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4 days ago: FILE - This Dec. 4, 1976, file photo shows Merlin Olsen, right, of the Los Angeles Rams, battling Atlanta guard Gregg Kindle, in Los Angeles. Olsen died early Thursday, March 11, 2010, at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 69. (AP Photo/File)

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I don't know how many readers here at Turf Show Times remember Merlin Olsen's playing days. His last season in the league was 1976. That's the year I was born, so needless to say I didn't see any of Olsen's games. 

I don't think you can overstate what he brought to the game. You didn't even need to see him play to know that...though I think you'd have a much better appreciation for him if you had seen him play. At least now it's easy to access video of his playing time on demand. 

Gil Brandt called Olsen the greatest defensive tackle ever, the prototype for the modern incarnation. 

I got turned on to Olsen through his acting work. No, he was never an Academy Award winning type actor, but he was sincere enough to be a presence on the screen in whatever role he played. Yes, there was the Little House on the Prairie role, but I remember Olsen from three B Westerns he did, having caught them on Saturday afternoon reruns. The most memorable of which was The Undefeated, one of John Wayne's late career stinkers. Just because it wasn't the Searchers though doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining. It's also worth noting that The Undefeated, Olsen's first acting role of note, also featured Roman Gabriel. Playing in LA had its advantages. 

RIP Merlin Olsen.

Kurt Warner is retiring. The man who led the St. Louis Rams to glory, from zero to hero, is hanging up his cleats. And unlike some other quarterbacks who get more than their fare of media attention, I suspect Warner's pretty sincere about it. He's a had a great career that seemed like it was over more than once. 

Two MVP awards, two trips to the Super Bowl and one ring...Warner's career with the Rams will be remembered as one of the greatest moments in the history of this storied franchise. When the Rams moved to St. Louis I was dubious, but I decided to become a fan of the team because I thought pro football had a place under the Arch. It wasn't exactly love at first sight. Then the Tony Banks era ended and things started looking up. I had my doubts that summer when Trent Green went down, but I haven't had any since then. Warner's not coming back, but the lesson is that the Rams franchise, no matter how low things seem to have sunk lately, is on the right track and things will turn around, soon. Warner is a good reminder of why a fan has to keep the faith.

His records with the team:

Single season pass yards leader: 4,830 yards in 2001

Single season TD passes: 41 TD in 1999

His stats with the Rams, from 1998 through 2003:
35-15 record, 14,447 yards, 102 TD, 65 INT, 66.4 completion percentage, 97.2 rating
His completion percentage and QB rating are the highest for any Rams QB with more than 50 games played. 

Even when he was putting it to the Rams in a Cardinals uni, I still liked to watch the guy play ball.

Canton?

It's been a rough patch for the St. Louis Rams since we hung out the shingle for Turf Show Times back in September 2006. That year, as you may recall, the Rams were a team holding on, barely, to the touchstones of past glory, scratching out an 8-8 season under a rookie head coach. Gradually, the past collapsed on the team, and the Rams became a young team with an all new front office, a rookie head coach and one win. Through it all, we managed to build a nice little community of the team's most dedicated fans.

Now, were a big community of the team's most dedicated fans. This afternoon we passed a significant milestone: 1,000,000 unique visitors. We're on track now for one of our biggest months in terms of visits and page views too, and I'm pleased to report that we get more and more fans stopping by everyday to join in the conversation here. 

You don't need me to tell you for the umpteenth million time that the time they are a changin' in terms of the media environment and how fans experience the teams and sports they love. Fans are rejecting the newspapers and the other traditional outlets because they lost their relevancy, becoming nothing more than the place to go for reprinted talking points and the mindless prattle of the occasional columnists, columnists who can't even get players' names right, e.g. Fletcher Bradley, who aren't fans of the team so much as they are just guys assigned to write about it. You come here to parse the news with other fans, you come here to experience the events that make us tune in religiously every Sunday and beyond. And we're about to take the next step forward; SBN is now able to leverage press credentials for events like the Combine, the Draft and will be sending writers from the relevant sites to the Super Bowl this year. Stay tuned for more on these kind of opportunities as they relate to TST specifically. 

Anyway, I want to thank SBNation for giving us the opportunity to make something here. I want to thank the Rams for giving us the team we devote countless hours to, despite the fact that there hasn't been much to cheer about lately. I want to thank 3k for jumping on board and expanding the conversation. Most of all, I want to thank all of the readers and the fans; without you this would be just another web site, lost in the sea of voices. 

Give yourselves a pat on the back Rams fans and TST readers, YOU earned it.

Cornerback marks the last stop for naming the St. Louis Rams all-decade team. It's been a rough few years for the Rams secondary, but there have definitely been some moments. Looking back at the position earlier in the decade, you forget that the Rams had some pretty good players come through...and some not so good.

Top two vote getters make the team.

Full wrap on the all-decade defense to follow soon thereafter. 

We're moving along now in naming the St. Louis Rams all-decade team. None too soon either with the decade over now just five days.

This evening we're picking the strong safety of the decade, though I think this should be a fairly easy one. More than immortalizing a long-forgotten McDonalds sandwich, Arch Deluxe played a pivotal role on the Rams defense, working in Lovie Smith's cover two. He would switch to LB some and played a mean game on special teams. I think he always got kind of a raw deal in Washington, with his contract making him a natural scapegoat for the always troubled team. Then again, his skills were really declining as his stint with the Bears in 2008 revealed. 

