Random Ramsdom Aug. 1, 2009: '09 camp in full swing

by 3k on Aug 1, 2009 11:54 AM CDT

Ah the weekends of summer. Time to break out the old lawn mower and make your lawn better than the one next to yours. The season to experiment with alcohol and juice in the hopes of making that ultimate refreshment. And a time for training camp updates here at TST.

July 31 recaps

- Fresh of his recent appearance on Wednesday's episode of TurfShow Radio, Will from RamsHerd drops off a summary of the goings on yesterday.

- Our other guest from the show this week, Jeff, adds his own report complete with photos courtesy of Jeff's brother at Rams Gab.

- Jim Thomas pens a Post-Dispatch piece that looks at camp through Coach Spagnuolo's eyes.

- Bill Coats tells us on his blog, Rams Report / Around the Horns, that yesterday was more physical than the Rams have been in recent camps. Some inspiring notes at the end.

July 31 multimedia

- The P-D photo gallery from yesterday's practice.

- Hungry for video from yesterday? The P-D serves up a Jason Smith appetizer, with Steven Jackson as the main course, and offers a wonderful Spagnuolo for dessert.

The individual residuals

- Mike Sando uses his blog to look at Larry Grant and tie him to the 49ers who drafted him. Grant got time at the strong LB spot with the first team yesterday. This is the only real LB spot up for contention with Spoon on the weakside and Laurinaitis expected to hold down the MLB spot by the time the season begins.

- The P-D's Bill Coats gives us more from Action Jackson with a bit of Keenan Burton tacked on at the end.

- Speaking of Burton, Bill Coats spoke to him and passes on Burton's desire to win the starting job. Good to hear; if he earns it, it will certainly be good to see as well.

Miscellany

- The Shutdown Corner, Yahoo!'s NFL blog, has their offseason progress report up for the Rams. Nothing we don't know, but it certainly shows you how little non-Rams fans are paying attention to the developments. Check this out:

Neither the offensive or defensive line is likely to be a trouble spot

Really? The defensive line isn't? I wonder if people have just assumed Carriker is developing well since they haven't heard much of the opposite. To be fair, I'm not bashing the Corner. I generally like what comes out over there, but this was, let's say, poorly "researched" and certainly not in line with the consensus over here at TST.

- In case you've forgot, the Rams have some serious issues at the top of the franchise to deal with. Jim Thomas investigates the current situation with the stadium and looks at what it would take to push the Rams out of St. Louis.

Just to pass along, I got some photos from my boy last night; he went to the Chelsea-Club America game at the Cowboys' new stadium. If you thought they had spared some cash on the Jumbotron, Jerry Jones is somewhere laughing at you:

Newcowboysstadium_cropped_medium

That's all for now. Have a great Saturday, TSTers!

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Underachievers???

What in the hell’s this BS Yahoo!’s Shutdown Corner is putting out?

The Rams are the second team this offseason to talk themselves into Ronald Curry, and behind Curry, the underachiever to define all underachievers, are Donnie Avery, Laurent Robinson, and Keenan Burton.

Donnie Avery? Keenan Burton? Underachievers? Hell, last year was their rookie season for crying out loud…they haven’t been in the league long enough for anyone to call them “underachievers”. Besides that, I really don’t think Avery was all that bad for his first year with 53 receptions for 674 yards and 3 TDs. In 1999, Holt’s rookie season, Torry had 52 receptions for 788 yards and 6 TDs (does that sound at all familiar)…Gee, did they call him an underachiever too?

As for Burton, he was injured. Keenan was bothered all most the whole season by a knee injury.

This is the second thing that Yahoo! said that burnt me up:

If Stephen Jackson can stay healthy (which is starting to sound like kind of an iffy proposition), the Rams can be a team that you can’t beat just by showing up.

That really gall’s me to no end when these so-called sports “pundits” write what ever suits them regardless of how true it is!

Sorry folks, every now and then I like to get things off my chest when I read some dribble with not no substantial facts behind it.

Go Rams!

"We can't run. We can't pass. We can't stop the run. We can't stop the pass. We can't kick. Other than that, we're just not a very good football team right now." --- Bruce Coslett, New York Jets Head Coach circa 1990s

by Nbr1RamFan on Aug 1, 2009 2:51 PM CDT reply actions

Yeah, I had to restrain myself because the Corner is usually pretty solid

but that piece was pretty damn weak. Hopefully, they’ll get some time to get into the team before they revisit the Rams and avoid the ESPN-style approach.

Your uncle molests collies.

by 3k on Aug 1, 2009 3:17 PM CDT up reply actions

I know you like euro ball 3K, but

Getting past the fact for a moment that soccer is for little gay kids who should be in football, basketball and track 8^p I’ve found that the majority of big media outlets are well behind “us” here at TST.

A couple of unique spots aside, generally these places put in a half-assed effort and give you general, surface scratch drivel that most attention paying Rams fans will recognize as column filling generalities and regurgitations.

