NEW: New Year Resolutions For St. Louis Rams

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STL-Rams

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I might be crazy, but I spent seven hours on New Year's Eve working on this. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Fourteen topics covered including the draft, why it wasn't ALL Sam Bradford's fault in 2011, what do do for the run D, getting playmakers for the offense, and how to get to .500 or better in 2012.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

<a class="postlink" href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1004625-nfl-new-year-resolutions-what-the-st-louis-rams-need-to-do-in-2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1004 ... do-in-2012</a>
 

Anonymous

Guest
Nice article. I agree with all of your suggestions. I found the following below if you have a chance to edit. Otherwise it is again a good read. Your writing style has a fluidity and cadence when read which is cool and indicative of your honing your craft. Congrats on a well written enjoyable read.

Intro:

spelling: boyond, successul

page 7:

The sentence starting: The Rams have fielded.............is missing content.

Page 9:

The sentence starting: To remedy this..........became should read become.

Page 13:

The sentence starting: This position must..................it should read is.

The sentence starting: Free agents names............Cincinati should be Cincinnati.
 

STL-Rams

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squeaky wheel said:
Nice article. I agree with all of your suggestions. I found the following below if you have a chance to edit. Otherwise it is again a good read. Your writing style has a fluidity and cadence when read which is cool and indicative of your honing your craft. Congrats on a well written enjoyable read.

Intro:

spelling: boyond, successul

page 7:

The sentence starting: The Rams have fielded.............is missing content.

Page 9:

The sentence starting: To remedy this..........became should read become.

Page 13:

The sentence starting: This position must..................it should read is.

Free agents names............Cincinati should be Cincinnati.

Thanks for the TERRIFIC feedback and encouragement :) Much much appreciated...

thanks for the edit suggestions as well... for some odd reason I always have trouble with Cincinnati lol...

I think the editors are celebrating the new year early... glad you got those and thanks again...

Happy new year to you and yours...
 

bluecoconuts

Legend
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
13,073
Agreed with pretty much all the points, without getting into the nitty gritty details like Squeaky did, the major points were all what I was thinking. I think it should be a good offseason.
 

STL-Rams

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bluecoconuts said:
Agreed with pretty much all the points, without getting into the nitty gritty details like Squeaky did, the major points were all what I was thinking. I think it should be a good offseason.

thanks bluecoconuts and happy new year !
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
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Messages
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Name
The Dude
I'm gonna be brutally honest with you, Shane. I didn't read it. I really hadn't planned on reading it. I understand you wanna pursue your career and be a professional writer, but I can't get past some of the comments you make 'elsewhere' that completely ridicule what some people really believe in. Which is probably okay for a journalist. People in the media have to be controversial and all, but it just kinda bothers me.

Now. That's not to say that I think you should change the way you feel or change the way you interact on message boards. I'm absolutely not saying that, and I appreciate your abstinence while posting here. Maybe at the PD (I read several boards) you're just playing along with the rest of the lynch mob, because taking shots at those who don't share the popular opinion seems to be the protocol there. Easy to get caught up in that, because I do it too on occasion. It's just hard for me to be sold on objectivity from you when you can rather flippantly call Spagnuolo supporters "morons", "delusional" or accuse them of "marching on into absurdity." If you were a legitimate writer for a major publication and wrote those things, I wouldn't buy that paper. I wouldn't visit that site.

Just be careful what you write if you plan on being a professional. EVERYTHING that gets posted on the internet stays there forever. Nothing ever disappears. Bernie gets caught up in that shit from time to time too, and it almost always comes back to him. Gordon too. As such, they're kind of a joke. But, they do get paid well for being jokes. Just seems to me you're aiming a little higher than that with some of your previous articles and the way they were structured. If you DO wanna join the ranks of those guys, you should go all in. BE controversial. There's a good living in that, and you know what they say about press - good or bad.

There ya go. You deserve to hear what people really feel, and I know you're going to take it into consideration. You're also free to post your articles here whenever you like. But I would caution you to refrain from posting those mock pressers here. Can't say I enjoyed those either. Again, I think you have some talent. You should probably figure out how you wanna use it. And I'm not trying to be a dick here either - just being honest with you.

