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JIM THOMAS
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 0f31a.html
Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola catches a pass during St. Louis Rams training camp on Monday, July 30, 2012, at Rams Park in Earth City, Mo. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com
The importance of quarterback-wide receiver chemistry can’t be overstated in the NFL. But there are limits. Rams wideout Danny Amendola made this discovery first-hand in mid July when he checked into his hotel room in Norman, Okla.
"I had the Sam Bradford suite at Sooners Legends hotel," Amendola said. "It was one of the biggest rooms there. I got sick of looking at his ugly face for four days."
The Sooner Legends Inn and Suites is family owned by brother and sister Doug and Valerie Kennon. There are 136 rooms on the property according to hotel general manager Ashley Crews, and every one is named after a famous University of Oklahoma athlete and personalized to that athlete.
For example, there’s a Barry Switzer room, an Adrian Peterson room, a Billy Sims room — but none quite like the Bradford room.
"His is a suite," Crews said. "It has a single king bed in the bedroom area, and then like a living room in the other area. All the pictures in that room are of Sam. It’s mostly action shots, but there’s a couple still photos of him smiling and stuff. I think there’s a jersey in there. And then we have a little bio of him, about how he made it to OU, what he did there, and all of that."
She added: "It’s probably our No. 1-requested room."
Bradford had about 10 Rams skill-position players come to Norman to work with him in preparation for the start of training camp.
"Last year with the lockout, we did it two or three times (at various sites)," Amendola said. "We wanted to carry it over this offseason when we had some time off to get some good throwing in, especially with our core guys. It was really beneficial. It was really hot down in Oklahoma, so we could get acclimated to this heat."
Trouble was, every morning for four days, the first thing Amendola saw when he woke up were two photos of Bradford flanking the television on the TV cabinet.
Bradford brought the players in on his own dime, in conjunction with his youth football camp.
"They worked the camp for me, so it evened out," Bradford said.
When it came to Amendola’s lodging, it wasn’t Bradford’s idea to put him in the Bradford suite.
"I think last time he stayed in Barry Switzer’s room," Crews said, referring to a workout Bradford organized during the lockout in 2011. "This time, Barry’s room was taken, so I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to put Danny in Sam’s room.’
"He had a lot of laughs about it. He came down and was like, ‘Really?’ "
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 0f31a.html
Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola catches a pass during St. Louis Rams training camp on Monday, July 30, 2012, at Rams Park in Earth City, Mo. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com
The importance of quarterback-wide receiver chemistry can’t be overstated in the NFL. But there are limits. Rams wideout Danny Amendola made this discovery first-hand in mid July when he checked into his hotel room in Norman, Okla.
"I had the Sam Bradford suite at Sooners Legends hotel," Amendola said. "It was one of the biggest rooms there. I got sick of looking at his ugly face for four days."
The Sooner Legends Inn and Suites is family owned by brother and sister Doug and Valerie Kennon. There are 136 rooms on the property according to hotel general manager Ashley Crews, and every one is named after a famous University of Oklahoma athlete and personalized to that athlete.
For example, there’s a Barry Switzer room, an Adrian Peterson room, a Billy Sims room — but none quite like the Bradford room.
"His is a suite," Crews said. "It has a single king bed in the bedroom area, and then like a living room in the other area. All the pictures in that room are of Sam. It’s mostly action shots, but there’s a couple still photos of him smiling and stuff. I think there’s a jersey in there. And then we have a little bio of him, about how he made it to OU, what he did there, and all of that."
She added: "It’s probably our No. 1-requested room."
Bradford had about 10 Rams skill-position players come to Norman to work with him in preparation for the start of training camp.
"Last year with the lockout, we did it two or three times (at various sites)," Amendola said. "We wanted to carry it over this offseason when we had some time off to get some good throwing in, especially with our core guys. It was really beneficial. It was really hot down in Oklahoma, so we could get acclimated to this heat."
Trouble was, every morning for four days, the first thing Amendola saw when he woke up were two photos of Bradford flanking the television on the TV cabinet.
Bradford brought the players in on his own dime, in conjunction with his youth football camp.
"They worked the camp for me, so it evened out," Bradford said.
When it came to Amendola’s lodging, it wasn’t Bradford’s idea to put him in the Bradford suite.
"I think last time he stayed in Barry Switzer’s room," Crews said, referring to a workout Bradford organized during the lockout in 2011. "This time, Barry’s room was taken, so I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to put Danny in Sam’s room.’
"He had a lot of laughs about it. He came down and was like, ‘Really?’ "