Rams fans Pack it in by selling seats

[RamWraith]

By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Dec. 17 2007

All day long, the Edward Jones Dome was full of so much thunder, so much
enthusiastic energy. But down on the field that not so long ago hosted the
dazzling Greatest Show on Turf, everything was a distorted mess.

Wrong sounds. Wrong colors.

"LET'S GO PACK!!! LET'S GO PACK!!"

Cheeseheads, not Rams horns, were the headgear du jour. Every corner of the
place was full of Green Bay Packer green and gold. Signs, painted faces, and
all manner of Packers gear, and every bit of full-throated emotional energy had
spread throughout the Dome, drowning what faint signs of Rams life remained.

"That's a sad story," Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon said.

At the end of another Sunday disaster, the hometown Rams trotted off the field
like it was another uncomfortable road game, while the Packers left the
premises bathed in deafening cheers.

"It's a joke, as simple as that," Rams running back Steven Jackson said, the
words spitting out of his mouth in disgusted staccato bursts.

No fewer than 30,000 or so Packer loyalists had invaded the building. And with
at least half the house a Packer mob, like rude house guests they rearranged
all the furniture, kicked their feet up on the couches and pretty much made
themselves right at home.

When someone asked Jackson if at times it felt like he was in Lambeau Field,
the disgruntled tailback barely let them finish the question. "We were at
Lambeau Field," he snapped. "The whole first level was Green Bay Packer fans.
And then we're allowing them to put up signs."

The placards were mostly hand-written love letters to their beloved Pack. But
there was one sign that had nothing to do with the Pack, but it cut right to
the brutal and unavoidable heart of the matter.

"SILENCE OF THE RAMS."

At last we come to the definitive statement of this extended post-Super Bowl
hangover. The Rams home fan base has grown silent in its displeasure. This is
so much bigger than being angry with the players. This is so much bigger than
being unhappy with a coach. This is not even about football anymore. This is
strictly business, and the marketplace has spoken.

This is a clear and decisive statement of common fans' dissatisfaction. There
was a time when dissatisfaction would have been done with passive hostility:
no-shows.

But this is so much worse. No-shows are so 1980s. In the 21st century, the Rams
fan issues a stern public decree of displeasure against NFL owners who force
PSLs and bad football business plans down their throats with a more practical
business solution. Sunday morning, the streets of downtown St. Louis were
filled with eager Packer fans, their pockets stuffed with cash, and a large
number of street-corner entrepreneurs with their pockets stuffed with ducats
they acquired from legions of unhappy season ticket-holders.

After the game, team president and de facto owner John Shaw came into the
"visiting" locker room with general manager Jay Zygmunt by his side. Shaw is
one of the more brilliant businessmen in NFL circles. He is a trained lawyer
with an unusual ability to make his bosses large piles of money, and an
influential behind-the-scenes NFL mover and shaker.

But for some unknown reason, this smart man seems to have a blind spot about
how his dysfunctional franchise operates. He wants you to believe the Rams are
just going through the normal cycle of a franchise's transition from champion
to rebuilding and back to contending again.

"This happens everywhere," he said when I asked him his reaction to all those
Rams fans disguised as Packer fans. I asked him again to be a bit more
specific, and he carefully chose his words like the smooth attorney that he is.

"It's disappointing," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I would expect our
fans would keep their tickets and come to the game rather than sell them to the
other team."

I asked him if he believed the disturbing scene at the Edward Jones Dome was a
sad statement about fair-weather football fans in this marketplace, or a far
more telling proclamation about the way he does business.

Again, shoulder shrugs. "I have no idea what it means," he said. "All I know is
that Green Bay fans somehow got tickets."

Well let me help him unravel the mystery. They've stopped blaming the players.
They've stopped blaming the coaches. They've stopped blaming the scouts and
general managers. Now they're just blaming the man who hired them.

[HUbison]

The truth of the matter though, is that on the company's Income Statement, this game was just another game. The organization already made their money. So will the look of green and yellow in the stands provoke change or does the look of green in the bank and black in the books spur the status quo?

[Rambos]

It was a big day in packer football, number 4 went into the books. SJ needs to stay pissed and bring it pne game day. This might be what it takes for him to become an all time great Rams running back. I like the way SJ is playing and he does not have an O line in front of him.

