84 degrees at SOFI for gametime.


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No, not The Police album or track. This:
It was seventy years ago that the Los Angeles RAMS won the NFL Championship over Paul Brown and the Cleveland Browns on a 4th quarter touchdown pass from
Norm Van Brocklin to Tom Fears in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Today, in Los Angeles, California, the LA RAMS vie for the NFL Title against the other franchise founded by Paul Brown.
It was fifty years ago this coming spring that the LA Lakers, after being frustrated in their pursuit of an NBA Championship during the 1960s and early 1970s finally
claimed the NBA Title, winning game 5 of the 1972 NBA Championship Series at the Fabulous Forum, a structure that still stands right down the road from the current home of the Los Angeles RAMS.

When the Rams dominate the Bengals today like the 85 Bears did the Pats, the media will go from alternately promoting the Rams as sacrificing the future for one season, to saying they got lucky because they played one of the worst teams to ever get that far. Some will even say they were lucky they didn't have to face the Packers, Chiefs, Cowboys, Bills, or Titans. Don't believe me? Skip Bayless can't wait to form a narrative to counter how his every take on the Rams has been complete and utter BS.

But it won't matter to me. McVay and Whitworth may retire. That will matter. But celebrating this as one of the greatest teams of all time will become a fun debate. How would they do against the '99 or '01 Rams? How many from this team will end up in the HOF? Let's count...Donald, Kupp, Von, Whit, Ramsey, Weddle, and Stafford all have capable resumes. Who knows what the future holds for McVay, OBJ, Woods, and Akers? How many teams ever fielded more than 7 in the Hall?

As Ram fans, it's up to us the promote the narratives this team deserves. We know who the detractors and minimizers are. They are fans of other teams...the ones who's tears are getting us drunk with pleasure.

I am suffering from writers block or else this novella would have been sent off to publishers to be....rejected multiple times. Such is the life of a writer....lol

I have combed historical newspapers for almost all of the information I will tell you about. Some of it was verified through family legend, or the distorted version of it was passed down through the generations.

The first one dealt with a many-greats-aunt and her prosperous farmer husband's bizarre suicide. This was the early 1900's when quackery mocked desperate people looking for medical relief. The man suffered from a bad back and was in constant pain and he travelled away from his farm to buy this potion or that one, none of which worked.. Finally, a travelling medical quack spoke of his miracle machine that was a sure fire cure for back pain, but to purchase it was prohibitively expensive. After being turned away in one town, this man sought the same salesman in a different town, imploring him to take less.

He said no.

This relative by marriage was in such despair over the hopelessness of relief, he waited for his wife and children to leave him alone at the house, and then chopped the heads off 101 parlor match sticks and swallowed them all. He didn't want to be stopped and so he told no one, until the phosphorous poisoning wracked his body. He finally confessed to what he had done, but it was too late for early 20th century medicine to deal with. He went through such agony for two months before he died in a hospital in Omaha, for he was an otherwise strong man. Yes, they pumped his stomach early on, but the phosphorous had already been absorbed.

I have 34-17 Rams.

Why am I so fucking excited today? Let me tell you. As an 8-year old growing up in northeast Montana, we didn’t have a local team. My dad was from Texas and was a huge Cowboy fan but I wanted my own team. I got a poster that year that had the AFC helmets down one side and the NFC down the other with some stars of the day in the middle. Since my name started with “R”, I found the first team that started with that letter and made it my team. That was 1971. Thank God I didn’t run my finger down the AFC side.
We only got three channels back then and they always featured the Vikings (who my younger brother claimed) and the Broncos (who I dislike to this day because of that). The only time I’d get to see a glimpse of my Rams was when Howard Cosell would say “The Los Angeles Coliseum…” on the Monday night highlights.
The first Rams I remember watching were the blue and white clad Roman Gabriel, Willie Ellison, Merlin Olson and crew. I cherished the Jack Snow and Olson football cards I had back then.
I remember when the Rams changed to blue and gold and John Hadl and and Harold Jackson started showing up on the highlights, then McCutcheon and Youngblood and crew. We started to have good teams and even made the playoffs. When I got to high school, I wore number 85 like my idol Jack. I remember watching Bradshaw and the Steelers crush my heart in the Super Bowl and then the ups and downs through the 90s when we and the Bengals were the losingest teams of the decade. Then came the magical run in St. Louis. I don’t need to say more on that. It was the pinnacle of being a Ram fan. Then we were back down.
Now it’s 20 years later (how fast those years have gone) and here we are again.
You see, I’ve been true to this team longer than I’ve been true to almost anything else in my life - my kids, my wife, most of my friends. I’ve stuck to them through thick and thin. Today I’ll be watching with my 30 year old son (both of us football coaches) who is also a huge Ram fan. We probably get too intense during the game and prefer to watch it away from crowds (probably like some if you). We can’t handle the outside distractions. Ha.
Today I really feel that for the second time in my life my beloved Rams are going to make my dreams come true.
Let’s fucking go get this thing!

