St. Louis fans honor Rams legends indoors, trash Stan Kroenke outsideEric Edholm
Shutdown Corner
[
sports.yahoo.com]
ST. LOUIS — Jeff Schnurbusch spent his hard-earned money on his beloved St. Louis Rams for more than 20 years, but he has made his final two purchases toward the team whose owner broke his and thousands of others’ hearts when the franchise moved to Los Angeles.
One was a ticket to Saturday’s Legends of the Dome game that honored the great Rams teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The other was a custom-made Rams jersey with one clear message.
That would be Stan Kroenke, perhaps the most hated man in Missouri. As much as Saturday’s event was a celebration for most of the Rams legends that lit this city on fire starting in 1999, it also served as another painful memory of the team that the city now has lost, the second time in 30 years an NFL left St. Louis behind.
“It’s going to be retired after today,” Schnurbusch said before the game. “I am going to try to get the players to sign it. Then I am going to make a shadowbox and it’s going to be the only Rams memorabilia that I’ll own.
“We had these players who won us a Super Bowl in St. Louis. And ‘Suck It Stan’ reveals my dislike for us getting shafted by a guy who was supported this city.”
Schnurbusch was not the only one. Inside The Dome at America’s Center it was a comfy 72 degrees for the flag football game to sponsor the Isaac Bruce Foundation to support health, wellness, nutrition, fitness and education for children.
But outside, it was 97 degrees without a cloud in sight. Yet dozens of tailgate groups parked and partied hours before for one last time as Rams fans. The smoke from the charcoal grills only added to the heat. But the Kroenke cranked the mercury up even more.
“I don’t want to hear Stan’s name,” said Bob Aebel, another tortured Rams fan. “Today has nothing to do with Stan. This is for Isaac Bruce’s charity and to honor these Rams players.”
Added another 20-year Rams supporter, Steve Norwood: “They played us. We go from the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ to whatever we had the past few years … and this is how they play us? We’re heartbroken! We’re really heartbroken.”
Bruce was the pied piper for the game, which pitted some of the best Rams legends from the glory days against each other. Mike Martz coached the Blue Team featuring Kurt Warner, Bruce, Pro Football Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams, Ricky Proehl and others. The White Team, coached by Dick Vermeil, was led by Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, soon-to-be Pro Football Hall of Famer Orlando Pace and more. (Marshall Faulk was one big-name player from that era who did not show.)
There was joy and pro football — sort of — for one more day in St. Louis. The team that put the fun back in the NFL passing game in 1999 relived the good times. On the first drive, Warner hit Proehl, who gave his signature first first-down demonstration. Then Warner hit Bruce on a corner route for the first touchdown of the day and the first of the final “Bruuuuuuuuce” chants to ever rain down in the dome. At the end, Bruce led a “Bob & Weave” celebration from back in the heyday.
On the White team’s first play, Holt caught an 80-yard touchdown from Bulger. “I’m home,” Holt said to the sideline reporter over the Dome PA system.
The fans — several thousand of them — ate it up. For a brief moment, they could close their eyes and it was just like old times when Warner and Co. used to blow the roof off the joint on a weekly basis in the fall. The participants marveled at the attendance and the response.
“I am amazed at the crowd,” Vermeil told Shutdown Corner. “I am amazed at how many people there are. I didn’t anticipate this kind of reception. I came to a game here a couple years ago and there weren’t too many more people here than there are today.”