[rams 24/7]

Steven Jackson contract is up soon, and the way things are going he's not going to want to re-sign

[Keenum]

I don't think it's too long of a road trip for the Pack to make it to St.Louis, so it made since they got all the unsold tickets (or unwanted from other fans).

But I keep thinking of this: if the city of St.Louis keeps ignoring the Rams, there will be a time when other teams won't take up that slack and get those other tickets, and the team WILL move somewhere else.

[laram0]

Steven Jackson contract is up soon, and the way things are going he's not going to want to re-sign

He will resign if they improve the music in the DOME.

[Ram Dragoon]

If there isn't something to shake up FO, loss of $$$ will. Perhaps Shell and company will start making those changes to will bring back the Ram fans.

They can't count on high profile games everyweek to make up for revenue. How many Cards or Seahawk fans come to the dome to cheer them on?

[RAM-BO]

Steven Jackson contract is up soon, and the way things are going he's not going to want to re-sign

The way the attendance is at EJD, we don't deserve a player like Jackson.

[Keenum]

He will resign if they improve the music in the DOME.

lol.
But seriously, I saw the last part of the Packers game Sunday, and I heard the song "Girlfriend" by that Avril person...
this is FOOTBALL people, not a 4th grade girl's slumber party!

[yodachu]

lol.
But seriously, I saw the last part of the Packers game Sunday, and I heard the song "Girlfriend" by that Avril person...
this is FOOTBALL people, not a 4th grade girl's slumber party!

The way the Lams I mean Rams are playing, it looks like a 4th grade co-ed football slumber party and it is boys against girls and the Rams are the girls. Thats right, I just called the Rams girls.

[blood85]

What did you guys expect? Many fans are fairweahter. They will sell their tickets and go do other things when things are going bad. In LA/Anaheim, it was the same deal. Many times the stadium would be full of Bears fans, Steeler fans, 49er fans,etc, depending on who was winning at the time. Any idiot can cheer for a winner, (i.e. Lakers, Yankees, Cowboys etc), try cheering for a loser, now that is a fan to me. Look if we don't wan't opposing fans showing up by the thousands, yes thousands, START WINNING. I will always remain a diehard Rams fan, Maybe most fans in LA and STL are soft.

[HUbison]

Any idiot can cheer for a winner, (i.e. Lakers, Yankees, Cowboys etc), try cheering for a loser, now that is a fan to me.

I'd like to make 3 points on this statement:

1. If the Franklin Mint doesn't make a commemorative plate series based on this quote, the terrorists have won.

2. I would like to nominate blood85's estute observation for the ClanRam's 2007 Official Motto.

3. You don't have man marble follicle 1 if you don't make that your signature.

[txramsfan]

How many of you have 3 kids, a mortgage, car payments, orthodontist payments, and make about 45K a year with Christmas coming up and STILL have the disposable income to take a family of 4 or 5 to a professional sporting event at $50 a ticket pop, $8 sodas, $6 hotdogs to watch THAT team?

What is the most effective way for fans to get something turned around in this day and age? Booing? nope. Writing how they feel on websites? no way, they don't read this stuff. Answer: stop showing up. Stop buying jerseys. Stop buying hotel rooms. Stop buying nasty hot dogs. That will show the front office that what they are putting on the field is **** and we as fans aren't going to support that.

I honestly think that if sports fans were more like movie fans the product would be much improved, but I bet if that were the case and the Rams right now are the "Ishtar" of the NFL that some of you would STILL go see "Ishtar" blindly.

[HUbison]

How many of you have 3 kids, a mortgage, car payments, orthodontist payments, and make about 45K a year with Christmas coming up and STILL have the disposable income to take a family of 4 or 5 to a professional sporting event at $50 a ticket pop, $8 sodas, $6 hotdogs to watch THAT team?

What business does someone with 3 kids, a mortgage, car payments, orthodontist payments, making about 45K a year with Christmas coming up have spending their hard earned money on 4 or 5 PSL's and Season Tickets?

[txramsfan]

What business does someone with 3 kids, a mortgage, car payments, orthodontist payments, making about 45K a year with Christmas coming up have spending their hard earned money on 4 or 5 PSL's and Season Tickets?

I don't know HUb, it's about as confusing as our secondary