Now I welcome YOUR feedback. :ww:
 

STL-Rams

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X said:
I'm gonna be brutally honest with you, Shane. I didn't read it. I really hadn't planned on reading it. I understand you wanna pursue your career and be a professional writer, but I can't get past some of the comments you make 'elsewhere' that completely ridicule what some people really believe in. Which is probably okay for a journalist. People in the media have to be controversial and all, but it just kinda bothers me.

Now. That's not to say that I think you should change the way you feel or change the way you interact on message boards. I'm absolutely not saying that, and I appreciate your abstinence while posting here. Maybe at the PD (I read several boards) you're just playing along with the rest of the lynch mob, because taking shots at those who don't share the popular opinion seems to be the protocol there. Easy to get caught up in that, because I do it too on occasion. It's just hard for me to be sold on objectivity from you when you can rather flippantly call Spagnuolo supporters "morons", "delusional" or accuse them of "marching on into absurdity." If you were a legitimate writer for a major publication and wrote those things, I wouldn't buy that paper. I wouldn't visit that site.

Just be careful what you write if you plan on being a professional. EVERYTHING that gets posted on the internet stays there forever. Nothing ever disappears. Bernie gets caught up in that shyte from time to time too, and it almost always comes back to him. Gordon too. As such, they're kind of a joke. But, they do get paid well for being jokes. Just seems to me you're aiming a little higher than that with some of your previous articles and the way they were structured. If you DO wanna join the ranks of those guys, you should go all in. BE controversial. There's a good living in that, and you know what they say about press - good or bad.

There ya go. You deserve to hear what people really feel, and I know you're going to take it into consideration. You're also free to post your articles here whenever you like. But I would caution you to refrain from posting those mock pressers here. Can't say I enjoyed those either. Again, I think you have some talent. You should probably figure out how you wanna use it. And I'm not trying to be a dick here either - just being honest with you.

Now I welcome YOUR feedback. :ww:

First, it is weird I just got this right now because about two minutes ago I was going to write you an inbox "Happy new year" and thanks for providing so many Rams fans with a great forum.

I do appreciate your feedback and suggestions. I am not one who wants to be controversial at least not just to be controversial. That's not me. If something is controversial and I believe in it then it is what it is. But no... I do not want to be a a shock jock journalist or whatever.

I will watch my comments and again I thank you for your advice. I do appreciate it, respect it, and will use it. You know how message boards are especially over there: there is too much negativity at times (I take responsibility for my own) and I need to avoid getting caught up myself. It's tough as a passionate fan but we should refrain, as you suggest.

As for the mock press conferences, have you noticed that I stopped those? I did mean them in a nasty way HOWEVER I felt bad and I stopped making those even though they were popular and the feedback was good. He is a good man and although you and I share differing opinions regarding him professionally, (and that's fine), he is a very respectful man and one heckuva defensive mind and a terrific leader (I think we agree there).

I would ask one thing, however. I would like you to read this article and see what you think. I worked extremely hard on it. Actually worked all day today from 7:45 until about 3:30 or 4 on it.

X, again... much appreciation on your feedback. I truly value it and believe me it means a great deal that you took time to be honest with me, offer advice, etc.

Hope 2012 is truly your best ever ! Take care my friend..

PS- have made it a new year resolution to avoid any ridicule of people with differing opinions over there... thanks for the check on that... sometimes it's easy to lose sight of those things and that's not what I'm about X (or at least not what I want to be about). Thanks..
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
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Messages
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Name
The Dude
STL-Rams said:
First, it is weird to just get this... about two minutes ago I was going to write you an inbox "Happy new year" and thanks for providing so many Rams fans with a great forum.

I do appreciate your feedback and suggestions. I am not one who wants to be controversial at least not just to be controversial. That's not me. If something is controversial and I believe in it then it is what it is. But no... I do not want to be a a shock jock journalist or whatever.