Two weeks ago today we lost Jackson our 10-year-old Doberman, to cancer.

We had lost Tori (yes, named after Mr Holt) just prior to moving back to the UK.

Both used to sit with me as I watched (euphemism for ranted and raved through) Rams games.

I almost didn't watch the 9ers game because I was totally distraught and he was literally my best mate.

But I did, because as stupid as it sounds, I thought he'd want me to.

Yesterday my wife went to fetch Millie named after Von Miller - not too many boys names in the Rams - Plus she is already calling her Miller ffs!

She will be watching with me tonight and continuing the heritage. (The wife will as well)

And I just know Jackson will be with me too, in spirit

I'm a fucking soppy idiot I know.

Go Rams!

Here's Millie.

Game Day Thread

The GDT is a live thread tradition here at ROD.

While we all get fired up watching the game, please remember our core principles; we always show respect for our team and each other.

Despite the emotional highs and lows watching a game, we will moderate this thread with that in mind, however please refrain from name calling. This applies to players, the Rams organization, and others.

This is the core rule of the GDT. Moderators are tasked to issue thread bans, at a minimum, to maintain this standard.

This is our team. Win or lose. Good days and bad. We are here for FUN, not to be dragged down.

A more loosely moderated atmosphere can be found in the chat room.

Go Rams!

———

ROD Chat Room;

Game Day Room

.

Hello everyone again! Link to the original thread here: The Rams on Gran Turismo Sport

Like a lot of my fellow long time Rams fans, I did not wholly embrace the recent logo/branding change at the time....but as said time has gone by, I've found myself accepting it a good bit more than originally.
That being said, I have updated and made new designs of LA Rams race cars on Gran Turismo Sport. These will also be able to appear on the next installment of the series, Gran Turismo 7, as the creators of the games have said that car liveries, helmets, and uniforms created on GT Sport will be transferrable to the new GT7, which will be released on March 4 2022.
I wish I would have been able to do this last week during the mid 2 week lull that the Super Bowl brings, but I work an odd rotating shift, so it is what it is.
I use a lot of these as desktop backgrounds and screensavers.

Anyways here you go.
















Thanks for looking!

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Back in the 1980s on Super Bowl weekend beginning on Saturday morning ESPN would run the NFL Films Super Bowl highlight shows for every game back to back in order.

Those were the days.

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I wanted to narrow a list of dream cars from America in the heyday of American metal. Pick a single.model and rank them!
1. 1965 Buick Riviera
2. 1955 Bel-Air Nomad
3. 1963 Chevy Corvette
4. 1966 Shelby “Super Snake” 427 Cobra
5. 1958 Ford T-Bird
6. 1968 Pontiac GTO
7. 1967 Mustang Shelby GT500 “Elenore“
8. 1964 Chevy Impala
9. 1952 Chevy COE Series 91 truck
10. 1958 Plymouth Fury “ Christine”

This conversation that the Bengals have a chance ends now.

Fuck Joe and the Bengals he claims.

I am so fucking tired of listening to the talking heads and the bitches who claim to be fans.

The Bangles have literally 0% chance.

AD will dominate this game.

JR will dominate this game.

And that's just 2 guys on 1 side of the ball...

...

