 Resurrection Year Memories |
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[Ed.
Note: Ram fans just can't seem to tire of remembering last year, the Year of Miracles.
Here are some memories and reflections from various posters. Don't miss the account of
RAMbunctious cashing in at Vegas on a once-in-a-lifetime long-shot-the 1999/2000 Rams!] progRAMmer posted on 3/29 8:26 am What I remember most is the week leading up to the Viking game. As a fan, that was the most intense time I've ever had waiting for any sporting event. Having lived the season with everyone on the board, then our dream season leading to our first play-off game. All the flamers forcing us over to this board. Clinging together like a group of people waiting for a tornado to hit. Then walking into the Dome on game day. Hearing thousands chanting at the top of their lungs "Vikings Suck", over and over.. and watching the lights darken.. the crowd going crazy, and me, at my first playoff game. Just amazing.. words can't describe it.. awesome ! Then watching the Vikings move down the field and kicking the field goal.. then the most exciting play I've ever experienced in person. Warner to Bruce on the first play from scrimmage. Tears and hugs abound... the whole Dome was at one with each other. It was almost spiritual.. Euphoric... a natural high no drug could duplicate.. I had never been so excited in my life... that whole experience.. and of course, the Super Bowl... =========================================== Billy_T posted on 3/28 11:46 pm To me, the most striking thing about the whole season begins and ends with its utter improbability. I mean, aside from about two people in the country (both posters here), who on earth REALLY thought the Rams would do what they did? Actually, who among us really thought they'd even make it to the playoffs, much less WIN THE SUPER BOWL! Weren't most of us thinking and talking in terms of 2001? Yeah, the Rams will gel then. They're young, Faulk and Bruce and the rookie Holt will come together and they'll be great, along with Green in 2001. But no. The Rams starting gelling in the PRESEASON! Actually, before that, in training camp. Excitement returned to Rams park, his teammates fell in love with Faulk's abilities and saw what he brought to the field and to the locker room and they started to believe. And they saw what Trent could do and they started to believe. Add to that mix Timmerman, Holt, guys like Bly and Az, and guys started saying we can score. We can score on ANYONE! And they did. And they did again and again and again. In the preseason Green lit it up, and they knew this team could move the ball and they knew they had a solid defense and they believed they could get into the playoff, for the first time in ten years. Air Coryell with D! And they won in the REGULAR SEASON and kept on winning, despite losing TG. And an unknown will lead them! Next to no one (aside from 316) thought Kurt could do what he was beginning to do with ease and class and poise. Not just winning, they slaughtered teams. And kept on winning and scoring and scoring and winning and making big plays and rising up and knocking other teams down and out over and over again. Each week someone stepped up. Az and Bruce and Faulk and Holt. Faulk and Bruce, then Az and Holt. Then Horne. Then Wistrom. Then Carter. Then Jones. Then Bly. Always someone, always and already there was some guy and guys kicking butt and taking no prisoners. Week after week after week! Then the two game dive. But it wasn't a dive. Because the first time in at least ten years, the Rams actually LEARNED from their defeats. They actually got better by losing. They regrouped and looked deep into themselves and their fellow Rams and KNEW they'd come back. As a team. With Vermeil at the helm. With a damned healthy Bruce, an extraordinary Faulk, faking guys out of their socks, a big-game Wistrom INTERCEPTING passes and RUNNING them back for 91 yards! And they got all those monkeys off of their backs in the process. The 49ers went down twice. Every team in their division twice. They beat Minnesota, creamed Minnesota in the playoffs and made mince meat of the so-called experts in the process. Then, admittedly, they had a rough time with Tampa Bay, but even that led to more character and a deeper faith and was needed for going to the Big Dance against another team improbably there. Then the catch and the tackle and the hoisting of the trophy. I loved every minute of it. It was beautiful folks, and it was great, is great, to share it all with my friends in the virtual as well as the actual world . . . Repeat Repeat Repeat!! =========================================== SlamRam(r) posted on 3/29 11:20 am A few outstanding plays come to mind when I reminisce about our glory season. First is the flare out pass that Kurt Warner thru to Marshall Faulk OVER a defender, and hits him right on the numbers in full stride. That spoke volumes to me of just how good a passer Kurt Warner is. Second is that Z90 flip play to Marshall which leaves him volumes of running room while the defense goes for the flow of the play. Great imagination by Martz. Third is the athletic plays that Grant Wistrom makes intercepting QBs AT THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE! This one is close to my heart because this was my position in high school. And no matter how hard I tried to do this very same thing, I never ever got an INT. You just can't imagine how difficult it is to jump up and grab a pass that close to the QB. Fifth is a number of plays where Warner hits Ike downfield. The seemingly ease and frequency that they did this put fear into the hearts of every NFL team. Can't underestimate the impact of a SUCCESSFUL vertical game. Sixth, I know we all knew that Ike was good, but I never considered Ike as having great speed. Guess what? He does! You just don't get behind defenders with the frequency that he does by being slow! Finally, this is the cherry on top for me: the outstanding play by London Fletcher. I'm blowing my own horn here, but I said it during '98, "Play London Fletcher!!!" Just like other astute Ram-A-Tammers said, "Play Kurt Warner!!!" =========================================== ramsfanatic posted on 3/29 12:47 pm Hell of a year!!! Besides the obvious (winning the Super Bowl) one of the big things that stands out in this miracle season is the way the club stood behind Kurt Warner and did not bring in a vet. Vermeil knew before the season started that this was a make or break season, yet when Green went down he stuck with his untested backup and the rest is history. If I had to pick a particular play there would be two of them. The first is Tony Horne's kick return against the whiners after they had just scored to bring the game within 28-20. It was sweet to see the faces of the whiner players (especially that coach of theirs) as he took the air out there comeback. The best play though would have to be the clutch catch by Ricky Proehl in the NFC Championship game that propelled us in to the Super Bowl. They can say the reversal of Emanuel's catch cost the Bucs the game but the truth is they had the RAMS third and long and they let Ricky beat them. That's why they lost and that's why we're Super Bowl Champs. GO RAMS!!!!! =========================================== RAMbunctious posted on 3/29 8:21 pm My fondest memory from the Miracle Season took place on the morning of March 1st when I walked into the MGM Grand Sports Book in Las Vegas tightly clutching the receipts for the football bets I'd made last May - $5 on the Rams to win the NFC and another $5 for them to win the Super Bowl. And, yes, my husband was snapping pictures as the clerk counted out 15 portraits of Ben Franklin into my hot, little hands. And I got my original $10 back! Later that night, I hit a video poker royal flush for another $1000 so it was literally a day when they were counting out hundred dollar bills to me from morning until night. I'll never have another day like that - just as I'm afraid the Rams will never have another season quite like the one they've just had. Sure, they may win another Super Bowl, but it won't be the same. AAMOF, they're favored in every sports book I visited that week. Somehow, cashing in those winning football picks felt like the ultimate "I told you so!" |
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