I will watch my comments and again I thank you for your advice. I do appreciate it, respect it, and will use it. You know how message boards are especially over there: there is too much negativity at times (I take responsibility for me own) and I need to avoid getting caught up myself. It's tough as a passionate fan but we should refrain, as you suggest.

As for the mock press conferences, have you noticed that I stopped those? I did mean them in a nasty way HOWEVER I felt bad and I stopped making those even though they were popular and the feedback was good. He is a good man and although you and I share differing opinions regarding him professionally, (and that's fine), he is a very respectful man and one heckuva defensive mind and a terrific leader (I think we agree there).

I would ask one thing, however. I would like you to read this article and see what you think. I worked extremely hard on it. Actually worked all day today from 7:45 until about 3:30 or 4 on it.

X, again... much appreciation on your feedback. I truly value it and believe me it means a great deal that you took time to be honest with me, offer advice, etc.

Hope 2012 is truly your best ever ! Take care my friend..

PS- have made it a new year resolution to avoid any ridicule of people with differing opinions over there... thanks for the check on that... sometimes it's easy to lose sight of those things and that's not what I'm about X. Thanks..
Mkay. I'll read it.

Instead of tempering your comments "over there", why don't you do some more posting here? We have some pretty important people who monitor this site and take it more seriously than they do the PD. Bernie often refers to fans as "idiots" and that's because of that site alone. I mean, that place is what it is and one or two people changing their ways will never have an effect on the environment as a whole. It's basically an unmoderated site where questioning intelligence and loyalties are the norm. Again, I wasn't suggesting you change your ways there. Just letting you know that as your exposure as a writer grows, your comments (any comments) could come back to haunt you in some capacity. That was just friendly advice.

Along the vein of friendly, I wouldn't mind having a discussion about our head coach with you. I mean, you probably already know where I stand with the petition, posts, blogs and tweets, but I don't think I've seen you enumerate the reasons why you think he's a poor choice going forward. I'd be interested in hearing that. And I know you're one of the few people who can list them (here) without going out of your way to summarily discount an opposing view on this subject. But we'd better do it quick. Black Monday is just around the corner.

You have a great New Years as well, and stay safe.

Oh and thanks for your contributions here, and keep up the good work.
 

Anonymous

Guest
X said:
squeaky wheel said:
What a sad turn. :sick:
Butch up.

Fine. You should have sent him a PM since you didn't even read the article. Instead you posted a negative critique of his posting at ANOTHER site. That sure looks like a breach of your own rule to not attack the poster.
 

STL-Rams

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X said:
STL-Rams said:
First, it is weird to just get this... about two minutes ago I was going to write you an inbox "Happy new year" and thanks for providing so many Rams fans with a great forum.

I do appreciate your feedback and suggestions. I am not one who wants to be controversial at least not just to be controversial. That's not me. If something is controversial and I believe in it then it is what it is. But no... I do not want to be a a shock jock journalist or whatever.

I will watch my comments and again I thank you for your advice. I do appreciate it, respect it, and will use it. You know how message boards are especially over there: there is too much negativity at times (I take responsibility for me own) and I need to avoid getting caught up myself. It's tough as a passionate fan but we should refrain, as you suggest.

As for the mock press conferences, have you noticed that I stopped those? I did mean them in a nasty way HOWEVER I felt bad and I stopped making those even though they were popular and the feedback was good. He is a good man and although you and I share differing opinions regarding him professionally, (and that's fine), he is a very respectful man and one heckuva defensive mind and a terrific leader (I think we agree there).

I would ask one thing, however. I would like you to read this article and see what you think. I worked extremely hard on it. Actually worked all day today from 7:45 until about 3:30 or 4 on it.

X, again... much appreciation on your feedback. I truly value it and believe me it means a great deal that you took time to be honest with me, offer advice, etc.

Hope 2012 is truly your best ever ! Take care my friend..

PS- have made it a new year resolution to avoid any ridicule of people with differing opinions over there... thanks for the check on that... sometimes it's easy to lose sight of those things and that's not what I'm about X. Thanks..
Mkay. I'll read it.

