Trip and game report. Long.
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Four of us left Casa Grande, AZ at 4:30 AM on Saturday. Saguaro and Mrs Saguaro, ArizonaRamFan and his wife, embraceable ewe83.
An uneventful drive and we checked into a hotel near LAX, then went down to the beach. The weather was very pleasant, we took off our shoes and got our feet wet in the surf, and enjoyed the ambience. Had some delicious fish tacos.
Then we made plans to meet with Speedkills for dinner. Speed and his buddy Sidney had flown from DC for this game. Never met my good friend in person before, though we correspond and talk regularly. I was excited.
He heard a recommendation for a seafood place on the beach - Gladstones in Pacific Palisades, so we made reservations, and we met there just a half hour before sundown. We ate out on the patio, just over the ocean, with gentle waves and seabird cries, and had some great fresh seafood all cooked up together: mussels, oysters, dungeness crab, lobster, scallops.
Speedy is tall and handsome, and has the smoothest voice ever. The ladies were definitely impressed.
I sat next to his friend Sidney and we had a great time talking mutual interests like James Bond and just laughing a lot.
That's one of those dinners that I will always remember for the friendship and humor and the sheer delight of being with people you love.
Our waiter was a young Ram fan, too, and expressed enthusiasm about tomorrow's game, and gave us extra attention.
After talking into the night, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep for an early start to gameday. In the morning we drove to a park and ride out in Pasadena and left our car there. We rode the gold line rail into Union station and then two more rail colors to Expo park. It was kind of fun on the way to the game, but cattle cars most of the way back.
We were there at about 9:30 AM. The day would be hot, and the morning started warm already. A radio station had a Ram fanfest going on. I had forgotten my sunglasses at the car, but got some free Ram sunglasses at the fanfest. Score! I won a Ram towel by throwing a football through a target hoop. So did my wife. Then ARF did it, too. Not that hard, I guess, lol. That towel came in handy during the game when my forearms were starting to burn and I used it to shade them.
We began wandering through a bunch of picnics on the north lawn outside of Gate 23. Rampage2K had said he would be in that area, so I kept scouting. Finally I spotted a guy that might be him. I approached and said "hey, do you ever read the Herd board?" He said "Yes I do! Who would you be?" I said "Saguaro".
Sure enough it was R2K! Almost immediately another friend came over and introduced himself. It was Sacram! We joined their party. Pretty soon I got a phone call from JamesJM. "Saguaro, are you wearing a white Faulk jersey?" "Yep". "Then I'm right behind you." JamesJM with his talented and smiling grandsons!
This was really getting fun. We were out there in the sun, and shade when we could find it, for several hours together. R2K offered me a much needed refreshment. Thanks, my friend!
As I was sitting in the shade, a hand gripped my shoulder and a voice said "Hey, Saguaro, good to see you!" It was Ramsrule! There with his family. He looks great, folks. He must have marvelous powers of recovery. That was a great, great moment!
As game time neared, the group packed up and headed into the stadium. I was still out on the lawn when I saw a young face I recognized and hailed him. It was our waiter from Gladstones! Wow, I guess LA isn't that big of a town after all! He handed a me an ice cold beer, and I chugged it before we headed in through Gate 23, because it was a thirsty day, and free is always good.
I probably won't be mentioned in the game credits, but I did my best throughout to assist the officials in making their calls, and repeating their signals on Seahawk penalties. I did this for the benefit of the hawk fan contingent seated above and to our left.
"Yes, that call was against YOUR team! Here's the signal. Yes, it was an OPI! Yes, it wiped a big gain. What a shame! Here, let me signal that for you one more time, you poor, confused b*)()&_*s"
The game.
What a crowd! What an historic day for LA Ram fans! What fun! We stayed loud and proud all through the heat and sun, and sent the hags and their fans home drooping.
