[Elvis]

http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLcom/S ... art-2.aspx

Gray: Dear Stan Kroenke (Part 2)

Shane Gray posted on January 25, 2016 01:01

Dear Stan Kroenke (Part 2),

This may not be a particularly well-written letter, but considering the fact that you aren't deserving of a well-crafted missive, a poorly penned one is perfectly appropriate and works well.

Stan, it is probably a good thing that I got sick shortly after the NFL allowed the Rams to transfer back to Los Angeles, or the coming letter would have been written much sooner and would likely be far less friendly than the cordial message shared below.

Speaking of sick, you seem to be a rather sick, delusional and out-of-touch human being. I refuse to call you a man. You aren't deserving of such a moniker. A man honors his word and is truthful. You, Stan, are far from a man. You were dishonest with us in 2010 when telling Bernie Miklasz that you would do all you could to keep the Rams in St. Louis and that we could trust you.

Truth is, you didn't do anything to try to keep the Rams in St. Louis and you sure as he** can't be trusted.

In your relocation proposal, you spoke of St. Louis and this market as if it were some sort of third world city. You berated fans -- who faithfully supported your pathetic, sorry-a$$ product -- for not bowing down and worshipping you enough with their dollars at the gates of the Edward Jones Dome all while you plotted your exit and provided a losing product year after year.

You had the nerve to mention "beloved Cardinals" while questioning Rams fans' loyalty when knowing well that the Cardinals have produced a consistently elite product and their ownership has been loyal to St. Louis. On the other hand, you routinely served up a pathetic product and proved to be as disloyal as they come.

Days after your repulsive relocation proposal, you shared comments and a statement that further insulted St. Louis, the citizens of the city and Show-Me State residents alike in an effort to tell us how much you really love us. Stan, actions are indicative of a man or woman's love, and your actions showed no love. If this is how you love people, please keep your love to yourself and share it with you new friends in Cali. We don't want it... or anything whatsoever to do with you, for that matter.

While your aforementioned relocation proposal made it crystal clear that you were in no way considering any type of St. Louis option after you won arbitration at the beginning of 2013, your CED (Chief Executive Deceiver) Kevin Demoff was still telling us in late 2014 that the goal was to remain in St. Louis. Many of us put trust into your whiny mouthpiece, but, in the end, he proved to be just as disingenuous and untruthful as you.

Over the summer, Demoff told me that "STL is a real option, always has been." Sure thing, Kevin. At one point Deceptive Demoff told fans "it's going to get worse before it gets better." I'm guessing Disingenuous Demoff must have been meaning that the Rams are likely to return to St. Louis circa 2050, eh?

Stan, you and your boy Kevin were so hopelessly out of touch that -- just weeks before getting approved to abandon St. Louis like a cheap hooker -- he contacted me and had strong enough blinders on and enough nerve inside him to complain about a tweet I sent out suggesting that the Rams were an awful organization.

Kevin said, "Shane, I have to say I was disappointed with your tweet today agreeing that we are an awful organization. We have always been fair with you and treated you with respect, I would hope for the same from you. Although you and the fans have every right to be frustrated by the events of the year, we have continued to work hard to deliver a better game day experience. I would have thought you could separate emotion from fact. I hope you will reconsider your position as we head towards Thursday."

Amazingly, Stan, after not posting a winning record since 2003, with you saying nothing to the fans since early 2012 and with you being dead set on moving the club 2,000 miles west, Kevin still wanted to point to minor game day experience enhancements as late as December 17 rather than -- you know -- the cross-country move threat or yet another losing season.

Flat. out. amazing.

Stan, did you or Kevin REALLY think that anyone gave a flip about the game day experience this year when they doubted if they would even have a game day experience in 2016? Does anyone REALLY think that the game day experience mattered after sucking for twelve straight years while the team was working feverishly to move halfway across the nation?

Kevin asked me to separate emotion from fact. Ok. Here are some facts:

-The Rams did not produce a winning record since 2003.

-The Rams did not make the playoffs since 2004.

-The Rams produced the worst five year won-loss record of all-time (2007-2011).

-The Rams did not post a winning record in the six seasons since you took over in 2010 (2010-2015).

-The Rams generated four winning records in 21 St. Louis campaigns.

In short, when reviewing the facts that Kevin asked me to consider, Stan, those facts reveal that you and the Rams sucked at historic levels in St. Louis. Those are the facts.

Beyond that, Stan, you and Kevin showed yourselves -- here in the Show-Me State -- to be phonies and shameless human beings.

