There are plenty of good Ram fans on TST who know more about football than I do. I'm not an X's and O's guy, but I have been watching the game since 1966. I'd like to think that I have some insight into what makes a team successful or not. In my opinion, winning and losing have common causes beyond talent levels. We've all seen talented teams lose with regularity, never measuring up to expectations. And we've all seen less talented teams over achieve, winning beyond expectations. So what about our team, the Rams, this season? They are dangerous, and I'll tell you why I think so after the jump.

Success isn't easy. It takes guts, confidence, blood, tears, faith, and other hard won ingredients. It also takes experience and support, the kind of support that comes from older people who know what to say and when to say it. The whole mix is difficult to define, except that you sort of know it when you taste it. There is a flavor to success, at least the kind that is long-lasting.

Billionaires can't buy a winning season. That's because money doesn't win games. Success comes from the heart, even moreso does teamwork. Show me a team with one player willing to break a leg for the team's success, and I'll show you a winning team. Show me a multi-talented, jet-speed player who thinks the world revolves around him, and I'll show you a team that will choke when the game requires more than flash and fancy public relations.

Flash dissolves into emptiness when hardship arrives.

Character turns to courage and sacrifice when hardship shows its face.

Football is a game of war. It requires real warriors, just as our nation does. Real warriors believe in what they are doing, and they do it because they believe in it. They don't need the big money. They don't require crowds of people shouting their names.

Good football teams win because they are made of men patriotic to the ideal of standing tall when the call is made for standing tall.

I think we have such a team.

Lookout NFC West. Lookout NFC and AFC.

I think the Rams are ready to answer the call.