deal is up.

Unfortunately, this year I see a bottom-seven roster in terms of overall talent. A "forest-view" from a non-partisan perspective would suggest a bottom-10 finish overall. What a great year to have it considering we have our first pick! If there was ever a year for an impatient coach/gm to draft early, this is it. We need a franchise QB moving forward in the worse way. What if, we could establish the offensive trenches for the future and still gain a top 5 pick in a QB-rich draft?

McSnead knows our roster is currently a bit lean. They provided an unbelievable 14 draft picks while freeing up enough money a year from now to fill the misses. Sean wants to score and not having to devote resources to our OL allows him to target weapons. I can't emphasize enough what I see in this plan with regards to the OL. If plays out, it will be quality AND inexpensive for years.

I see our Rams being very competitive starting in '25. Ideally, we will have our future franchise QB (attained through the draft via one bad year) either starting or learning from Matt. Our OL is established, as is CK and Akers. On D, the younger players who we hope will develop will do so (and those that fizzle will be gone). Our true "holes' become more well-defined and we have some cap room to address as appropriate.

I forecast a really bad year this year, followed by a significant turnaround the following year. Yes, I believe McSnead are playing chess while others are playing checkers.....again.

It's behind a pay wall, but the Athletic is worth the $ IMO. It is 5 episodes and I just finished the 3rd..Jourdan does a great job with this, but her voice is still nails on a chalkboard for me. Also, I like Mike McDaniel, but he comes off as arrogant and annoying in this.... so far at least. Good listening though....

Sedrick Van Pran, C, Georgia

Van Pran is the consensus top rated center for the 2024 draft. He has been a durable and effective (one sack allowed) starter over the past two years for the powerhouse Bulldogs. He is 6’4, 310, and viewed as a guy who would do well in a zone blocking scheme.

So why is he my pick?

Van Pran is currently viewed as a 2nd round prospect. With another strong year, I’d expect him to get slotted in the late first round. If that’s where the Rams are picking (with their own selection), it would mean the year was a success.

Additionally, if the Rams are able to prioritize center in the draft, it means that, either by virtue of the team’s performance in 2023, or its FA acquisitions next offseason, they are not compelled to prioritize LT, WR, RB, EDGE or CB.

And, of course, if things play out this way, we can look forward to the pre-draft stress associated with the possibility of selecting a diminutive WR over SVP.

I've been doing this thing that I know many do... Smoke some good weed and load up a random song from memory on youtube. Then when it's over I make myself click on some shit on the right side that I have never heard. Usually there's a small group of links like that, the ones I have no idea what they're gonna sound like. Sometimes this will lead you to some crazy places. No, not "furry" porn sites like @Loyal frequents. But just some cool fuckin tunes that are new to you and really damn good.

So figured it would be fun to see where it goes if in a thread we choose something we've never heard and post it here. Has to be something you just discovered prior to posting it. And we can try to do it in a chain, using the song linked before your post as a starting spot on youtube.

Kicking this off... I stumbled onto this artist who I knew his name sounded familiar and then after listening to a few of his songs I realized why. But I had never heard this song, and following this one I discovered I hadn't heard some of his other early ones even a couple that were with the famous band he quit due to LSD usage. Good times and enjoy.

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From a performance/value vs cap hit perspective… who is the Rams biggest bargain on the 2023 roster, right now?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37974774/report-tom-brady-lost-30m-collapse-crypto-giant-ftx


Tom Brady lost millions in the collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX, for which he served as an "ambassador," The New York Times reported Friday.

Under an agreement the retired NFL quarterback made with FTX in 2021, he received $30 million in now-worthless stock for his work pitching the company in television ads and at its conference. In step with him at the time was his then-wife, Gisele Bundchen, who received $18 million in stock, per the report.

FTX filed for bankruptcy last November. Its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, is facing federal fraud-related charges.

Brady, who won seven Super Bowl titles in his career, also faces legal peril on top of the financial losses. Both Brady and Bundchen, who divorced in October, are being sued by FTX investors who want repayment from celebrity endorsers. Basketball Hall of Fame member Shaquille O'Neal also has been sued in the FTX case, as have Larry David of "Seinfeld" fame, tennis player Naomi Osaka and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.

"None of these defendants performed any due diligence prior to marketing these FTX products to the public," according to the lawsuit, obtained by the Times. It was filed in federal court in Florida.

Before the collapse of FTX, it was valued at $32 billion, including the $48 million in shares held by Brady and Bundchen, per the Times. Now, it has no value.