We joked about the Jacksonville game. And even called it a "get right game". But in reality, that was McVay planting a fucking flag in the ground.

We can run the ball.

We can play complementary football.

We can win ugly.

And we will not waist the talent we have on this roster.

We will win.

And we will win convincingly.

Akers run to right side with kupp in tight to block on right side, blanton on left side.

Short pass to Blanton from spread formation with Akers in backfield.

Screen pass to Akers

Akers run left side

Deep shot to obj in one on one coverage.

Td to kupp

The second interview with Mr. & Mrs. Stafford a few days before the Super Bowl.


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We're going to see a ton of zone D from the Rams in the Super Bowl.

Burrow was one of the best QBs in the NFL against man.. and not nearly as good against zone, though he improved as the year went on. There's a TON of reporting and information on this out there.

Hopefully there will be some cool new wrinkles in it.. and the front 4 can dominate and get Burrow down without any help.

Gotta create a little confusion with the zone to give the pass rush just a little moment longer to get to the QB.

Dickerson taking shots at the team for perceived slight by the Rams not offering him better “free” seats to the Super Bowl.

He’s one of the main reasons I’m a Rams fan today. I could do without him now. Too much ME and not enough WE in his personality…JMO

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rams...attend-super-bowl-wanted-give-tickets-rafters

If this was already posted, please delete or merge with the appropriate thread ROD mods.

I enjoyed this year's NFL honors show.

Even with all the silly jokes, this was enjoyable and a pleasure to see Kupp and Big Whit get their honors.

For those that don't already know...

It says Video unavailable, but all you need to do is move your mouse pointer over the Watch on YouTube area in the black box and click with your left mouse button to watch the entire NFL Honors video.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vjH60XVIpE

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I figure this might come in handy today…

The Bengals won their division and are the 4th seed.

We won our division and are the 4th seed.

They won on the road at the #1 and #2 teams with the Chiefs being thought of as the best team in the NFL by many.

Yet still, all I fucking hear is about them being underdogs, especially here in/on UK media.

Some twat was on the BBC yesterday saying how much he had to suffer supporting the Bengals in the 90s' - er, excuse me my ill-informed friend, we were LITERALLY the worst team in the 90s' prior to 99.

Maybe we should be favourites, but I'm sick of all this Cinderella bullshit.

The LA Rams have never fucking won a Super Bowl yet the media is approaching this like we're the US men's Olympic basketball team.

This season began with a wild story...

Matt Stafford runs into Sean McVay in Cabo and it results in a super rare starting QB swap with the Lions.
Now Stafford is taking the Rams to the Super Bowl.

Cam Akers tears his Achilles...
- and he somehow recovers in time to help us in the postseason.
He's playing in the Super Bowl

DeSean Jackson wanted off a SB bound team because he wasn't involved enough - which almost immediately after, we lost our #2A WR for the season - which ultimately resulted in the Rams bringing in OBJ, who has been instrumental.
OBJ is playing in the Super Bowl.

Cooper Kupp has the greatest season a WR ever has. Triple Crown and OPOY and the rightful MVP. He'll suit up on Sunday.

Andrew Whitworth came back for one more season, won the Walter Payton MOY Award and will face his original team in the Super Bowl.

Eric Weddle returns after 2 years retirement and leads the team in tackling in the NFCC. He'll wear the green dot in his only SB appearance.

The Rams defeated the reigning SB Champion Bucs on the road and in doing so, they ended Tom Brady's career with a L and a busted lip.
He will not be playing on Sunday.

The Rams lost 6 straight to their most bitter division rivals and in the end they had to defeat the 49ers to be where they are today: preparing to play in the Super Bowl

The final chapter of all of these stories will be concluded at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles.... it's a scene fit for Hollywood.

I mean, if a football movie tried fitting all these stories into one movie, they'd be criticized for creating too much drama, for being too unrealistic, too unbelievable..

All that's left is a Hollywood ending.

Nick WagonerESPN Staff WriterTHOUSAND OAKS, Calif.