Instead of tempering your comments "over there", why don't you do some more posting here? We have some pretty important people who monitor this site and take it more seriously than they do the PD. Bernie often refers to fans as "idiots" and that's because of that site alone. I mean, that place is what it is and one or two people changing their ways will never have an effect on the environment as a whole. It's basically an unmoderated site where questioning intelligence and loyalties are the norm. Again, I wasn't suggesting you change your ways there. Just letting you know that as your exposure as a writer grows, your comments (any comments) could come back to haunt you in some capacity. That was just friendly advice.

Along the vein of friendly, I wouldn't mind having a discussion about our head coach with you. I mean, you probably already know where I stand with the petition, posts, blogs and tweets, but I don't think I've seen you enumerate the reasons why you think he's a poor choice going forward. I'd be interested in hearing that. And I know you're one of the few people who can list them (here) without going out of your way to summarily discount an opposing view on this subject. But we'd better do it quick. Black Monday is just around the corner.

You have a great New Years as well, and stay safe.

Oh and thanks for your contributions here, and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the read, X :) Don't feel obligated, though. If you don't want to read it that's up to you. I just thought u might enjoy it and I value your feedback as well.

I really will try to start posting more over here. It seems almost impossible to just debate over there. It's constant insults, etc, even for basic comments or if someone spells a word wrong or whatever. I'd personally enjoy more friendly, fact based debate and interaction with serious fans who can debate while still being able to agree to disagree, so to speak.

As for the head coach, I'd enjoy that discussion as well. I don't know if we can get into it too deep tonight but I will say that I was completely in favor of the higher when he was brought on.

In addition, I respect and appreciate your petition a ton.. although, as you know, I disagree with your view.

Briefly, some things I see lacking with Spags include:

roster management: Letting J Williams go for Leber and then cutting Leber a short time later.

game management: without going into detail, I have felt his game management has been lacking a bit. I thought it would improve this year but in my opinion it did not.

killer instinct: when we have had leads, I have felt he has gotten too content to play it safe and maybe add a field goal and go up by six rather than go hard to get a td and go up 10.

coaching up players: several free agents have played worse than at prior stops (J Bell, J Brown, etc)... in addition, i haven't been overly impressed with the progression of many of our young players who have arrived via draft (and I realize there are tons of factors, he didn't draft them, did his assistants do their jobs, etc..)

10-37.. I know there are so many factors that could be discussed here (injuries, taking over a poor team devoid of vast amounts of talent, etc.) however, 10-37 is still 10-37 and in my view, anyway, is not good enough.

lame duck status: if he is brought back as is, he is a lame duck coach. that's not good. however, i don't see how Stan could justify giving him an extension. so it's a catch 22 in a sense.

those are some of my major thoughts regarding Spags.. I will say I wanted him to succeed very bad in part because by all accounts, he is a terrific human being. and, undeniably, a terrific defense mind and a respected leader.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
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Messages
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The Dude
squeaky wheel said:
X said:
squeaky wheel said:
What a sad turn. :sick:
Butch up.

Fine. You should have sent him a PM since you didn't even read the article. Instead you posted a negative critique of his posting at ANOTHER site. That sure looks like a breach of your own rule to not attack the poster.
You mean like THIS should have been a PM?

I didn't attack him. Made quite sure I didn't, in fact. And Shane and I have talked at great length in the past, so again you're jumping into the middle of something without the benefit of knowing the whole story, and yet again questioning the way rules are enforced around here. How does that work out for you every time you do it?

I like the guy, and he was very close to working for this site a little while ago. As a writer. If I choose to be open with him, I have the benefit of knowing that he won't take offense and that he knows I'm not trying to be offensive. But, tell ya what. Since this is your site, and you would prefer to give direction as to how things should operate, I'll publicly apologize.

