Re: appreciate the perspective

First off...
Thanks for all the kind words fellas. Much appreciated. Some forums are dominated by homers, and if one says anything negative about a Ram player, or Ram management move......
well, you run the risk of getting labelled as disloyal, pessimistic, negative. etc.
Nice to see guys here at The Herd are open to diverse opinion.

To answer JYB's question....my buddy Murray's reaction to his Seahawks play last Sunday pretty much mirrored the Seattle fans around us IE. not too worried in the first half about Seahawks winning, as Seattle had a 13-7 lead over us 30th Worst NFL Roster guys....and with the Metcalf TD, with how open he was in the corner after Kendricks bit so hard inside.....well, it gave those 12th Man Guys in the stands....
alot of sugarplums dancing in their heads IMO.

Oh, and one thing about Seattle......IT AIN'T PHILLY! In my past forays into Seahawk "enemy territory" I have never felt threatened or even "uneasy" festooned in my Ram gear. This year I wore the blue home Ferragamo #85 Jack Youngblood, and got props from other Rams fans in attendance (mostly wearing #99, and a few #10s). Heck, I even got a few positive comments from a couple of Seattle baby-boomer aged guys who remembered Youngblood's great play and heroics.

Speaking of remembering, let's recall that Seattle came into the NFL in 1976....IN THE AFC! They are not therefore the arch-rival to our Rams, IMHO anyway, like the historically despised archrival bastid 49ers. It was Paul Tagliabue who took my new 1976 AFC favorite team Seattle (I, growing up in bordertown Niagara Falls had decided to dump the local Buffalo Bills as my AFC Team) when I got posted to the WestCoast as a Canadian Naval Officer in 1976....the same year Seattle's Nordstrom Family bought the Seahawks Franchise.


So, full disclosure......I used to pull for Seattle (where I made alot of Kingdome car trips to, and had and still have alot of friends) against Al Davis's Raiders, whom I hated for invading LA....

....., and of course, my Rams were always Number One in my heart. Then Tagliabue screwed up my football world with his friggin' realignment, putting the plucky local Seahawks into the same division as my Rams. So....of course I am a diehard Rams fan (since 1967) , but honestly, to this day, I do not HATE Seattle to near the same level as those dickhead San Francisco 49ers.....going back to Charlie Krueger, Ted Kwalick, and Dave Wilcox!!!!

Anyway, back to JYB's question....when our Rams came out in the 3rd Quarter and marched down the field to score their TD and take a 14-13 lead, there was still no panic with Murray and the 12th Man army. No, no.....they all believed that stumblin' bumblin' Geno was going to find his range and Seattle would win their season opener. Even when after another one of Geno's 3rd Quarter 3&outs, I said to some of the friendlier Seahawk fans beside me (also ex-military guys, two brothers, one Navy and one USAF) that it looked like somebody should buy Geno a large Starbucks Triple Expresso, they guffawed saying that Seattle would prevail in the end.

Let's remember too, that even with the Rams 2nd Half shutout domination stats when the smoke cleared at games end.....our Rams only led 17-13 going into the 4th Quarter. Now that's not to say that the Seattle faithful might've sensed some foreboding doom as the 2nd Half wore on........boy they sure raised the 2nd Half decibels to "Threshold of Pain" levels during Stafford trying to call signals on Ram 3rd downs (think Nuremburg in 1936!!!).......but even if those 12th Man folks sensed any hint of defeat as the brilliant Stafford kept converting 2nd Half Ram 3rd downs (11 of 17 total), those loyal Hawk fans never revealed it......and moreover kept their strong-held faith that Geno would come around to NFL QB proficiency. It wasn't until Stafford's cool 4th down flip to Akers for his untouched TD, putting us up 24-13......with only 9:45 remaining in the game......that reality finally set-in for that disbelieving 12th Man Army (& Murray), and the boo-birds came out, and Seahawk Faithful just started a mass-exit for the parking lots.

In short, my Seahawk-fan buddy Murray was.........like most of that Lumen Field 68,683 crowd last Sunday....
in total disbelief. This Rams game was supposed to be "a soft one" on their schedule that was supposed to be a tune-up game for this week's Seattle game versus the highly-touted 2023 Detroit Lions.

And Seattle not only got defeated on the scoreboard, they couldn't get their D off the field on 3rd Downs, the Seahawks converted only 2 or 9 total 3rd Downs themselves......forced only ONE Ram punt, while punting 4 times plus their FG Doink ......
AND THEY GOT SHUTOUT IN THE SECOND HALF...IN THEIR HOUSE....BY THE 30TH WORST NFL ROSTER!!!

Yes......as poignantly stated......a pretty neat day for a visiting Rams fan foraying into Enemy Territory, and going home with the flag!!!

One serious note.....the Seattle fans, although stressed by their tough & unexpected Ram loss, were absolutely gracious to me and all visible Rams fans all through leaving the Stadium and throughout the final commuter train ride.
Very classy folks in the US Northwest!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2023 10:02AM by VancouverRam.