RW may have been limited a bit, but I give full credit to the Ram defense. They were really on point yesterday from start to finish. Almost all the big Seahawk plays were just good execution on their part, not big breakdowns by the Rams. 9 to 3 may sound like a boring score, but it creates tension throughout the entire game as either team was one big play away from changing everything! The Rams never let the Seahawks cash that big play in.
Facemask penalties played a part. The Rams' first scoring drive would have been stopped, but for a facemask committed against Gurley. Later, grabbing Keenum's facemask cost them another penalty that allowed a Ram drive to continue, significantly changing the clock and field position, even though the Rams didn't score. It was good to see the other team make a few critical mistakes.
I'm not down on Keenum, but he clearly comes with limitations. Early in the game, it was shocking to see the Seahawks with 10 players up at the line of scrimmage and just 1 safety sitting back deep. Their strategy was obvious. Don't let Gurley, or Austin beat them running. Make CK win with his arm if he can!
And Keenum did just enough to win. He threw and completed enough verticals to make them start backing out of that box at least a little bit.
Some great catches by Britt and Kendricks. I was also encouraged by seeing TA get open and make a couple of very good grabs downfield. They're trying, folks!
I'll echo others. Troy Hill is good enough to give us solid corner play until Gaines is ready. He cramped up in the 4th, and that may have allowed Lockett to get that reception, but otherwise he did just fine.
Starting the 3rd quarter, each team seemed determined to use the running game and the heat to beat down the other. And both had mixed success. I saw Seahawks with their hands on their hips between plays and kept waiting for Gurley to break something, but give the other guys credit, too. They play with great discipline and don't make mistakes. Every time it looked like he had the beginnings of a lane, someone came in and filled it.
How Pete Carroll didn't get an ejection, or even a flag, for his behavior is beyond me.
Alec Ogletree may be at the beginning of an intriguing story. In fiction, we love characters who change, and adapt, and overcome. I thought he not only played extremely well, but is leading this defense now, and had them ready for just about everything the Seahawks tried to do. I'm starting to love the guy. It was fitting that he made the strip and recovery that ended things.
Onward and upward!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2016 12:33PM by Saguaro.
An uneventful drive and we checked into a hotel near LAX, then went down to the beach. The weather was very pleasant, we took off our shoes and got our feet wet in the surf, and enjoyed the ambience. Had some delicious fish tacos.
Then we made plans to meet with Speedkills for dinner. Speed and his buddy Sidney had flown from DC for this game. Never met my good friend in person before, though we correspond and talk regularly. I was excited.
He heard a recommendation for a seafood place on the beach - Gladstones in Pacific Palisades, so we made reservations, and we met there just a half hour before sundown. We ate out on the patio, just over the ocean, with gentle waves and seabird cries, and had some great fresh seafood all cooked up together: mussels, oysters, dungeness crab, lobster, scallops.
Speedy is tall and handsome, and has the smoothest voice ever. The ladies were definitely impressed.
I sat next to his friend Sidney and we had a great time talking mutual interests like James Bond and just laughing a lot.
That's one of those dinners that I will always remember for the friendship and humor and the sheer delight of being with people you love.
Our waiter was a young Ram fan, too, and expressed enthusiasm about tomorrow's game, and gave us extra attention.
After talking into the night, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep for an early start to gameday. In the morning we drove to a park and ride out in Pasadena and left our car there. We rode the gold line rail into Union station and then two more rail colors to Expo park. It was kind of fun on the way to the game, but cattle cars most of the way back.
We were there at about 9:30 AM. The day would be hot, and the morning started warm already. A radio station had a Ram fanfest going on. I had forgotten my sunglasses at the car, but got some free Ram sunglasses at the fanfest. Score! I won a Ram towel by throwing a football through a target hoop. So did my wife. Then ARF did it, too. Not that hard, I guess, lol. That towel came in handy during the game when my forearms were starting to burn and I used it to shade them.
