Report from Levi’s Stadium (long)

Game report from the poster formerly known as XXXIV_win (help from admins-- where'd all my other posts go?)

Maybe this post will get lost in the (entirely justified) hysteria around here. But to distract y’all from the Rams’ dumpster fire, here are some random observations from the stadium:

1. I snuck down and got really close to the Rams players during pre-game warmups. Eddie George was there to cheer on his buddy Fisher. A Rams fan next to me was screaming “Hey Tim Barnes, I had dinner with you last year!!” (Tim Barnes was friendly about it, gave him the thumbs up.) Jared Goff and Nelson Spruce walked out together in warm-up suits, they seem like buddies. Spruce had no obvious limp. Spruce did some catching drills nearby, you can tell that dude can catch ANYTHING. Pre-game I was concerned; many Rams players seemed to do the warm-up drills half-heartedly. I know you can’t do EVERYTHING like your life depended on it, but still-- I definitely did not get a sense of urgency. Mo Alexander casually stuck his hand up in the air and dropped a pass, GRob broke off a drill early and shuffled back to the line. (I do NOT mean to pick on those two in particular, they were just emblematic of the general ‘casual’ vibe.) Body language seemed to be, “OK, gotta warm up and get the body moving,” rather than “THIS is how you do it, train the muscle-memory, do it THIS way exactly every single time.” I don’t have enough experience watching warm-ups to know if my concern was valid. But my honest assessment was that the players were not as focused or as professional as I thought they would be.

2. A few Rams fans were there, not quite as many as I expected, maybe 1% of the total? As always, a pleasure to have the head-nods and thumbs-up signs from fellow Rams fans in enemy territory.

3. Throughout the game there were planes flying overhead from the nearby San Jose airport—that BS Tom Ridge report about “Inglewood stadium being too close to LAX” is ridiculous. And the two fighter jets zooming low overhead at the conclusion of the anthem was truly amazing, the pilots went full-throttle. A passenger plane vs. a jet was like a turtle vs. Usain Bolt. I have never, ever, ever, seen anything move that fast in my entire life. Awe inspiring.

4. The game was an abomination, but hey, I think I made it onto national TV. During Monday Night Countdown there was a sea of red in the background behind the announcers, with one conspicuous middle-aged dude with a goatee holding up a sky-blue Rams T-shirt. The dude was me, trying to represent for our team. I forgot to record the pre-game show at home, so if anyone noticed my moment of glory at 6:10 PM Pacific Time—please confirm I did indeed make it on air!

5. The most notable incident came in garbage time when the Niners inserted Kaepernick. On TV, you couldn’t really hear the crowd noise (and Young and Berman made only a brief reference to it), but at the stadium the boos for Kaepernick were REALLY loud. Some fans were holding up their middle finger, and one guy in a Niner jersey made the ‘throat slash’ gesture. I have never, ever, seen a crowd so hostile to a player on the ‘home’ team. (And BTW, I’m not making a point one way or the other about Kaepernick’s protest-- I am merely taking note of the crowd’s intense reaction).

6. Mark Barron! Johnny Hekker! Kenny Britt! Sigh…..

7. Reactions post-game: one guy standing next to a pillar with his #91 Kevin Greene jersey on, looking so forlorn like he was gonna cry. Another Rams fan just shaking his head saying “No Bueno.” A cheerful heavy-set lady in the parking lot shouting, “We’ll get ‘em next time!” And a longer chat with a fellow Rams fan on the way out, discussing the fate of Fisher, and him saying goodbye to me with the reassuring words, “Hang in there.” Cripes, is that the unofficial motto for Rams fans— “Hang in there?!?!?”

8. I’d heard nightmares about the traffic after the game at Levi’s, but it was well-coordinated and smooth. (How awful is it that one highlight of our day was, “Hey, the traffic wasn’t as bad as expected!”)

9. Despite everything, my wife and I had a pretty decent time overall. On the way out we took turn doing impressions of Tavon’s ridiculous sideline stutter-steps. Maybe the excitement of game day and watching the Rams live took some of the sting out of it. I’m enough of a fan and a masochist to re-watch and analyze the game, but jeez, it must have been worse having to experience this train-wreck while listening to Chris Berman and Steve Young.

So there you have it. I’ve had the privilege to watch the Rams live about ten times in my life, and it’s always memorable and exciting. (Rams are about 50-50 in games I’ve watched in person; best victories were destroying the Saints in ’99 at the Dome, and Wilkins beating the Bears with a last-second FG at Soldier Field in 2003.)

We’re splurging this year and going to two games at the Coliseum, vs. the Bills and the Panthers. Maybe this week vs. the Hawks they’ll stick to their recent pattern: an unforgivable, soul-crushing loss followed by a strong performance giving false hope.

--XXXIVwin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2016 03:03PM by steve_o320.