[Elvis]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/22/san- ... ngeles-nfl

Joe Buck

FOX NFL play-by-play voice, raised and lives in St. Louis

Dec. 17: Rams 31, Buccaneers 23.

Sometimes I have to ask myself, ‘What hat am I wearing?’ If I’m wearing my FOX hat, I’m impartial, and I stay out of the scrum. Or if I wear my St. Louis hat, I think about what gets lost, and that’s the overall body of work on behalf of St. Louis. In 21 seasons, they’ve been over .500 four times. In the five seasons ending in 2011, they were 15-65. Yet, they sold out every game from when they got there till they started 0-8 in 2007. Frankly, I find it amazing they can get anyone in the door. Consider where they play. The dome is like a warehouse. It was obsolete the day they opened it. It got filled because of guys like Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az Hakim, Orlando Pace, Ricky Proehl.

Now you’ve got an owner [Stan Kroenke] doing everything for four years to show his intentions. He does everything but make a public comment for St. Louis. Look at Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys and one of the biggest stars in the league. In this day and age, owners have to talk. When you have an owner who won’t talk … I mean, St. Louis fans aren’t dumb. They’ve seen the writing on the wall. They see he’s got one foot out out the door. They have seen it before. When you are telling the fans you don’t want to be there, while the team is struggling at epic levels … I am surprised anyone walks through the door. They see him act like, Here is my beautiful place in L.A., and I can’t want to leave you.

I started talking about this on Twitter, and it raised some eyebrows, I thought about it from St. Louis perspective. It’s not a selfish perspective. Honestly, I thought about it from my Dad’s perspective. The city of St. Louis was something my dad believed in more than he believed in anything in his life. When my dad wanted the new baseball stadium for downtown St. Louis, he was excited for what it would mean for downtown St. Louis. His feeling was, let’s try to revitalize a downtown area that needs help. It’s way bigger than football now, just like it was bigger than baseball. It’s developing events for downtown St. Louis. I’ve seen what a new stadium has done in Indy and Cincinnati. Indy hosted a Super Bowl. If you’re a leader of St. Louis, that should make you salivate..

To say this team’s not been supported, I would turn it around. I would say the team hasn’t deserved it.

I’m not a child. [Kroenke] is one of 32 owners who can, in the words of Jerry Jones, pretty much do what he pleases. He was a part of the expansion effort that got the team to St. Louis.

And I’ve heard people say how hard it’ll be for football to ever flourish in St. Louis. They say it’s a baseball city. Well, when I was a kid at Busch Stadium, you could shoot a cannon through there and hit no one. It can be a football city. Absolutely.

Can the marriage between the owner and the city be repaired? My answer is yes. Fans will welcome Kroenke back into their good graces. He’s a Missouri guy, named after Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter. He’s a decent guy who is a huge sports fan.

What community has built two stadiums in 25 years for the NFL? That’s never happened in the history of the NFL. To say St. Louis doesn’t support the NFL is a dumb, blanket statement, and I call people on it. It’s just not true.

But you know, at the end of the day, the owner has the keys to the Corvette.

[Elvis]

And some of what Peter King had to say:

None of us know what NFL owners will do at the Los Angeles relocation meeting Jan. 12 and 13. We figure that San Diego is the leader in the clubhouse to move to Los Angeles in 2016, but there’s no guarantee. Nor do we know if two teams will move. But with the Rams, Chargers and Raiders playing their final home games of 2015 within eight days of each other, I thought it appropriate to hear from a key person in each city on the emotion and the issues in each place.

Hearts are broken whenever a team leaves a city. They will be again in January. There’s no way around it. My only question about the team or teams that end up waving the NFL’s banner is this: If two, why two? Why two immediately? The NFL left Los Angeles 21 years ago tomorrow. True fact: Rams and Raiders played on Christmas Eve 1994 simultaneously, in Anaheim and the LA Coliseum, in games that finished eight minutes apart, and there hasn’t been a game in greater Los Angeles since. They left, in part, because of greener pastures and because of relative disinterest. I get one team returning; L.A.’s a gigantic market and should be served by the NFL (though the league hasn’t folded with no franchise there). But two?
I say any decision to put two teams in Los Angeles, before seeing if there’s support for two, will haunt the NFL.