Sorry, Shane. I didn't mean for my opinions to come across as derogatory or mean. I should have just applauded you for being dedicated enough to write articles about a team of which you're clearly passionate about, and one that offers little in return. You're a good fan. I should NOT have given you advice about how to behave somewhere else, even though that wasn't my objective. I like you, and I thought you would benefit from what other people might possibly perceive your personality to be. You came across as mean and belittling, but I should have let that be the way you were perceived instead of caring enough to let you know about it. After all, protocol is more important than honesty. Hence forth, I will only comment on your articles instead of you personally. I was wrong, and I again apologize.

How's that? Am I in your good graces now Squeak?

Jeez.
 

STL-Rams

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X said:
squeaky wheel said:
X said:
squeaky wheel said:
What a sad turn. :sick:
Butch up.

Fine. You should have sent him a PM since you didn't even read the article. Instead you posted a negative critique of his posting at ANOTHER site. That sure looks like a breach of your own rule to not attack the poster.
You mean like THIS should have been a PM?

I didn't attack him. Made quite sure I didn't, in fact. And Shane and I have talked at great length in the past, so again you're jumping into the middle of something without the benefit of knowing the whole story, and yet again questioning the way rules are enforced around here. How does that work out for you every time you do it?

I like the guy, and he was very close to working for this site a little while ago. As a writer. If I choose to be open with him, I have the benefit of knowing that he won't take offense and that he knows I'm not trying to be offensive. But, tell ya what. Since this is your site, and you would prefer to give direction as to how things should operate, I'll publicly apologize.

Sorry, Shane. I didn't mean for my opinions to come across as derogatory or mean. I should have just applauded you for being dedicated enough to write articles about a team of which you're clearly passionate about, and one that offers little in return. You're a good fan. I should NOT have given you advice about how to behave somewhere else, even though that wasn't my objective. I like you, and I thought you would benefit from what other people might possibly perceive your personality to be. You came across as mean and belittling, but I should have let that be the way you were perceived instead of caring enough to let you know about it. After all, protocol is more important than honesty. Hence forth, I will only comment on your articles instead of you personally. I was wrong, and I again apologize.

How's that? Am I in your good graces now Squeak?

Jeez.

I don't know squeaky as well as you. I did thank him for defending me however with that said as I said in my reply to you, I appreciated your comments and feedback. All of it. And I hope it will continue. I stated how I felt in my reply and again I appreciated you taking the time to offer your advice and critique and I didn't feel that any of it was out of line in any manner especially, as you say, due to the fact that we have talked quite a bit in the past and understood one another.

I like you too, X, and appreciate what you do here as well as your expertise and thoughtful opinions (even when we disagree).

Let me know what you think of the article at your convenience.. happy new year to everyone here...
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
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Messages
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Name
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STL-Rams said:
Thanks for the read, X :) Don't feel obligated, though. If you don't want to read it that's up to you. I just thought u might enjoy it and I value your feedback as well.

I really will try to start posting more over here. It seems almost impossible to just debate over there. It's constant insults, etc, even for basic comments or if someone spells a word wrong or whatever. I'd personally enjoy more friendly, fact based debate and interaction with serious fans who can debate while still being able to agree to disagree, so to speak.

As for the head coach, I'd enjoy that discussion as well. I don't know if we can get into it too deep tonight but I will say that I was completely in favor of the higher when he was brought on.

In addition, I respect and appreciate your petition a ton.. although, as you know, I disagree with your view.

Briefly, some things I see lacking with Spags include:

roster management: Letting J Williams go for Leber and then cutting Leber a short time later.

game management: without going into detail, I have felt his game management has been lacking a bit. I thought it would improve this year but in my opinion it did not.

killer instinct: when we have had leads, I have felt he has gotten too content to play it safe and maybe add a field goal and go up by six rather than go hard to get a td and go up 10.

coaching up players: several free agents have played worse than at prior stops (J Bell, J Brown, etc)... in addition, i haven't been overly impressed with the progression of many of our young players who have arrived via draft (and I realize there are tons of factors, he didn't draft them, did his assistants do their jobs, etc..)

