I understand the spirit of the rule, and will respect it, but I don't agree with this.
I often look at the locations of many of the users on this forum, and it is a hodge podge of locales. Maryland, Vegas, Florida, California, Missouri, Texas, New York; the list goes on and on.
The team belongs to the fans first and foremost but the franchise, at least for the time being, belongs to the city of Saint Louis. A city that has been maligned by poor ownership, poor football, and poor spirits. We had a team stolen from us in the 80's only to turn around and steal a team ourselves; a team that, quite frankly, in many facets only came here to spite a fan base and a city (LA) that, whether through negligence or apathy, would not acquiesce to what the team and ownership at the time demanded.
Saint Louis professional football is an interesting cocktail, made of equal parts die hard enthusiasm for the game and sport in general (check the national TV ratings; whether it be Winter Classic Hockey Games, World Series Baseball Games when the Cardinals have already been eliminated, World Cup Soccer, and the out of market national NFL games), negativity and pessimism having been witness to almost 5 decades of mediocre, below average football if you combine the football Cardinals and the Rams, and paranoia that around every corner and bend of uncertainty, another charlatan can, at any moment, swoop in and tear our team out from under us. It is a bitter cocktail, that was sweetened for a few magnificent years, only to leave a slow, painful burn that threatens to burn even worse if the team leaves.
The point is, that if you want to run this forum as a football, product on Sundays and offseason talk, and only those things than that is fine. But there are 2 separate parts that make up the team and it's identity: The Blue and Gold Rams logo and the Saint Louis that defines its culture and its history, albeit a shorter one.
Some of you, hell most of you, can probably say that if the team moves from Saint Louis to the left coast or even to foggy London town or wherever, that your loyalties will never waver. I applaud and admire that trait. But it is easier to be objective when you are a fan of a team with no skin, relatively speaking, in the fight. Saint Louis Rams Fans, at least this one typing this ill fated rant, are not strong enough to handle losing a second team in as many decades.
In Maryland and Vegas and Flordia and California and Texas, the horns are all that matters, and wherever the pushpin falls is frankly irrelevant. To us Missourians, however, the scripted Saint Louis fills us with civic pride and honor. To know we are part of the unique fraternity of towns with NFL teams, and to know that on Sundays we share a unique bond with the Kansas Cities and the Chicagos of the world is to be validated, in a sense.
Again, I will respect the rule because I appreciate and value the forum and what it provides, but it is near impossible to ask many of those here to separate the product on Sundays with the heart ache and paranoia that the unknown represents to us as members of a community. I love this team as much as any in the world (except for, maybe, the Blues), but I love my city first, and for all of its short comings and warts and problems and tribulation, it is still my home and I am part of its community, and I will do anything to preserve its dignity and its identity.
