By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Jul. 25 2008
MEQUON, Wis. — There aren't that many perfect days in the life of a pro
football coach, but this was as close as it could get for Scott Linehan.
He had spent the past year suffering through the gawdawful nightmare of a 3-13
season, and waited seven exasperating months for the opportunity to purge any
memory of 2007 from his coaching resume. But here he was late Thursday
afternoon with an easy smile on his face. That misery had been exchanged, at
least momentarily, with the liberating feeling of a fresh new start to a
football season.
"I've been waiting for this day since the last game of the season," Linehan
said shortly after he and the Rams arrived at Concordia University on the eve
of summer training camp. So here he was in this little slice of football
heaven, cruising along in the parking lot just outside the team's dormitory
headquarters in his personal golf cart, feeling a cool breeze in his face, and
admiring an absolutely breathtaking view from a bluff overlooking clear blue
Lake Michigan.
There's no better day in a football coach's life than the start of the season
when the record is clean and the possibilities are endless. For Linehan, that
means a chance to rid the troublesome prefix of "embattled" from his name.
With a revamped coaching staff, a roster sprinkled with a few impressive
rookies, healthy veterans and wealthy free agents, Linehan believes the
organization has done enough to ensure that the history of that 3-13 train
wreck won't repeat itself.
"I remember standing on the sidelines during that last game with Arizona (a
48-19 loss)," Linehan said. "It was a tough season, a tough finish to a season,
and (defensive back) Todd Johnson walked up to me and said, 'You know we'll be
back. We're going to have a chance to show everyone that this is not an
indication of what kind of people we are, what kind of team we are.' I remember
thinking, 'Man I can't wait to actually show that.'"
That time has arrived, and you could see how anxious Linehan was for Friday
morning to arrive and to assemble all his players for that first 9:15 team
meeting that officially starts camp. The players' first official workout won't
be until a 4:20 p.m. practice. But there is a potential glitch lurking out
there, an unsettling little buzz that was circulating around Coburg Hall, the
players' dormitory, on Thursday evening.
Steven Jackson wasn't on the team charter to Wisconsin and hadn't arrived at
camp, and many of the players were privately concerned that the Pro Bowl
running back and most irreplaceable part of the offense was about to stage a
holdout.
Oh boy.
Let me be the first to say that's not exactly the best way for Year Three of
the Linehan Era to begin. As of Thursday night, team president Jay Zygmunt was
burning the midnight oil, exchanging contract proposals with Jackson's new
agent, Eugene Parker. Jackson is in the last year of his rookie contract and
has been engaged in contract talks for a while with the Rams, but those talks
stalled when his old agent essentially fired him. Parker came into the picture
about two months ago, and the Indiana-based attorney is not afraid to use a
training camp holdout as clout.
While Parker is hammering out details with the Rams, he is also involved in a
simultaneous game of contract chicken right down the road from Rams camp with
the Chicago Bears over their young star kick returner/wide receiver Devin
Hester. Hester failed to show up Wednesday in Bourbonnais, Ill., for the start
of Bears camp, and as of Thursday had not come to terms.
I can already hear the sounds of the Jackson haters freaking out, but let me
remind you of one important thing about the nature of life in the National
Football League.
History tells us that based on the shabby treatment of retired players by the
players union and the owners, who quibble with these battered and disabled old
warriors over pensions and health benefits, that an active player would be a
damned fool not to try to squeeze every single dime out of management when he
has the leverage to do it.
Steven Jackson has that leverage right now.
I don't know whether he'll be in camp this morning or not. But if he and his
agent think this is the best way to get a fair contract, more power to him.
Yes, it is sad indeed. Disappointing. ...Jax, come on down!
Linear Mode
