2/2/14
I sit here tonight on super sunday a broken spirited man...The big game sucks. Seattle has just scored their 43rd point. And on top of all of this, it is looking like a very real possibility that my beloved St. Louis will be without a football team within the next few years.
Many people are saying that this is just a negotiating ploy by silent Stan Kroenke to strengthen his hand at the poker table with the city of St. Louis. This is a very real possibility, but I am not optimistic about it. I’m sure Stan is a shrewd business man, but something in this whole mess just smells like a big pile of shit. He has not made his thoughts on the matter known at all, and meanwhile a fanbase waits in baited breath while the powers that be on both sides play chess.
I’m inclined at times to say, “Fuck you, Stan. And the NFL can kiss my dick too.” It’s all a business and we the fans do not have all that much say in the matter.
Let’s look at this situation: Los Angeles is the 2nd largest media market in the country. St. Louis is a great sports town, but we can’t bring the clout like LA. Despite what Roger Goodell says, the NFL wants a team in LA and they do not want it to be an expansion team due to that meaning there would be another team to share television revenues with. This means that the developers in LA that own land with the intent to bring football back will most likely need to do so with a team that already exists. The Rams were there once before and Stan just bought 60 acres. You don’t have to be a mathematician to do this math.
Much the way a politician’s sole purpose in life is to be reelected, it is Stan Kroenke’s sole drive to make money. He will do whatever is more lucrative for him in this situation. In my humble opinion, the only way the Rams stay in St. Louis is if the LA deal falls apart. This is not beyond the realm of possibility, as there is a near infinite amount of red tape to surpass to develop a site with the intention of building something as large as a football stadium. What scares me about this is the fact that Enos Stanley Kroenke knows this and is prepared. Case in point: Bill McClellan wrote in his weekend column that “the land deal in Los Angeles went down on Jan. 13. The buyer was a holding company in care of a lawyer from a firm that advised Silent Stan when he bought an English soccer team. Nobody in the press made the connection. This newspaper and the Los Angeles times both published stories Thursday night. In other words, the story was 17 days old and the two papers broke the story within 10 minutes of each other.”
In even more other words, This was an old story with things that took place behind the scenes and it was leaked to the media by someone. Plus, Stan is using the same network of individuals that helped him buy a Barclays Premier League soccer team. Like Mr. McClellan, it is interesting to me that Kroenke went through these channels. If he wanted to force St. Louis’ hand by leaking this story, why use a holding company? And why wait 17 days? I don’t like this.
I haven’t liked this or Stan since the press conference he gave when the Rams hired Jeff Fisher. The old man wore a smirk under his stupid mustache when asked about the future of the franchise that said, “I’m in charge and there’s nothing that anyone can do about it. Heheh. Kneel before Stan!!!” This is a guy that was named after two St. Louis Cardinals baseball legends. And if all of this goes down the way that I am afraid that it will, then you can rest assured that Stan will flee his home state of Missouri for fear that he will be put to death for the crime of treason. You cannot be brought up in this part of the country with two Cardinal namesakes only to gain billions and turn your back on us. To do so would be the admittance that he hath no soul.
I can be honest and say that I have always hated the fact that teams can move from city to city and keep the same nickname. The first St. Louis football team I was familiar with was the football Cardinals at the age of three. One of my cups that I played with in the bathtub was a St. Louis football Cardinals cup and I remember being confused as a toddler when my dad told me they were moving to Phoenix. I had no clue where this Phoenix was, but I knew there was something wrong with the Cardinals now becoming the “Phoenix Cardinals.” I must admit that I had trouble thinking of the Rams as St. Louis’ team because I had the ripe thoughts of them being the LA Rams. Other kids who grew up with them here will no doubt be confused if they leave though. I personally think the nicknames should stay with the cities, but I guess I’m off on a tangent now.
The bottom line is that money rules all, and the fans be damned. Sad but true. And if you should help take the NFL from us again, Enos Kroenke, then I hope karma rips your face off.
I have been in the middle of a serious NBA team identity crisis for years now. (Just ask my girlfriend, brother, or cousin, Tyson.) If the Rams leave then I suppose I should be thinking about who I will throw my support towards in the future. Perhaps the Titans, Chiefs, or Bears. My mom and stepdad live near the Titans, I live closest to the Chiefs, and I used to live near the Bears. My mental health already isn't great, and if I have to pick a new NFL team then it will surely take another turn for the worst. I have mild OCD when it comes to having to have favorite teams in each league...But that is a blog for another day.
How can Stan Kroenke live with himself knowing he is toying with folks' mental health? He is quite possibly very evil. That's how.
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