Brady, 45, ranked No. 50 on Forbes' 2023 list of the world's highest-paid athletes with earnings of $45.2 million in football salary and endorsements.

Especially if each player could play under the rules they experienced in their career. IE, Deacon's head slap;

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Rams owner Stan Kroenke keeps mum on Warner Center game plan​

“I assume he bought all that land not just to sit on it,” says Councilman Bob Blumenfield
LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke; rendering of new training facility (Getty, Gensler)
JUL 6, 2023, 11:00 AM

By
Trevor Bach

In a year filled with high-profile L.A. real estate deals, Stan Kroenke’s ranked among the biggest.

Last March, the billionaire developer and owner of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams bought the Promenade, a “zombie mall” in the Warner Center district of Woodland Hills, for $150 million. A couple months later, in June, Kroenke added an adjacent site, the 13-story former Anthem Blue Cross office tower and surrounding block, for $175 million. In December he picked up The Village, a newer outdoor mall in the same area, for $325 million — creating a three-property, $650 million, 96-acre assemblage in a part of the San Fernando Valley that’s long been poised for major redevelopment.

In recent weeks, thanks to a new city planning application for a Rams practice facility at the Anthem site, the first iteration of Kroenke’s plan has been confirmed. But 16 months after The Kroenke Group’s first marquee Warner Center purchase, the billionaire still hasn’t shown his cards on his vision for a development that could end up as a signature new landmark for both Warner Center and the broader San Fernando Valley.

“I assume he bought all that land not just to sit on it,” said L.A. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who represents the area and has long championed Warner Center development. “I’m eager to see what he wants to do — I like getting things moving, and I think the investment would be very positive.”

Yet so far Kroenke — a lifelong businessman and longtime sports owner whose low-key personality once earned him the nickname “Silent Stan” — has been characteristically tight-lipped, revealing nothing of his wider plans. His firm The Kroenke Group also has not applied for any new projects and, despite widespread speculation, has not hinted at what’s to come. The firm also did not respond to an inquiry from TRD.

Temporary construction​

The recent project application did illuminate Kroenke’s plans for the team, which plays its home games at the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, about 30 miles to the southeast of the Warner Center assemblage. The San Fernando Valley location is some 20 miles closer to SoFi than the team’s current practice facility at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

The document was filed by TKG Management, a subsidiary of The Kroenke Group, last month, and calls for two adjacent natural grass practice fields on the parking lot of the former Anthem building. It also outlines plans for a new, roughly 65,000-square-foot training facility near the fields, which would connect to the office building via a series of modular structures, and calls for the demolition of one existing 9,000-square-foot visitor center and one 6,400-square-foot movie theater building that was part of the shuttered Promenade mall.

The team has said the training facility will be temporary, so the team can move in later this year while working on longer term plans. The Rams also intend to move its offices to the former Anthem building from Agoura Hills.

“Our long-term vision is to build a permanent practice facility at the Woodland Hills site that Stan Kroenke purchased over the past year,” a team spokesperson recently told the L.A. Daily News.

The practice facility plans have both political and business support. Last month Blumenfield sent out an enthusiastic letter to constituents that promised to help “ensure their review gets rolling so the Rams can call Warner Center home as soon as possible.” The West Valley Warner Center Chamber of Commerce CEO has said the facility will offer an economic boost and “bring prestige to Warner Center.”

Warner Center, a special district that was created decades ago within the neighborhoods of Woodland Hills and Canoga Park, was originally envisioned as a higher-density “downtown” for the mostly suburban San Fernando Valley. In 2013, Blumenfield helped push through the Warner Center 2035 Plan, which created a development-friendly blueprint, including a streamlined environmental impact report process, for 14 million more square feet of commercial building and 20,000 residential units.

“Projects get approved in Warner Center faster than anywhere else in the city,” Blumenfield said. And because Kroenke’s assemblage is entirely within the district, which has very few development restrictions, the owner could have wide leeway to create a new commercial district, the councilman pointed out. While Kroenke hasn’t spoken about his plans, since he started buying up the parcels analysts have speculated that he intends to build a Rams-centered complex that resembles a smaller version of his Hollywood Park at SoFi, where plans ultimately include a near 300-acre “unparalleled sports and entertainment destination” featuring shops, office space, a hotel, apartments and outdoor space.