-- As he enters the biggest game of his professional life followed by the biggest summer of his personal life, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay spent time Friday pondering what all of that means for his future.
McVay doesn't yet have the answer to the ideal work/life balance but he made it known during his team's final media availability before Sunday's Super Bowl LVI that it's something that has been on his mind.
Moments after answering a question by saying he "won't make it" if he's coaching until he's 60, McVay was asked why he didn't think that would be the case. McVay, 36, started his response by saying he was joking but then gave a roughly 90-second answer on the other things he wants to pursue in life.

"I love this so much that it's such a passion but I also know that what I've seen from some of my closest friends, whether it's coaches or even some of our players, I'm gonna be married this summer, I want to have a family and I think being able to find that balance but also be able to give the time necessary," McVay said. "I have always had a dream about being able to be a father and I can't predict the future, you know? I jokingly say that.
"I don't really know. I know I love football and I'm so invested in this thing and I'm in the moment right now. But at some point, too, if you said what do you want to be able to do? I want to be able to have a family and I want to be able to spend time with them."

Those thoughts come against the backdrop of multiple sources telling ESPN's Lindsey Thiry in the past and again recently that McVay has considered working as a television analyst as an alternative to coaching.

In January, multiple league executives suggested to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that McVay could follow a similar coaching/broadcasting path to Jon Gruden, whom McVay coached under in Tampa Bay in 2008, and take a break from coaching for a lucrative TV job.

One NFC executive told Fowler, "I think he's trying to get that Super Bowl ring quickly so then he can have options. ... If he wants to do TV for a while, he'd be great at it and can always go back and coach any team he wants after that."

The New York Post reported Thursday that television executives would have interest in McVay if that was something he wanted to pursue, noting "it is not clear yet if he would want to do it."

The lure of starting a family is something McVay was clear about Friday. He and fiancée Veronika Khomyn were originally slated to get married in the south of France in 2020 and then in Southern California last year but have postponed their nuptials both times for pandemic-related reasons.

McVay's thoughts on family run deep and he offered some perspective on that when talking about his own childhood experiences. He said Friday that his father Tim would have been "an unbelievable coach" but never pursued it seriously because he saw the time it meant he would be away after observing his father, John McVay, work as the head coach of the New York Giants and general manager of the San Francisco 49ers.

"I also know how much time is taken away during these months of the year and I saw that growing up," McVay said. "He has such a special relationship with my grandpa who was a coach and in personnel but one of the things that prevented him from getting into coaching was, 'Man, I had such a great relationship but my dad missed out on a lot of the things' but didn't want to do that with me and my little brother. So, I always remembered that and at some point, I want to be able to have a family. So, that's why I say that. But, s---, you'll probably be talking to me when I'm 61 doing this stuff.

"Who knows?"

McVay and general manager Les Snead signed extensions with the Rams in January 2019 that have them under contract through the 2023 season. Since taking over in 2017, McVay has led the Rams to a 61-29 record, including the playoffs, three NFC West division titles and a pair of NFC championships.

For now, McVay's focus is on winning the Lombardi Trophy that has evaded him and the Rams since losing to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII. Atoning for that loss, a game in which McVay has admitted he was outcoached, has been another storyline surrounding the Rams coach this week.

"I think what you do to get over it is you look at yourself in the mirror, you take accountability and you keep it moving," McVay said Monday. "I think as a competitor, you have to be able to handle those tough moments and I'll never run away from the fact that I didn't do a good enough job for our team within what I feel like my role and responsibility is to these guys."

I may not be posting much, if at all, between now and the game. I feel like I've said everything I want an need to say and analyzed the match-up to death. Now, its just about waiting for Sunday night and hoping the Rams execute the way I know they can. In the meantime, I'll probably try to occupy my mind elsewhere.

So, if these are my last pre-game words, let me just say this.

Its been a great ride with all of you. I've enjoyed every minute of our discussions, banter, commiseration, celebration, anxiety, arguments, hope and shared pride that this season has brought. Its so awesome, out here in the Rams Diaspora, to be able to connect with fellow Rams fans and share in the experience of a championship run.

We're all in this together Sunday night.

Hopefully, the next time we talk, it will be the biggest celebration in 22 years!