Chavous, another corner turned safety, was just too far past his prime by the time the Rams signed him. Not only had he lost a step, it was painful watching him try to make tackles some times. Still, he's a class act, and I can't believe nobody has hired him as a scout yet...or maybe someone has and we just haven't heard.

James Butler was a good acquisition by the new regime at Rams Park. Paired with MLB James Laurinaitis, it gives the Rams a solid middle to their defense.

Alright, vote.

We continue with the St. Louis Rams all-decade team, today jumping into the safety spot. The Rams have had some pretty memorable players with notable stints in St. Louis at safety, both free and strong, and I think the voting will be tougher than some of the other spots on the roster.

We'll pick the free and strong safeties today, the corners tomorrow and wrap up the all-decade defense before turning to the offense.

Cornerback Aeneas Williams, always one of my favorites, joined the Rams prior to the 2001 season, playing corner for two seasons before switching to free safety for two seasons, not uncommon for an older but skilled cornerback.

Remember Mike Furrey? He had a nice season as a FS in 2005, grabbing 4 INTs and 1 TD, before reuniting with Mike Martz in Detroit and returning to his WR role.

Alright, make your voice heard.

Two seasons was enough to secure the much-missed London Fletcher the St. Louis Rams All-Decade team (TST edition) spot. The man who will replace London Fletcher as the next great Rams MLB, James Laurinaitis, came in a distant second on the strength of his yet-to-be-completed rookie season. And now we move outward to the outside linebacker spots (yes, we're assembling a 4-3 all-decade team defense). 

Slimmer pickin's here. Cast your vote wisely. The top two voter getters make the team.

This hasn't been a particularly strong position for the Rams this decade, especially in recent years, like defensive tackle. Hey, I wonder if there's something to that and why the Rams defense has consistently been among the league's worst lately?

As the decade winds down, I'm going to follow ram_rod's lead and share my top ten Rams draft picks of the 2000's. Unfortunately, many of the Rams greats, like Orlando Pace and Tory Holt, were drafted in the previous decade, and were not eligible for this list. As ram_rod showed with his list, the 2000's were a great period to find lousy draft picks rather than good ones made by the Rams. This list is hardly perfect. That being said, I considered a great deal of things when making this list, including pick value, performance with the Rams and overall career performance. In some of these instances, the players had better careers elsewhere. In that case, I blame management for not keeping these players and assume they would have produced at the same level in St. Louis. With all of that out of the way, on to the fun part.

10: James Laurinaitis, LB Ohio State
       2009, 35th Overall Selection

Picture via stlouisrams.com

Some of you might be surprised to see the rook on this list. However, I believe there's a strong case for the former Buckeye standout to be in the top 10. In his first NFL campaign, Laurinaitis is among the top 15 tacklers in the NFL, with 115 total. For perspective, that's just six less than Ray Lewis has this season.  He also has a sack, two interceptions and a forced fumble to his credit. Rey Maualuga, the vaunted MLB from Southern Cal whom the Rams passed on for Laurinaitis, has only 63 tackles this year (partly due to a move to OLB in Cincinnati). Even this early in his career, James Laurinaitis looks like one of the better picks from the past few drafts and should be the heart and soul of this defense for years to come.

9.  Madison Hedgecock, FB North Carolina
     2005, 251st Overall Selection

 
picture from stlouisrams.com

This is the first pick that I struggled putting on here because of his short time with the Rams. For whatever reason, (one that I can't and probably won't ever understand) the Rams unceremoniously parted ways with Hedgecock during the 2007 season. The power blocking fullback went on to contribute to the fourth ranked rushing attack in the NFL in 2007 with the Giants - who oh yeah, won the Superbowl. The absence of a power-blocker led to Steven Jackson's lowest rushing total of his career, aside from his rookie campaign. We've all seen and heard from SJ what a blocking back can do for him, evidenced by his performance this year with Karney. Hedgecock continues to start for the Giants, and I place the blame solely on Scott Linehan for him being there and not in St. Louis.

8. Chris Massey, OL Marshall
    2002, 243rd Overall Selection

picture from huntingtonquarterly.com

This is one that I'll probably get flak for, but here's what's up. Massey had been the long snapper for the team essentially since he was drafted seven years ago. There aren't any official stats kept for long-snappers, but unofficially I can't remember him ever causing a bad snap. He'd never missed a game in his career until he went down earlier this year. I don't care what position you play; to get drafted in the seventh round and stay injury free in the National Football League and consistently do your job well is pretty remarkable. Massey deserves to be on this list.

7. Clifton Ryan, DT Michigan State
    2007, 154th Overall Selection

picture from stlouisrams.com

Ok, so I don't really have the stats to back this one up, so feel free to disagree. Ryan has played in every game in his career. That, coupled with the fact that he's had an increasingly important role on the D-Line makes me think he's a good player. The Rams really got value with this pick, and he's performed admirably, especially against the run.

6. Ronald Bartell, CB Howard
    2005, 50th Overall Selection

picture from bleacherreport.com

Bartell has been a solid addition to the defensive backfield for the Rams. On his career, Bartell has eight interceptions and 230 tackles (with his highest total coming this year with 56 to date). Bartell earned one of the starting corner positions in part because of the Tye Hill flameout and has been a good cover corner during that time. The front office thought so as well, signing him to a big-time 4-year $25 million dollar deal. Bartell was one of the brighter spots in the 2005 draft.

See the top five picks of the decade after the jump.

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