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All the highlights mentioned in this thread have been great.

My favorite occurred in New Orleans.

Kurt Warner faded back to pass, waited in the pocket as long as he could, ducked under a tackler, scrambled out of the pocket to his right with defenders on his heels, paused, scrambled some more, and just when it appeared he was going to finally just run out of bounds, he stepped back towards the middle of the field...side-stepped yet another tackle, and completed a pass for a first down.

Throughout that entire play, Kurt continually looked down field for a receiver. There was no urgency or panic in his movements. He never gave up on the play.

He was calm, cool, gutsy.

Nothing like you'd expect from a QB making just his 13th start.

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sanfRAM

I want to share with you something slightly different.

I want to share with you THE moment - the EXACT SPECIFIC MOMENT when I *knew* this Rams season was going to be something very different. And very special.

As much as I tease guys like RFL and WV Ram about their tendency to worry about the Rams, I have to admit that I am a lot like them. Or at least I *used* to be.

I've explained before that as a long-suffering Rams fan who has experienced SO MANY dark moments, I *always* was a worrier - expecting and WAITING for the 'bottom to fall out' anytime something positive seemed to be happening for the team.

Yet this year was different. For months now, I've been calmly reassuring fellow posters who have brought up very legitimate concerns. Anytime a poster started to express worry about an upcoming game, or another challenge that the team was about to face - I told them not to worry.

My mantra all year seemed to be "It's gonna be alright - *you'll see.*

And obviously, the Rams have come through in a big way.

I have to be completely honest - this calm of mine has surprised even *me*.

But it's been there - all season long.

And I can tell you EXACTLY where it came from.

In many ways, Isaac Bruce has been the perfect symbol for this team - fiercely proud, but with a checkered history. Definite glimpses of magnificence in his past, but also some *very* dark times in recent years.

I think some of you may be aware that I live in San Francisco. ;)

Feeling like - and for all purposes BEING - the *only* Rams fan in San Francisco has been a tough road for a long time.

The first Niner game had a whole lot of significance for me personally, for the Rams, and certainly for the bartenders of San Francisco. ;)

There was a moment as I sat alone in my SF sports bar (this was before I met "Also Ram Fan"), staring intently at the TV just minutes before the game was to start - and the cameras caught Dick Vermeil going up to various players on the field and talking to them - trying to get them psyched up AND settle them down at the same time.

This was their first big test and their first HUGE game with a LOT of potential repercussions.

First DV went up to Warner. Then he talked to Faulk. Finally Vermeil approached Isaac Bruce.

DV said "This is what you've been waiting for, buddy. Just go out there and do your thing. That's all you have to do. Just DO YOUR THING."

Ike barely flinched.

Quietly - in the calmest, most confident voice anyone has ever spoken with, he simply said one word:

"Done."

I swear to all of you - at that precise moment I changed. All of the worry that I'd felt over the course of three decades simply vanished.

I recall clenching my fists and thinking, "Finally!"

I can't tell you why, guys. This was more than just feeling confident. I just KNEW!

I remember thinking of the board, and of all the amazing people I had met there who - like me - had held on, and had waited, and waited, and waited.....

And I just KNEW, at that moment, that for all of us Rams fans, things had changed.....and that all of our waiting had finally paid off.

I'll remember that moment forever.

san fRAM