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Re: Been a hard week for me
Bela, I am not sure if you are understanding the thoughts of a lot of Rams fans. Technically, you are correct when you say this game really isn't a must win for either team, but it goes beyond a W/L record in week six.
Since I cannot speak for all Rams fans, but only myself, I can only assume that there are a lot of others out there that are thinking the same way.
Bela, without trying to sound patronizing toward you, I ask you to imagine this scenario, using Seattle in an imaginary situation just to explain:
You are a diehard squawks fan. Your house has multiple rooms painted in shades of blue and green. You have several thousand dollars of autographed memorabilia from your team, with the showpieces being signed by some of the greatest players in football history. You are such a fan that you tell your boss that you will not work on game day, and even if you are on call, you will not respond until the game is over. The outcome of any game sets your mood and demeanor for the coming week. Your team is so ingrained into you that you even joke about naming your children after your favorite players. (I have a stupid Golden Retriever I thought about naming Tony Banks, but she answers to 'Stupid' better....)
Now, this part you surely won't have to imagine...your team, after years of mediocrity, lying in a coma in the bottom of a dumpster, shows signs of life. Not only that, but they overcome adversity and are taken seriously for the first time in years. So-called 'powerhouse' teams are worried when they see your team walk onto the field. The media says nice things about your team, and for a few weeks, everything goes almost perfect, and before you want the ride to end, your team has won the NFC Championship. One game to go, and it's all yours.
Now, imagine this: The squawks won the SuperBowl.
Everybody respects your team. You can wear your team-logo clothing anywhere, and even the rudest whiner fan has to keep their mouth shut, because your team has proven themselves to be the best.
The next few years, expectations are high. Your team does well, but not good enough to win another SB, especially when the officials forget to wear their glasses and take their meds. Your team is consistently atop the NFC West, even after a lot of the key players have left and other key players seem to have "lost it." The guys your team draft just don't seem to be doing as good as you hoped. The one player on your team who changed everything is injured, and never really makes it back to what he used to be, and the other experienced players you count on are aging too fast.
You still have some really, really, good players, and a couple of the 'replacements' are good - as good as the guys whose shoes they are trying to fill. Still, your team begins to fall apart. Other teams know how to get to your QB. Your defense forgets that this is the NFL, not flag football. Your coaching staff doesn't seem worried, and doesn't make any changes to their schemes. Your QB ends up being scrambled like an egg almost every game. You make the playoffs - barely - but get sent home before you want to go. The one bright spot of the year is when you beat the only team in your division who was a serious contender...three times. And one of those wins was the result of a 4th quarter comeback miracle that was one of the greatest in the history of football.
Then comes 2005. The promise of greatness was soon found to be built upon dreams. Nothing went right. The front office and the coaches were always trying to 'out-soap-opera' each other. Your HC is stricken down when the season has just begun. Your QB, consistently one of the NFL's best, gets hurt trying to tackle someone. He'll be out for weeks. A season that showed a lot of promise degraded into crap in just a few short weeks. The media and the other teams in the NFL no longer take you seriously. To everyone, including yourself, your team looks like it is trying to crawl back into the bottom of the dumpster.
Enter 2006. The year barely starts when you hear your HC is no longer with the team. Rumors of who his replacement will be are flying everywhere, and some of them are downright scary....Art Schell? No, thanks!
Soon, you hear that your team has selected a young OC from a so-so team to take the reigns. Most of the fans are OK with this, because he seems to be the one candidate who is best qualified. He begins by making major changes, including bringing one of the best defensive minds in the league on board. He also brought a lot of cronies with him, and you question some of his choices. During the draft, your team makes a couple of shrewd moves, and still gets the players the team not only wants, but also needs. And, before you know it, the roster has changed...a lot. Guys you have watched for years are cut, and guys who wore rivals' uniforms a few months earlier are now on your team. You're hopeful, but unsure about all of this.
Then it's pre-season. It starts off great, a safety by one of the new acquisitions. But, your team can't seem to get into the endzone. The one word you hear over and over is "Patience". Knowing your first regular season matchup is against one of the best in the NFL, and your team is ranked in the mid-20's, you are really planning on 17 weeks of hell.
But, in that first game, you see something you haven't seen for a few years. A defense. Somehow, even though your offense (which is filled with some really great players) can't seem to finish it's job, the game belongs to your team, the team that no one thought could win against one of the NFL's best.
Week 2 was a setback, not only for you, but for your team. Somehow, that didn't seem to affect the players. They went back to win another game, and another, and still another. Your team has been able to acquire a record that no one thought possible. Finally, the media notices, right before the game against your biggest division rival, the team that took away your crown. The 'experts' are picking against you, and you are an underdog in your own house. Still, you have faith. You know how well your team does. You know the strengths, the weaknesses. You can compare your rival's best players to your best, and what isn't even is slightly in your favor, or slightly in their favor. If you are being realistic, you can see how evenly matched these teams really are. In the last two days before the game, some of the 'experts' begin thinking your team is for real, and pick them to win.
You have to take it seriously. You have been excited over how well things have gone so far this year, but you know that for some reason, this game will be the one that will either allow you to 'break down the wall' you built to protect you just in case, or this game will let you finally accept that your team may need more time before it's place atop the divsion can be reclaimed. A loss wouldn't be the end of the season, but it would hurt a little more than losing to almost anyone else. A win wouldn't mean you are assured a playoff berth, but only that your team is for real. A team who is turning around instead of diving back into the dumpster. A team who can hang with other reputable teams, not be begging for scraps with Oakland or Houston. Last year, your team was mediocre. Winning this one game would, in your eyes, be one step above that. Turning a 3-game winning streak into a 4-game streak could mean the difference between a long off-season, or hope for tomorrow. A win would also mean your spouse and co-workers wouldn't have to run away when they see you coming.
Bela, I hope this explains it to you. It's not the SuperBowl, or even a playoff game. It's just that this game is a crucial game, at a crucial point in the season, and the outcome will decide how thousands of fans look at the Rams the rest of the year. Lose, and the year isn't over, just not as good as we hope and pray for. Win, and to us, we can feel invincible for a couple of weeks until the next time we play. Then, it all begins again...:seasux:
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Last edited by RamsFanSam; -15-10-2006 at 02:01 AM.
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