We began wandering through a bunch of picnics on the north lawn outside of Gate 23. Rampage2K had said he would be in that area, so I kept scouting. Finally I spotted a guy that might be him. I approached and said "hey, do you ever read the Herd board?" He said "Yes I do! Who would you be?" I said "Saguaro".
Sure enough it was R2K! Almost immediately another friend came over and introduced himself. It was Sacram! We joined their party. Pretty soon I got a phone call from JamesJM. "Saguaro, are you wearing a white Faulk jersey?" "Yep". "Then I'm right behind you." JamesJM with his talented and smiling grandsons!
This was really getting fun. We were out there in the sun, and shade when we could find it, for several hours together. R2K offered me a much needed refreshment. Thanks, my friend!
As I was sitting in the shade, a hand gripped my shoulder and a voice said "Hey, Saguaro, good to see you!" It was Ramsrule! There with his family. He looks great, folks. He must have marvelous powers of recovery. That was a great, great moment!
As game time neared, the group packed up and headed into the stadium. I was still out on the lawn when I saw a young face I recognized and hailed him. It was our waiter from Gladstones! Wow, I guess LA isn't that big of a town after all! He handed a me an ice cold beer, and I chugged it before we headed in through Gate 23, because it was a thirsty day, and free is always good.
I probably won't be mentioned in the game credits, but I did my best throughout to assist the officials in making their calls, and repeating their signals on Seahawk penalties. I did this for the benefit of the hawk fan contingent seated above and to our left.
"Yes, that call was against YOUR team! Here's the signal. Yes, it was an OPI! Yes, it wiped a big gain. What a shame! Here, let me signal that for you one more time, you poor, confused b*)()&_*s"
The game.
What a crowd! What an historic day for LA Ram fans! What fun! We stayed loud and proud all through the heat and sun, and sent the hags and their fans home drooping.
RW may have been limited a bit, but I give full credit to the Ram defense. They were really on point yesterday from start to finish. Almost all the big Seahawk plays were just good execution on their part, not big breakdowns by the Rams. 9 to 3 may sound like a boring score, but it creates tension throughout the entire game as either team was one big play away from changing everything! The Rams never let the Seahawks cash that big play in.
Facemask penalties played a part. The Rams' first scoring drive would have been stopped, but for a facemask committed against Gurley. Later, grabbing Keenum's facemask cost them another penalty that allowed a Ram drive to continue, significantly changing the clock and field position, even though the Rams didn't score. It was good to see the other team make a few critical mistakes.
I'm not down on Keenum, but he clearly comes with limitations. Early in the game, it was shocking to see the Seahawks with 10 players up at the line of scrimmage and just 1 safety sitting back deep. Their strategy was obvious. Don't let Gurley, or Austin beat them running. Make CK win with his arm if he can!
And Keenum did just enough to win. He threw and completed enough verticals to make them start backing out of that box at least a little bit.
Some great catches by Britt and Kendricks. I was also encouraged by seeing TA get open and make a couple of very good grabs downfield. They're trying, folks!
I'll echo others. Troy Hill is good enough to give us solid corner play until Gaines is ready. He cramped up in the 4th, and that may have allowed Lockett to get that reception, but otherwise he did just fine.
Starting the 3rd quarter, each team seemed determined to use the running game and the heat to beat down the other. And both had mixed success. I saw Seahawks with their hands on their hips between plays and kept waiting for Gurley to break something, but give the other guys credit, too. They play with great discipline and don't make mistakes. Every time it looked like he had the beginnings of a lane, someone came in and filled it.
How Pete Carroll didn't get an ejection, or even a flag, for his behavior is beyond me.
Alec Ogletree may be at the beginning of an intriguing story. In fiction, we love characters who change, and adapt, and overcome. I thought he not only played extremely well, but is leading this defense now, and had them ready for just about everything the Seahawks tried to do. I'm starting to love the guy. It was fitting that he made the strip and recovery that ended things.
Onward and upward!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2016 12:33PM by Saguaro.