10-37.. I know there are so many factors that could be discussed here (injuries, taking over a poor team devoid of vast amounts of talent, etc.) however, 10-37 is still 10-37 and in my view, anyway, is not good enough.

lame duck status: if he is brought back as is, he is a lame duck coach. that's not good. however, i don't see how Stan could justify giving him an extension. so it's a catch 22 in a sense.

those are some of my major thoughts regarding Spags.. I will say I wanted him to succeed very bad in part because by all accounts, he is a terrific human being. and, undeniably, a terrific defense mind and a respected leader.
Cool. I'd like it if you participated more here. Then we can all watch you grow into a great writer and I can claim responsibility for it. Since you started here and all. :cheese: Seriously though, I think your talents are wasted over there. That place is only good for calling someone a numbnut after having just been called an idiot. And then watching the rest of the conversation devolve into a pissing match about who has the bigger brain and smallest pecker.

My petition was going to accomplish nothing. I knew that. Neither were the blogs I wrote on the heels of that. I just wanted to do "something" instead of doing nothing. I'm sure you appreciate proactive approaches to things you believe in. And. It got the attention of a certain VP of the organization, and the return from that is, he's probably watching right now.

Hey Kevin! Thanks for lobbying to make the throwbacks the blue & whites! Appreciate it!

Now. I'll quickly address some of your points, and then you get back to me at your leisure. I know it's not the perfect night to have a football discussion. I'm kinda bound to the house though with family issues, so I'm gonna have more time than you. Hopefully you're out partying, so I'll just live vicariously through you.

[textarea]roster management: Letting J Williams go for Leber and then cutting Leber a short time later.[/textarea]
Can you give me more than that? Is that's an issue, there should be at least three years of questionable decisions that have proven to be bad ones. A 7th rounder being cut for a guy with hundreds of tackles and many other good stats probably isn't a biggie. Cutting Leber later was, I agree, a double-negative. But still, there has to be a trend of sorts if that's going to be an issue. Every team cuts late rounders, and a few of them have ended up on this team. It's kind of a wash.

[textarea]game management: without going into detail, I have felt his game management has been lacking a bit. I thought it would improve this year but in my opinion it did not.[/textarea]
Trend? I agree he's probably a bit conservative. Maybe very conservative. But that's a coaching philosophy. Fans aren't going to be pleased if they have a different philosophy. Stands to reason. I'm not going to read your mind on this, so when you get the time, give me some examples. We can then try to determine if it was just stupidity, or part of a predetermined plan. I don't think Spagnuolo's decisions should bleed into McDaniels' decisions though. At least not entirely.

[textarea]10-37.. I know there are so many factors that could be discussed here (injuries, taking over a poor team devoid of vast amounts of talent, etc.) however, 10-37 is still 10-37 and in my view, anyway, is not good enough.[/textarea]
Agree. It's not good enough. Was Noll's record of 12-30 good enough before he went on a 20 year tenure? How about Tom Landry going 18-44 before he posted his first .500 season (7-7)? He got his contract extended for 10 years after that, and I'd say that worked out really well for them Cowboys. Are you a fan of this Organization changing coaches every three years? Would four be enough? Five? Given what you said about the *variables*, and how you feel about his ability to coach defense, do you think he'd be a bad coach if he finally had a normal season (and off-season) with a lot of good players? Do you think it would reflect positively on his record then? Something to think about.

[textarea]lame duck status: if he is brought back as is, he is a lame duck coach. that's not good. however, i don't see how Stan could justify giving him an extension. so it's a catch 22 in a sense.[/textarea]
I suppose. But I don't see that as a reason to give up either. Do you think he'd just mail it in though? Given what you think about him as a man, do you think a "lame duck" year would be a reason for him to turn his back on everything he believes, or would he coach his ass off anyway? I think it's the latter, and so do you (I think).

Anyway, good start. Get back to me when you have some time. No rush.
 

Anonymous

Guest
X said:
squeaky wheel said:
X said:
squeaky wheel said:
What a sad turn. :sick:
Butch up.

