 A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS, BY ZACK
NERUDA (Oct 15) |
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There's always more out
there that deserves to go into the zine than we really can put in. So this time I thought
I would post some random observations and mix them up with all kinds of posts from other
Rams fans from all over the place. Just a coupla random thoughts. Nothin special. Just fans talkin about their team. THIS IS SPOOKY. Everyone says that. Vermeil says the offense is so good it's scary. The Rams fast start has any number of fans declaring how unreal, how unbelievable it seems. That's what happens IMO when something you looked for and believed in for so long turns real. For ten years diehard Rams fan have had to endure...well...the Rams! But we stuck around. We had a belief...otherwise, we would never have gutted out all the losing. So when something that normally seems to belong only to our imaginations and our beliefs turns real, it does seem spooky. Strange. Rub your eyes. Reality check this one...ask the one next to you if this is really happening. I like the way WV Ram expressed this feeling. He wrote this----> *********************** You people are not real, Posted by wv ram on 10/12 8:00 pm This is not real. I've just realized that. This is all some kind of paint-fume-induced dream. There is NO WAY that the caterpiller-Ram-team I watched play Philadelphia last year could possibly turn into a butterfly in one year. It is impossible. It really is. Therefore, there is only one logical conclusion. This is all a dream. A fantasy. And you strange board-people are all simply part of my fantasy.... Or, maybe I'm dead and this is heaven. The Rams win the Super Bowl every year in heaven, right? But, this cant be heaven...I mean Zack woudn't be in heaven...so is this hell?..that would explain the color I accidently just painted my dining room...but..the Rams are 4-0, so... *********************** I don't know, WV Ram, that depends...the Rams are winning...is it a cold day where you are? -:) I also like the way Phantomjokr tried to capture this same feeling, the unexpected yet-always-believed-in feeling of new found success. Here he is talking about reading weekly football power polls, and how disorienting that has been recently since the Rams started winning and so started moving up in the rankings---> *********************** Subject: [ramtalk] Chinese Rankings? Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:12:02 I am having a lot of problems adjusting from reading rankings from the bottom up to the new top down style that Rams have converted to... Man, solve one problem and another one crops up... pj *********************** CREDIT. This is an interesting team, the way it is built. Hyder never finished college and was in semi-pro football when the rams tracked him down. Warner---Arena League. Nutten--Europe League. Jenkins played at Howard University, Fletcher at John Carrol, and both went undrafted. Watson never really did anything in college. Horne was a free agent. Imagine the SF game without Tony Horne. In fact, imagine the SF game without Warner, Fletcher, Watson, or and Hodgins---all FAs. Farr, too, was an undrafted FA in his day. He plays right next to a top #1 pick, Kevin Carter. For that matter, Bruce, for all his greatness, was a 2nd round pick. I like the way a poster on the post.net board named "West Coast Ben" puts it...simple, clear, sincere, and to the point---> *********************** Subject: It's a TEAM! Name: West Coast Ben. Date: 10/11/99 Time: 06:24:06 PM I credit a lot of this to Dick Vermeil. He's won the respect and trust of these players. He rebuilt this team in his own image, with people of character and heart. The slackers, whiners, and me-firsters are gone. All that's left are tough good men. Guys who care about each other, and the goals they are all pursuing. Guys like London Fletcher, who might never have even gotten a chance with another team. Guys who want to help each other to win. And that's why I think the Rams are a great team. 4-0 or not. *********************** MORE CREDIT. Between 98 and 99 Vermeil transformed himself from a hands-on, micro-managing coach to an emotional leader, motivator, and CEO style delegator. That's all important, because one huge part of the Rams story in 99 is their hunger and spirit. Vermeil is a large part of that. He chose his kind of player, he sets the tone. Here's what Howard Balzer had to say about this last week about The New Vermeil and his Hungry Team (which BTW also happens to be the title of one of my favorite underground rock bands). Here's Howard---> *********************** [From] Howard Balzer on KFNS, Posted by MJR007 on 10/13 7:50 am DV. Differences with Philadelphia and St. Louis stints as head coach? In Philly he was totally consumed with every minute detail. In St. Louis after the long layoff there were concerns as to whether the game had passed him by. Howard says DV takes things in a much better perspective now. He cautions players not to get too high or too low after wins and losses. Got to maintain on an even keel. In Philadelphia he would be mulling over a loss as late as Friday of the next week with a game to play that Sunday. He felt he had to do everything. In St. Louis he's delegating better now. Wasn't comfortable the last two years with the abilities of his coaching staff to handle their jobs. He now has blind confidence in Martz. He still is putting his stamp on this team "attitude-wise." On the Rams' possibility of letdown. The players want the feeling each and every Sunday. Teams that have been prodominant winners subconsciously forget about how hard you have to work to get there. Not this team. They feel they have no reason to be overconfident. This team is hungry. They are enjoying the ride. When this team loses, it will hurt. But that's what keeps this team hungry. They don't want that losing feeling again. *********************** BELIEF. See, in the end, we return to it, the question---is this real? Will it continue? This is a young team so we keep having to check up on it. Howard has to tell us and himself that this team is hungry...it is an issue, something that has to be asked about, explained. They are winning but they haven't before. We burn sage and they win but it must be examined---will they lose their hunger? What will they do under this situation, in that situation, are they "real" in this way, in that way? We believe, and can't believe our eyes at the same time. Part of the zine is history, see. How long from now will we want to look back at *this moment* and remember what that...THIS...was like. So for history's sake, I wanted to pay a little homage to a watershed moment, a turning point. The first genuinely meaningful victory of 99. Where does the credit go? How did this happen? What is this team's identity? (Scrappy and high tech!) And in that moment we all went nutz, and at the same time we could not quite believe how good they were...so good, they were kinda scary. It's unreal. Can you BELIEVE it!!?? But then...some just calmly BELIEVED. That's worth recording too. And it is also worth recording that there are many voices that mean something to you...all kinds of voices in the mixed up world of Ramfandom. Some just quietly and confidently see what there is to see and just takle immense pleasure in it. This was written two days before the SF game. I will let this one be the last word.---> *********************** Here's to... Posted by jim beam on 10/8 8:08 pm My hats off to all the old die hard, bull-headed, stubborn, faithful to the end fans of our glorious team. This one's for you. WE will win Sunday....Doesn't it feel good to have had the faith, knowing that some day our lads in blue and gold would rise from the ashes and reclaim their throne. |
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