As for another fact, Stan, I would like to remind you of this:

If you play football during the next 12 years like you did during the last 12 seasons in St. Louis, your shiny new Inglewood Stadium will be nothing more than an empty, abandoned ghost town and a monument to your continued ineptness.

No offense to the many great Rams fans in L.A. and California, but I hope the Chargers move into your palace and become one of the NFL's storied franchises while you go 0-16 perpetually. I hope your franchise becomes an even bigger laughingstock than it was under your watch in The Lou.

Heck, I really only have to hope the Rams play like your Denver NBA and NHL franchises. If so, your NFL team will continue to perform pathetically.

You are either dangerously delusional or believe people are stupid, having told the L.A. Times you weren't going to stay in St. Louis and "be a victim" and telling Sports Illustrated that "I think the people of Missouri also get it (the move)."

Yes, Stan, you are right. The people of Missouri do "get it".

We get that you grew from being an honorable man of small town values to a person who apparently lost any touch with those small town values at some point in the last 20 years.

We get that you are currently valued at $7.5 billion by Forbes and that you and your wife are valued at nearly $12 billion combined. We get that you had "no choice" but to move the Rams rather than contribute to funding a state-of-the-art stadium in St. Louis. Well, no we don't get that as it isn't remotely true.

With you being worth $12 billion, you could afford to build here. You just weren't willing to do it... or be honest with us... or operate with any integrity. We get it.

Seriously, what we get is that you are one of the biggest sellouts in St. Louis and Missouri history. You sold out -- kind of like Judas -- for your own 30 pieces of silver.

Let's be real here, Stan: If you wanted to stay in St. Louis, you would be in St. Louis. You had every chance to stay in St. Louis and build here, and to suggest otherwise is insulting and makes you look even worse -- if that is possible.

As for potential actions against you in Missouri, I would urge Governor Jay Nixon, Mayor Slay, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and the powers-that be throughout our state to do everything possible to rid themselves of your considerable stench.

Among other things, I would urge them to do the following:

-I would urge them to refuse to give any of your companies any tax breaks, TIF money, etc. in the future and, if at all possible, remove any current benefits that you receive from the city/county/state.

-I would also encourage the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame to quickly and decisively take action to remove your blight from the state Hall of Fame. It is a shame that they have not yet scheduled a special meeting to have your accolades and recognition removed. Get this done, Gerald Andrews.

Finally, I would like to remind you and Kevin of some of the words you shared with us over the last few years, just to be sure you and Kevin don't soon forget the apparently dishonest words that you both told us:

Kroenke in 2010:

'I've been around St. Louis and Missouri a major portion of my life," Kroenke said. "We worked hard to bring the Rams to St. Louis. We worked hard on the expansion process in 1993. We weren't successful but stayed in there and ultimately got an NFL team back into St. Louis. So it's not our desire to ever lead the charge out of St. Louis. So if that's sort of the implication, that's not why we're here. We're here to work hard and be very successful in St. Louis."

"There's a track record," Kroenke continued. "I've always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. And I'm stepping up one more time. I'm born and raised in Missouri. I've been a Missourian for 60 years. People in our state know me. People know I can be trusted. People know I am an honorable guy. I'm going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis, just as I did everything that I could to bring the team to St. Louis in 1995. I believe my actions speak for themselves."

The quotes below are from Demoff (with all of this being said after the early 2013 arbitration ruling). Keep in mind, the Rams proposal made it clear that they did not consider anything St. Louis had to offer after arbitration, so these quotes coming after the arbitration ruling are particularly ugly with that in mind:

Demoff 2013 (stltoday.com and Bryan Burwell):

“The state of the franchise is as healthy as it’s been in a long time. I want to ease people’s concerns about where we’re going to play within St. Louis over the next 20, 30, 40 years. ... That’s really the way we’re looking at this. I know a lot has been written and said (about Kroenke’s ultimate) intentions, but our goal from the beginning has been to get a first-class facility that makes St. Louis a destination for top-tier sporting events..."

Demoff February 2014 (101 ESPN's The Fast Lane):

"I expect it (our future) will be right here in St. Louis. I don't see any reason that that can't be so."

"Everything we do as an organization is focused on growing our fan base"

"I promise you Stan is looking at lots of pieces of land around the world right now and none of them are for football stadiums"

Demoff October 2014 (101 ESPN's The Fast Lane):

"Well, I think overall Randy it goes back to what we've always talked about: a global solution for St. Louis on a stadium front. A stadium that brings great events back to St. Louis, that brings Mizzou-Illinois, that bring Final Fours. You've heard me say this before. It's also gotta be a solution that works for the community. It's not just a Rams issue."

