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SEARCHING FOR SPECIAL FANS--RAMFAN'S STORY AND THE BIRTH OF RAMSWORLD.COM


ramfan.jpg (3620 bytes)How and Why I Became a Rams Fan

I have been a Ram Fan since the late 60s. I can still see the television in the corner of the room and my father standing in a position with his hands on his knee caps like a shortstop awaiting the pitcher to toe the rubber. It was a cold playoff day in Minnesota where the Rams ended up loosing a close and hardly fought battle.

In the 70s we had 4 season tickets at the coliseum in L.A where we spent many Sundays. We were always the first ones in the parking lot and the last ones to leave our seats. My dad would say "Well I want to make sure we get a good parking spot" and "Let's wait until the crowd filters out before we try and leave." The LA coliseum does not have (or at least then did not have) upper sections like you see today at ball parks across the country. You can go from the first step near field level straight up to the last step in a steady STEEP climb. If you should happen to start tumbling down the stairs the only thing that would stop you would be a limb of your body becoming wedged under an isle side seat. I tell you this because I will never forget when Bruce Gosset kicked a field goal against New Orleans on the last play of the game to secure a victory for the Rams. My father picked me up approximately shoulder height (his shoulders) and swung me around 360 degrees. I remember seeing those stairs and praying don't drop me now dad. We had to give up our season tickets once my father was promoted to higher position in the Calif. Dept. Of Forestry where he ultimately became the only non-college graduate ever to lead the state of Calif. and the largest wild land fire protection agency in the world.

His promotion to northern Calif. left us surrounded by S.F. 49er fans and although politically it would have made the climb to the top easier for him he never swayed in his loyalty to the Rams. He was known as the Ram Fan that worked his way through the ranks. So I guess that is where I get my loyalty from.


RamsWorld and the Chat Room

Before I begin I want to make something clear to anyone that may be wondering about my enthusiasm for chat rooms.

Until football I never used a chat room in my life. I figured they were for teeny boppers looking for love. To this day you won't find me in any chat room that doesn't base itself on football. In fact the Ram and Raider chats are the only two you will ever find me in and it is usually for short periods of time.

Rams World was not a plan of mine. I felt it was necessary to have a place where Ram Fans can come together after a game. You know those Saturday nights that you can't sleep because you are already playing the next days game in your head? and only if you had someone to talk to? Or how about those Sunday nights where you replay the game in your head and you just would like to get a few things off your chest so you can go to sleep? Those are the main reasons for Rams World. My girlfriend and I both have computer systems and internet connections in the same house. She is an avid Raider Fan and she found the Raiders Locker Room Chat at the official web site of the Raiders. Well I saw that and of course I immediately went to StLouisRams.com looking for you guys. Needless to say there was no chat room at our official web site. So I figured surely somewhere there had to be a chat room that was dedicated to the Rams and never closed. I spent many nights searching for you Ram fans especially during the season. I would go into the Raiders chat room to talk football with Raider fans and once in a while I could actually get a short conversation going about the Rams. Believe me I took a lot of abuse at first. Now the regular users of the Official Raiders chat room know me very well. I log in using RamManDan or RamFan--they shortened it to RMD. I still go into their chat room to see how they are all doing and when I do there is usually some new Raider fan waiting to tell me to take my Lambs ass out of there. Well the regulars there quickly come to my aid and shut them down. I mention the Raiders room because it played a tremendous part in my determination for Rams chat.

Some of you may remember a group that called themselves "Ram Fans for Chat." Well that was not a group at all. That was me gathering e-mail addresses to submit to the web developers of the Rams official site hoping to get a chat room opened there. The Web developers would not answer e-mails that were sent by me nor would they respond to the administrator at StLouisRams.com I don't blame the Rams for their inefficient web site. I blame the Web developers because they should give ideas to the Rams as well as just write web pages.

I was frustrated enough to investigate what it would take to open a 24 hour chat room. I knew that chat rooms use a lot of system resources so I approached it with the attitude that it would be to expensive so I did not raise my hopes too high. It had to be a professional room with chat hosting professionals running it in the background or it would simply not be good enough for Ram Fans.

Realizing that no matter what the chat room I open could never be the same as if the Rams Official site hosted one themselves,  I proceeded with the aid of my sister. She said to me "Dan if we are going to represent Ram Fans then it must be done rightare you sure you can do this?." She is the real hero behind Rams World's Chat room.

The official site is still a goal of ours because that is a place that every Rams Fan on the internet is sure to find. The scheduled chat rooms that are among the other fine Rams sites are good to have, and appreciated, but I wanted a 24 hour chat room, a place I could go anytime I felt the need.

The best part of this whole journey has yet to be seen. I am talking about a football season. This football season with points on the scoreboard, rushing yards to add up, a turn-over ratio that is not so one- sided, and a 24 hour chat room available for us to celebrate in.


The Family Known as "The Herd"

I cannot end without mentioning The Herd. There you guys are! Where have you been? I have been looking for you! Didn't anyone hear me calling?

YO! Ram23 your doing a great job over there. Don't ever stop!

Seriously--I am glad to have finally found the internet's family of Ram Fans. And I am not jealous of my girl friend's Raider room anymore. She says I am much easier to live with now. You guys /gals I see posting every day between the end of January and the first of August have reassured an old season ticket holder, stuck in 49er country, that the Rams are still well represented. I believe we are the loyalist fans on the internet. And if anyone wants to argue that point we have numbers to prove it. It is heartwarming to see the Rams Board,  representing a 4 - 12 team with no winning season in recent history,  become the #1 Message board in the NFL, and that includes the Raiders board. Think about that for a moment....Then send an e-mail to the Administrators of the herd thanking them for their work.

But most importantly thank yourself because without you we wouldn't be #1. I know as a webmaster that every one of you are important, and I am sure I speak for all Rams webmasters when I say that no e-mail goes unread. And is responded to personally by the webmasters, administrators, or moderators of a web site.

[email protected]

Publishers note-

Dan is a die hard fan that is dedicated to making the internet a better place for all Rams fans.  Thanks for the chat room, and the kind words for the Admins at nflfans.com.   Your efforts are appreciated by all.

-Ramsrule

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