My Charlotte story

With the 3 of us still recovering from the Super Bowl loss in Atlanta, the Ramsrule clan decides to make the 2.5 hour trek to Charlotte to see the Rams open the season versus the Panthers. A bittersweet game for me due to some personal reasons –

- I’ve never seen the Rams win in person in Charlotte (0-2)
- I was in attendance for the Kurt Warner “return from the broken pinky” game back in 2000 where he proceeded to throw 4 INT’s in a 16 – 3 stankydank of a loss. And did I mention that temps were in the 20’s with windchills in the single digits, making it an even more painful loss (literally)
- The last game I attended at BOA Stadium was with Jerry Reynolds (aka GRITS) back in 2004. I’ll never forget him beating the crap out of the seat in front of him as the Rams struggled mightily behind Chris Chandler to a 20-7 loss

I'm not sure I've ever posted these pics....... man, I've changed just a little since then -




There were a lot of demons that needed to be exorcised on Sunday – was this going to be the case, or were we going to be the reason the Rams start out the 2019 season 0-1, and I go 0-3?

We drove in on Saturday, and left immediately after the game. Stayed downtown, within walking distance from the stadium (.7 of a mile) and directly next to the NASCAR Hall Of Fame.

I let my son pick out one thing to do on Saturday morning, and then we were going to hit the HOF in the afternoon since we were staying across the street from it, and none of us had ever been to it.

He chose an aquarium that was located in a shopping mall in Concord, just outside of Charlotte, of all places?! I was doubting how cool it would be, but it actually turned out to be fun all things considered. Several Rams fans were there with their small children. We were in Rams gear also, so we tossed out the obligatory “Go Rams” and exchanged fist bumps to any that we came across. My son was digging it.

We then hit HOF and had a good time there. The place was at least 50/50 Rams fans versus general public. The usher at the main movie theater (the first thing you do after entering the HOF) noticed our gear as we came up to get in line, and said “You’re going to be really happy….. you’ve got plenty of friends in the building.” She was right.



Since the family was tired and it was in the same building, we hit the Buffalo Wild Wings after the HOF tour for dinner (since RamUK had other plans – by the way, I think he was avoiding us even though he reached out and wanted to hook up at some point prior to the game - more about that later).

This was the ONLY time the entire weekend that we caught any level of flack from Panthers fans. A server noticed us at our table and came by, pointing at the Alabama – NM State score on one of the TV’s and stating “That’s what the Panthers are going to do to your team tomorrow….” Heck, he was so sure about it that he felt the need to do it twice. ;-/ I don’t talk smack so I didn’t even respond other than a loud laugh. But as others have said, the Charlotte people are very hospitable and polite. We were treated very well by almost everyone we came across.

Part of this is due to the fact that we beat the Saints in the NFC Championship game – I had several tell me that they became instant Rams fans for life after that game, with the Rams having a small place in their hearts forever. I thought that was pretty damn cool.

The temp is supposed to be low 90’s with high humidity. I decide to break tradition, and NOT wear my Jack Youngblood jersey - opting for a Gurley color-rush model instead. Maybe this was the reason for his struggles initially? LOL



UK had asked me a couple of weeks back about where to sit to get in the shade - and I told him that there was no shade in that damn soup bowl for 1 PM games due to the way the stadium is built. I was partially wrong - looks as if the upper tank end zone area opposite of us (we were in 501) does get shade from the new massive scoreboards. So anyone making the trip in the future needs to keep this in mind. I think he ended up in 511, which basically put the sun directly in his face. LOL

We get settled into our seats about 45 minutes before kickoff. The usher for our section notices us trying to take a group selfie and asks if we would like for him to take a picture of us instead. We accepted his gracious offer…..



As I always do, I’m tuned in to one person and one person only - Greg Zuerlein. I watch his pregame warmups like a hawk. Not sure why since he almost never misses. It started with his rookie season - myself and Ungulate watching him kick the ball into the net off of the Rams logo during pregame against the Seahawks, and then he proceeds to hit from 60 and 58 during the actual game (plus two others). Man, myself and Julian had a blast berating Pete Carroll from behind the Seahag’s bench that day…. I miss that dude. RIP brother! Back to Greg… he’s looking sharp as he hits from 62 to wrap up his kicks going our direction. His longest attempt going the other direction was a miss from 57. I thought that to be a little odd…. I mean, he never misses….. Right?

About 15 minutes until kickoff and the stadium is about half full. Not sure where everyone’s at. Church maybe? I know the game’s a sell out. I decide to hit the head one more time before kickoff…. And run into this massive wall of humanity in the concourses. It looks like a triage ward in a post apocalyptic warzone - tattered clothes, sweat everywhere, people looking like they’ve just come in from the front lines. Really people? You only have 3.5 more hours of suffering to go…. LOL! It’s not THAT hot - go watch your team get beaten down from your seats instead of wandering around the concourses aimlessly.

At this point, I get a text from UK - he’s stuck trying to get into the stadium. Won’t be hooking up with him until half-time, which I knew wouldn't happen either after seeing the zombie horde in the concourses a few minutes ago. (There was no way we could ever get to each other and back to our seats in 12 minutes time. I was right. It didn’t happen. LOL! He got stuck in a drink line and I got stuck in a bathroom line along with having to wait for my son to get through the drink line in our area.) Maybe next time, Tim!! ;-)



As the game begins, the four seats in front of me are empty. Sweet…. More leg room. Stays this way for about half the quarter. The people finally show - guess why they were late? No, they didn’t go out to eat soul food before the game, they were at church. ;-) Got to have priorities, you know. The guy introduces himself…. I think his name was Jack. Older dood - probably close to 60. Asks me about my Ram fandom. I tell him I’m a fan back from the 70’s - he tells me he’s a Vikings fan from the 70’s - I contemplate kicking him over the upper tank railing, but think better of it. We reminisce about how much I hate the Vikings for what they did to us back then - he brings up the Mud Bowl. I’ve got nothing. No smack talk… just fun banter between the two of us. Heck, our section as a whole was really on their best behavior. Not one person talked any junk to us the entire game.

As for the game, it felt kind of similar to the NFC Championship in New Orleans - the Rams were not sharp, but were battling hard. In prior years, this team would have been blown out of both of those games. But this team just finds ways to stay in these types of games more times than not. It wasn't the prettiest of wins in my opinion, but it’s a win against a pretty good team, on the road. I’m not complaining, and 65,000 Panthers fans would have traded places with us in a heartbeat if given the opportunity.

My son was happy…. He got to see his first Rams TD’s in person - only took him 3 games to see one (2016 home opener in LA vs. Seattle 9-3 and SB 53 were his prior 2 games). I told him afterwards that if they hadn't scored one, that would have been the last Rams game I was taking him to.

The usher who took our picture came up to me after the game to shake my hand and congratulate me for breaking my personal 0’fer at BOA Stadium (I had shared my story with him during the photo-op). I thought that to be pretty damn classy.

Now that we’ve gotten the starter’s preseason game out of the way……

BRING ON THE F’N SAINTS!!