"..I know everybody can sit here and say, especially this weekend, "The building can rock like it did in 1999," which is absolutely true. If we play better football, it will be loud, passionate. But in terms of getting people off the couch away from television which is a fight that everybody in the NFL is going through and everybody in sports is going through, how do we improve the fan experience and give them the best? I think that's the solution. If we can come up with it whether it's downtown, whether it's in the county, whether it's somewhere else, I think we'd be in favor of it."

Demoff October 2014 (CBS Sports 920's McKernan, Edmonds & Moe):

"The biggest problem for our fans is we haven't solved the stadium issue and the on-field product."

"I think when he (Kroenke) said what he said (about wanting Rams to stay) when he bought the team, he was sincere, he was genuine and in the meantime there's a path and a process that's behind closed doors, and that's what we've adapted to."

"It's hard to believe now but the Seattle Seahawks actually moved to Los Angeles for about two weeks in 1996 before returning back to Seattle. I don't think anybody now looks at their fanbase and says they're not passionate, they're not a great team, that's not a great market. So these things tend to get worse before they get better and I always look at if we can get this thing done, how do we move forward, how do we build a great stadium, how do we make St. Louis a better place for having a great venue?"

"I think we would look at what's best for the region, how best to move it forward, if there was a strong consensus whether to make it downtown, whether to put it in the county, I think we're certainly hoping and I don't think we have a desired site that we've circled and said 'this has to be what it is.' It's gotta be what's best for everybody and I think that's a community discussion, not just a Rams-driven discussion."

In the end, Stan, you showed your true colors and they are ugly. You, sir, will live in infamy as Sellout Stan in Missouri and St. Louis.

You sold out, and that's the simple truth.

We want nothing to do with you in Missouri. Please exit your Columbia home as soon as possible and do not return.

[Elvis]

Stan Kroenke better watch out, you don't wanna be on Shane Gray's bad side...

[SoCalRam78]

This guy's tears are delicious. Gray demanding that Kroenke move is pretty fresh. But week 2 after the move, I've moved on from the St. Louis "media."

[Hacksaw]

WOW. Shane Grey is mad. Threatening, childish name calling, putting a piece together to rally his po'd local football fan base one last time.

Telling ESK to leave the state and calling for the local politicians to due harm financially?? Just WOW.

In a way I get the vitriol, I mean I still hate Georgia, but this guy is supposed to be a professional.

It goes to show that these guys have a lot of pride and cannot handle being second rate. The problem is that they are.

Funny Shane didn't bother to mention the crappy arbitration deal his city offered,, or that after the arbitration they again did nothing. A city that admits not following the lease term about top tier because they knew the team couldn't go anywhere for a while so tough crap.
Or remember that the task force was implemented at the last minute to try and block the Rams from leaving against their will. No wonder why ESK's letter had a tone of it's own?

This article is embarrassing for Grey. He and Bernie are a notch below the rust belt.

I am so glad that these turd's are no longer relevant. no longer part of our lives or the Rams. they know it too which just piss them off big time ... lol
Boo F'ing Hoo!!

[Elvis]

You'd think they'd have figured out by now, they really can't tell Stan what to do...

[bluecoconuts]

Me thinks that someone knows their job security is threatened....

I also like how the threw the part in where Kevin says the Rams want a stadium that can be used for multiple things, like a Final Four... And then ignores how they offered up a stadium that couldn't do that. He gave you hints and you said "Nah, we'll do our own thing... Why don't you like it?!?"

[69superbowl]

Meh, hindsight is 20/20 dude. What if E. Stash had relented, built the lower tier stadium and the Rams had stayed in St. Louis? What, no vitriolic letters from local boy writer? That's not being an honest fella now is it? That's selfishly depriving your readers of what is truly happening under their very noses. Where was the passion a year ago; three years ago. This was an obvious disposition. Hell, this very website was created early last year. The writing was on the wall. Must have been claustrophobic to live with your head in the sand for a year.

That's being a hypocrite. Get into politics. Or just enjoy the time off.

[Hacksaw]

I've been calling Shane a joke for a long time.
He's not a reporter. He's a fanboy blogger.. big difference.

I believe he just proved your point in 2 parts.

[SWAdude]

I read the first few lines and decided not to waste my life on someone embarrassing themselves on something that lives forever........ our words on the internet.

[Elvis]

Has anyone been more wrong more often than Shane Gray?