Fine. You should have sent him a PM since you didn't even read the article. Instead you posted a negative critique of his posting at ANOTHER site. That sure looks like a breach of your own rule to not attack the poster.
You mean like THIS should have been a PM?

I didn't attack him. Made quite sure I didn't, in fact. And Shane and I have talked at great length in the past, so again you're jumping into the middle of something without the benefit of knowing the whole story, and yet again questioning the way rules are enforced around here. How does that work out for you every time you do it?

I like the guy, and he was very close to working for this site a little while ago. As a writer. If I choose to be open with him, I have the benefit of knowing that he won't take offense and that he knows I'm not trying to be offensive. But, tell ya what. Since this is your site, and you would prefer to give direction as to how things should operate, I'll publicly apologize.

Sorry, Shane. I didn't mean for my opinions to come across as derogatory or mean. I should have just applauded you for being dedicated enough to write articles about a team of which you're clearly passionate about, and one that offers little in return. You're a good fan. I should NOT have given you advice about how to behave somewhere else, even though that wasn't my objective. I like you, and I thought you would benefit from what other people might possibly perceive your personality to be. You came across as mean and belittling, but I should have let that be the way you were perceived instead of caring enough to let you know about it. After all, protocol is more important than honesty. Hence forth, I will only comment on your articles instead of you personally. I was wrong, and I again apologize.

How's that? Am I in your good graces now Squeak?

Jeez.

Sure provisionally......though I'm watching.......closely......and with Black Monday approaching it's microscope time. That said you can keep holding the keys. :tooth:
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
squeaky wheel said:
Sure provisionally......though I'm watching.......closely......and with Black Monday approaching it's microscope time. That said you can keep holding the keys. :tooth:
Ahight then. Think about the long-term effects of keeping this regime in place instead of changing board owners every 2 years though. I mean, I think I deserve another chance after the lock-out and all the injuries I suffered this year. Plus my assistants (moderators) are new and didn't get the playbook until a couple of months ago. All of that should be taken into consideration when forming your final decision.

God speed.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
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The Dude
K, I read it. I agree with a lot of it, but there are obviously some things I disagree with. Specifically:

You can't eliminate "coaching chaos" by bringing in another coach after three years. That creates (or adds) to chaos. It's kinda the very definition of chaos, really. Whether or not Spagnuolo is that guy, this Organization rarely sticks to one guy for very long. Some of that is justified (Linehan) or not (Martz, Spags). When a coach has a specific vision, you should (as an Owner) try to help him achieve that goal instead of cutting it short before it's realized. And giving coaches power they shouldn't wield (the draft) is a recipe for disaster. The chaos can be eliminated by sticking with a plan and then just letting coaches coach. Just coach. As such, you should have touched upon a team President as part of the solution.

Kroenke isn't going to say anything definitive about staying in St Louis. He may pay it lip service, but that's about it.

I'd take it easy on the comparison to the Packers unless you're going to illustrate how long they've been in the same system, how much continuity and stability that Organization has enjoyed over the past several years, and how their depth at skill positions have allowed them to continue on after suffering any kind of injury (sans QB). Which, incidentally, hasn't been near as impactful as the injuries here have been.

Mark LeVoir is on the Rams already - not in Baltimore.

When assessing free agent needs, you should probably campaign for guys who have a familiarity with the scheme here. If not, it's quite possible that some of those guys you want will struggle to learn this system - even WITH a full off-season. I'd make a mention of the complexity of both systems here too. Remember, these are two guys who coordinated in a Superbowl, and one guy shut down one of the more prolific offenses in history that day. These aren't easy systems to learn, so big names aren't always the right choices. Would have been cool if you mentioned the "big names" who were on that Superbowl winning team at linebacker. Because they weren't big names at all.

Other than that, I thought it was good. I shared your feelings on a good deal of it.
 

Anonymous

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No Strahan on the Rams. If memory serves Brady went into that Super Bowl obviously injured. Even with Brady obviously injured it took the most freakish reception ever for the Giants offense to keep a drive alive to score the winning TD.