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I echo those who noticed that the crowd was really into game #1. Nobody, however, seems to have noticed a key factor in the crowd noise situation---the PA system.

In most of the Dome games, including this year's preseason games, the PA system and its intrusive announcements and commercials killed any chance at getting the crowd into the game. In the past the PA has been so loud in the lower seats that it was impossible to hear the person next to you.

I know that this sounds strange to those folks who sit at press box level and higher because the sound carries very strangely in the dome. We have seats down low and up high and the difference in how the sound carries is amazing. PA announcements that blow you eardrums off in the 100s section are barely noticalbe up in the 400s. Likewise, fans in the upper decks cannot hear the lower deck fans yelling very well at all no matter how loud they are screaming.

Compunding the problems has been the tendancy of whoever was running the system to leave the volume jacked-up for at the start of the announcement---giving the aforementioned eardrum blast---and then quickly turning it down. Sounded just like when I forget I left the volume on my sterio in the car turned up way high, turn the power on, and then frantically grab for the contol as my ears bleed. The wierd thing at the dome, however, was that this seemed to happen EVERY time the announcer came on. It was as if  the volume was reset to its maximum before the start of EVERY commercial and THEN brought down to bearable levels. One would think they could get it right and leave it there.

Lastly, the timing of the PA has been horrible. Hard to get the crowd at its peak when you are competing with a Southwestern Bell Cell Phone promo. Last year there were even times when comercials ran over into the snap! (I even think once the ref picked the ball back up and sent the teams back to the huddle because of the PA.)

Well, for week one, it was much better. The volume  (in the 100 seats, anyway) was much lower and the commercials and announcements were not nearly as intrusive or poorly timed as in the past. This allowed the crowd to actually get into the game on its own. I have always bristled at past comments on how St. Louis fans were not putting forth enough effort, but---speaking for us down low---until you have suffered through a mind-numbing full-volume ad-blast, right when the other team is huddling-up, you don't know how hard it is to get a sustained, well-timed effort going.

Also, in game one, the Rams players seemed to grasp the TV time-out situation much better. Last year some defensive players would get the crowd up and yelling right at the start of a TV time-out. Well. those things last forever and by the time the time-out was over the crowd was yelled-out. This time the players didn't start jumping and waiving to the fans until the end of the time-out when the ref started the clock. That allowed the yelling to peak at the correct time.

Let's hope that someone at the Dome got a clue in game one and it was not just a broken amp or speaker. If the Dome lets us, we will respond!