Promenade 2035 plan​

At Warner Center, the Rams owner could decide to take advantage of entitlements that are already in place. In late 2020, before the French firm Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield ended up selling the Promenade site to Kroenke’s group, the L.A. City Council unanimously approved a plan, called Promenade 2035, to repurpose the derelict mall into a major mixed-use complex with around 1,400 residential units, 280,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, over 700,000 square feet of office space, two hotels and a 10,000-seat entertainment center.

That project amounted to the largest ever proposed in Warner Center, and generated plenty of excitement and criticism, including from residents who saw a new invigoration for the West Valley and others who worried about traffic congestion and affordability.

Kroenke’s larger development plans, whenever they come to light, are likely to reignite the same emotions.

“We lived through the entitlement process and went through the slings and arrows,” Blumenfield said of the Promenade 2035 plan. “But since Kroenke has been so silent about what they’re going to do, and whether they’re going to [follow the Promenade plans] or do their own thing, it hasn’t become an issue.”
“I’m more just eager to see how this is going to play out,” Blumenfield added. “That Promenade site has been sitting vacant for a very long time.”

Outgoing NFLPA chief calls for NFL to eliminate Rooney Rule, proposes sweeping changes to hiring practices

Smith offers an insider's perspective on exactly why the Rooney Rule has no chance of succeeding and calls on federal, state and local governments to exercise oversight to ensure reform.

sports.yahoo.com

​

Outgoing NFLPA chief calls for NFL to eliminate Rooney Rule, proposes sweeping changes to hiring practices​

DeMaurice Smith's time with the NFL Players Association may be in its final days, but he isn't quite done fighting with NFL team owners.

On Wednesday, Smith published a nearly 100-page paper he has worked on for roughly two years in which he calls the 20-year-old Rooney Rule a failure and calls for its elimination, instead offering 12 recommendations for the league to create a fair and equal hiring system.

Co-written with Carl Lasker, a Yale Law student and teaching assistant to Smith at the school, Smith offers an insider's perspective on exactly why the Rooney Rule — here called a "suggestion" — has no chance of succeeding and calls on federal, state and local governments to exercise their lawful oversight to ensure reform.

"The system is broken from the inside out and outside and any effort to affect it that didn’t obligate NFL Owners to adherence or reform was doomed from the start," Smith told Yahoo Sports via text message.

As executive director of the NFLPA for 14 years, Smith guided players in the molding of two collective-bargaining agreements and multiple other issues, big and small. Coaches were not part of his purview and indeed do not have their own union to bargain on their behalf.

The Rooney Rule has been in place for 20 years, and many have written and commented on its failings. At the time it was enacted there were two Black head coaches. Two decades later that number has barely increased (there are four current Black NFL head coaches), underscoring Smith's argument.

In acknowledging the Supreme Court's landmark decision last week striking down affirmative action in private and public colleges, Smith and Lasker wrote, "As a strict legal matter, the Supreme Court’s ruling does not directly impact private businesses. But the reality of its possible impacts beyond the specifics of that case is troubling. The need, therefore, for fair, equitable, and lawful hiring practices in the NFL can never be greater, and the necessity of government investigation and oversight as well as the enforcement of equitable hiring practices has never been more necessary."

Recommendations include more transparency, stiffer fines​

Smith and Lasker propose "a set of bold leadership steps," 12 recommendations they believe will make for more equitable hiring practices. They include:

• Changing the current hiring free-for-all system by requiring that all coaching, senior and executive positions be posted, with specific job descriptions, and held open for at least 30 days. For head coaching and coordinator positions, the league should require that no position be filled until a certain number of days after the Super Bowl, ensuring that every candidate has time to apply for open positions, and preventing teams from ignoring qualified candidates because their teams are in the playoffs
• The NFL adopting a consistent and transparent system by which all teams must comply with respect to hiring and retention, abandoning its current system in favor of one "that fairly evaluates talent, constrains team ownership from engaging in unlawful and/or meaningless 'check the box' protocols, and enforces a deliberate, professional and accountable system." Smith and Lasker cite state laws in California and Colorado, both home to NFL teams, and a New York City law, where the league's headquarters are located, that require transparency in job listings when it comes to salary and compensation
• Eliminating "any rule, custom, or practice requiring coaches to seek permission from team owners to apply for jobs with other teams"
• The league selecting an outside monitor to periodically audit team hiring processes and publish an annual report on franchise hiring, retention and promotion across all employees
• Requiring the NFL's chief diversity officer to develop league-wide job descriptions, uniform standards for contracts, objective guidelines and lawful interview questions for all senior and executive positions, including head coach and general manager
• Adopting strict and significant punishment systems for team and league officials, overseen jointly by the league and outside monitor, that don't abide by the rules for a fair workplace, with fines starting at $5 million and escalating for individuals and teams who violate the adopted system. In the same way the league uses significant fines to police player conduct on and off the field, Smith and Lasker wrote, "it is ironic that the League has not adopted a similar 'zero tolerance' fine structure when it comes to achieving a fair and inclusive workplace"
• Developing uniform and consistent evaluation guidelines for all coaching, senior and executive positions. "All NFL coaches should be received annually like NFL referees are, and the results should be shared with senior team and League membership," the pair wrote
• Developing and implementing policies limiting nepotism
• The NFL dropping its opposition to coaches unionizing
• Annually, have the NFL and outside monitor interview and evaluate coaches who are interested in a position change to evaluate their qualifications, and have teams provide a justifiable basis for hiring decisions. The NFL would publish a de-identified report on whether candidates deemed qualified by the league and outside monitor were interviewed by teams and the reasons for their hiring, promotion or rejection