[Stranger]

I call BS...

he was excited for what it would mean for downtown St. Louis. His feeling was, let’s try to revitalize a downtown area that needs help. It’s way bigger than football now, just like it was bigger than baseball. It’s developing events for downtown St. Louis.

This is about corrupt mid-west politicians lining the pockets of their union, developer and construction buddies via a 1B-plus construction gig.

These people couldn't give a flying F about the poor people, of color and otherwise, living in an empoverished downtown. It was dispicible East of MLK Blvd when I lived there in the 80's, and I can imagine its much much worse now.

And just one more thing, Joe. I'm from SoCal, and I thought nothing of having an interracial relationship when I was in StL. But I gotta tell you, I got a lot of stairs and mistreatment from people of all colors when i was seen with a lady of color. I was always astounded by this, and quite frankly, I never really got it. So Joe, where are you on all of these other issues? How come you're not pounding the twitter keyboard when it comes to poverty, bigotry, educational standards and the like?

Duplicitious prick who had everything handed to him on a silver platter.

[Hacksaw]

Buck is a StLoony muck.

They also say stuff like (courtesy of the PD),,,

"The Los Angeles Rams are dead.
The sooner the St. Louis Rams move to an NFL division more apropos for their geographical location, the better.

I will be so glad when the burning bridge in our rear view mirror is the one from StLoony.

[max]

I agree with King on 2 teams moving together as haunting the NFL.

Try to envision the Chargers and Raiders playing in temporary stadiums in LA for the next 3 years. What do you think that will look like?

Really. Think about it.

Will they be able to switch 2 teams into different conferences between January and whenever the schedule comes out without any embarrassing problems?

What will be the fallout for the Chargers especially if the Rams fans in LA are stiffed? How many people will be going to their games when they can go to the Raiders games instead? Do you expect the Chargers home games to be not home games at all? Will the NFL tell the Chargers to use the visitors locker room because the opposing teams look like the home team in LA?

I don't live in LA. I'll leave it to you LA guys to tell me if there are enough people in LA who are being called the silent majority who will go to the Chargers games. I have no idea. You guys tell me, please.

[snackdaddy]

Joe Buck=Shane Gray. Both are homers who will twist/spin things to fit their hometown agenda. Anyone who thinks Stl. is a first rate city is delusional. Whoever owns a team there will struggle at the gate and in the pocket book.

[SoCalRam78]

shut up joe buck

I agree with King, too bad the Chargers can't foot the bill alone. That's an issue.

[Hacksaw]

max.
I haven't conducted an official pole so the body of info is small, but everyone I talk to around LA - OC (including some die hard Chargers fans) are completely opposed to the Chargers moving into enemy territory. Also, 25% of his alleged market share (BS cough) 13,000 powder blues in the 100,000 seat Coliseum.
I'm sure in time it will catch on. Years of marketing ahead though.

Spanos is committing a real blunder. It's going to bite him in the ass. After what he's tried to do to our team and chances to come home, I will find some enjoyment in watching it/him go down (if).

As far as divisional realignment, if each of the Charaiders are playing in separate temporary venues, then that can be postponed a bit longer. If not, it's a problem imo.

As discussed, it's good that Spanos and or Davis can't go it alone. Advantage Rams. 2 teams at once seems beyond foolish but I'll take it if one of them is the Rams.

50 years of history and support blown off over a stadium again and this time just to block another. Blasphemy.

[OldSchool]

Buck seems to have run out of Kleenex and tampons. Kroenke should build another Walmart near him.

[bubbaramfan]

Spot on Hacksaw. Two teams at once, even though some owners may want Raiders or Chargers, is going to sway some owners to vote for inglwood and only one team moving. Way riskier to move two teams rather than one.