Lived in LA during the Rams and Raiders days. Now based in NorCal, I am still a die hard Rams fan and Raiders season ticket holder.

by CoachConnors on Aug 1, 2009 4:22 PM CDT reply actions

Which is why I was so disappointed

the Corner is one place that doesn’t, as you say:

put in a half-assed effort and give you general, surface scratch drivel that most attention paying Rams fans will recognize as column filling generalities and regurgitations

And if you talk about soccer like that again, you’re banned. Hehe.

Your uncle molests collies.

by 3k on Aug 1, 2009 8:24 PM CDT up reply actions

The worst of the lot is ESPN when it comes to...

either bad mouthing the Rams or ignoring the Rams all together. It’s as if the Rams got on their bad side at some point in time or did something to get them up in arms against the Rams.

Is it me, or do you all feel the same way?

Go Rams!

by Nbr1RamFan on Aug 1, 2009 4:51 PM CDT reply actions

The worst of the lot is ESPN

ESPN is a bandwagon sports station that prefers baseball

by CGSuddeath on Aug 1, 2009 5:06 PM CDT reply actions

shutdown

I thought the Shutdown corner was fair with the Rams.Giving credit to the rebuilding of the offensive and defensive lines.Maybe Rams can hit 7 or 8 victories this year.My hope,not unreasonable i suppose.

by Thomas W on Aug 1, 2009 6:49 PM CDT reply actions

But have we really "rebuilt" our D-line?

A 4th round draft pick and a way-past-his-prime vet? It’s not like we added a premier talent either at his pick or out of the draft.

Your uncle molests collies.

by 3k on Aug 1, 2009 8:25 PM CDT up reply actions

Not the D side, no

There’s been no rebuild on the D side, only the addition of 1 high draft pick last year. I’m not even confident in enough Hollis to factor him in part-time yet, since I think he’s destined for either injury or release or both. Is “rebuild” how Shutdown corner described it?

Hell, one of the main reasons I started coming by here more often is the scarcity of thoughtful information in other places. You find a good thing and you come back to it, you know?

Ah 3K…I know you played the euroball. I will admit, back in the day even I used to go see the Sacramento Gold pro soccer team play in person. I’ve learned my lesson though. Soccer has proven to be a collosal waste of time.

Haven’t the big soccer leagues had plenty of time to catch on in the US? Haven’t they even imported a major media superstar in Beckham? My friends, America has spoken!… soccer is only serving to diverting decent talent away from better sports and spawn a few niche theme pubs. What happened to all the little kids who got snookered into playing soccer instead of football?? Did they bring about an American conversion to that sport, like soccer fans predicted happen? Nope. They just all grew up to write football blogs.

theres only one game of FOOTball, and it involves your hands.

Lived in LA during the Rams and Raiders days. Now based in NorCal, I am still a die hard Rams fan and Raiders season ticket holder.

by CoachConnors on Aug 2, 2009 12:12 AM CDT reply actions

Oh man, you are baiting me coach. Seriously baiting me.

I’ll say this; there’s a reason why the soccer matches the new Cowboys stadium hosted involved teams that weren’t in the MLS – the MLS sucks. Our Ameri-ego suggests that professional sports in America have to be the best leagues. For some reason, the reality hasn’t sunk in for much of America that soccer leagues based in other countries are better than ours, as if it’s some admission of weakness.
I think it’s hilarious that ESPN bought into the Beckham transfer; it shows how unprepared they are to market the game to an American audience. Just for you coach, I offer you three names (for your YouTube pleasure): Kaka, Lionel Messi, and Karim Benzema. To soccer fans, these are known quantities; to the American fan, they are unknowns. This is the problem with American coverage of soccer; we hype up our own league at the expense of the sport as a whole.

Your uncle molests collies.

by 3k on Aug 2, 2009 2:51 AM CDT up reply actions

I will indeed look them up but the fact that I have to sorta proves my point

I will admit, I really had a blast watching soccer in person. Seems to me that (Olympian) Alexi Lalas was on that Sacramento Gold team…not sure though.

But, even though I have tried, soccer on TV just doesn’t work for me for some reason, and I think that’s part of it for lots of people: low TV watchability and low scoring (sorta akin to hockey in that sense).

Seems like Americans like their scores to be more than 1 or 2, and they like games that at least offer the potential for an occassional adrenaline-producing scoring run. I think that’s why football and basketball are the heavy hitters on the American sports landscape. Even boring baseball can pop 2, 3 or 4 points on the board in one shot.

My only point above was we’ve been training our kids to play soccer for many years, even more kids play soccer than football (to my great dismay) and even with all those years invested, we don’t have anything to show for it. Where are the American Pele’s? Its been long enough they should have been here by now. I advocate dumping youth soccer leagues in favor of new football leagues and a re-investment into track & field (which by the way, the US is very good at and is the offers the tansferable skills of ANY sport out there).

You enjoy much respect and credibility with me 3K, based on a body of work at TST that demonstrates thoughtful insight into football. On this soccer issue, we’ll have to just chalk it up to a gentlemanly philosphical disagreement. 8^) ….peace, brotha!

Lived in LA during the Rams and Raiders days. Now based in NorCal, I am still a die hard Rams fan and Raiders season ticket holder.

by CoachConnors on Aug 3, 2009 1:14 AM CDT reply actions