Los Angeles Rams: The Finer Things...

What’s different for L.A. Rams fans in 2017? For me, it’s the oddest thing, and it took me some time to find the right word or phrase to define exactly what’s missing when I think about the Rams this season... There’s a French phrase that could fit past L.A/St.Louis teams: “...a starlet manqué.” Unfulfilled; failing to achieve, or become, what might have been... Whether for an individual, or in this case the Rams over the past decade, it’s a challenge to the soul to live with, let alone overcome. Fans have felt this in a variety of ways for a decade or so, but now it seems to be missing? Why?

A myriad of story lines have led Rams fans to this newest of days. A young coach? A running back emerging from a crushing previous season? Free agent wide receivers from northern New York? Premature “Bust” clouds dissipating over a former #1 NFL draft pick? A 70 year old defensive coordinator/Twitter savant?

See what I mean? As a fan of this team, I’ve traveled along the emotional rainbow, and - more often than not - have stopped seeing colors, and settled for the rain... Yet, as quick as I was to settle in for a potential monsoon at the beginning of the 2017 season, it took me at least a month or two to begin to feel differently about my Rams. I began to sense finer things...

Let’s face it, or at least try to be honest with ourselves: The 2017 L.A. Rams were an unfathomable question mark prior to the start of the season. An untested head coach in Sean McVay, a complete shift in defense (4-3 to 3-4) without much in the way of personnel changes, and seeming unflappable young quarterback who shrugged off his tough rookie season as if it never happened... Somewhere in all this, the Los Angeles Rams foound who they are; what they can be...

Finer things... Finer things... Aaron Donald amazes me. Robert Woods shocks me. Trumaine Johnson answered the Janoris Jenkins conundrum soundly, and leads a “no-name” secondary that’s one of the most unreported stories of this NFL season. Jared Goff’s nickname should be “Quiet Man” ( If you haven’t seen the movie, do so! It’s timeless...)

...Goff’s the guy who’ll stay the course, win the fight, and get the girl. An NFL quarterback staying out of the L.A. limelight is almost oxymoron-ic, but he seems to walk between the media raindrops to stay centered on his career.

So, when I think of what’s missing from my current life as an L.A. Rams fan, it’s really quick simple: Dread. I don’t enter the world on Sunday mornings during the NFL season with a sheepish cringe as I turn on a Rams game. I no longer wait expectantly for the cliff the Rams used to find to teeter off of each week. Every play... Every second of a game is new, with challenges being welcomed, and not seeming pre-destined...

Finer things... Enjoy the game, the weekend, and the Christmas holidays to come...