Further, the authors want to set forth an "aspirational" argument to fans of the league that for as much as they want fairness and equity on the field, those principles should be found in off-field decisions as well.

"There are NFL team owners and senior leadership in the NFL who believe that the hiring systems should change to ensure fairness and the betterment of the NFL," Smith and Lasker's paper reads. "The NFL is facing a crossroads; its senior leadership will change in the next five years. The issue of the lack of front office and coaching diversity was inherited by some, and the future offers an opportunity to make major decisions to resolve these longstanding egregious issues."

Smith and Lasker argue that though the NFL gets many concessions from government, from hundreds of millions in state and local tax dollars for stadiums to federal antitrust exemptions, the league isn't subject to government oversight or requirements either, facing neither shareholder nor consumer accountability, with no public board of directors or compliance reports. And "Governments seem content to let the NFL operate as an unbridled cartel," Smith and Lasker wrote. "Empowered by its antitrust exemptions, the NFL has become the wealthiest and most powerful sports league in the country. ... NFL owners use the League's popularity and lack of competition to build a network of financially-reliant media partners and personalities who insulate them from any meaningful critiques."

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You have to go to the 2:02:30 mark, but watch the kick in OT plus listen to the comments of the broadcaster mentioning Brown's practice and ability to get elevation on his FG's.

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Personally I'm not sure who I'd rather slap upside the head between Jake and FLo

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The closing point he makes is why I think this team can make a legitimate run at a post season berth. Once in the playoffs who knows what can happen. People point to the players who aren't here anymore and ignore those who still are here.

Here is yet another take involving the Rams. I do hope to continue to sharing and hope that these get some great discussions going. The guys are here once a week and looking for questions, topics and interaction - and maybe guests in the studio, etc. They are doing a wine giveaway now (Ferragamo Vineyards) if you know the number of ribs Jackie ate on July 4th, and want to do more fun stuff. The thing is that this is a new show and we need to build subscribers. We'd love all the support we can get!

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Thanks!

Who do you hope is under center for this early divisional matchup?

Good morning - here is the latest from Rams' OGs Ferragamo and Slater! Check it. If you can, pls subscribe!
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Inside information could become a major problem for the NFL​

The news that Colts cornerback Isaiah Rodgers placed a winning wager on a teammate’s over-under rushing total speaks to a problem potentially far more significant and widespread than players betting on NFL games and events.

Inside information. Known in the context of corporate America as material, non-public information. In the NFL, there is plenty of it.

The truth about injuries becomes the most obvious. But there are various other forms of it. For teams that script the first 15 offensive plays, knowledge of those plays becomes significant power when it comes to making bets. More broadly, knowledge of the game plan for a given opponent — offensive and defensive — can shed plenty of light on where to put money.

Lots of people have access to that information. Players, coaches, anyone with access to practice, meetings, game planning can be co-opted.

It goes broader than that. Various staff members either already know or can find out the information. Administrative assistants prepare documents and other materials. Other employees maintain and have accessing to all digital information. The cleaning crews can see information on a whiteboard or on materials left behind in a meeting room or discarded.

It’s one thing for someone like Rodgers to use the information on his own. It’s quite another for someone to give that information to others, whether as a favor or in exchange for something, like cash.

And it’s one thing for the league to suspend players whose phones have supplied the evidence that the sports books have handed to the NFL. It’s quite another for the league to properly protect inside information, and to catch those who are misappropriating it, whether it’s players, coaches, or anyone else who has (or who can secure) access to that information.