[Elvis]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... c58b8.html

Dan O'Neill: Losing Rams should prompt an honest look in the mirror

What were we thinking, those who told us differently, who sold us the idea that buying tickets and attending Rams games could make a difference? As if we didn’t know any better.

What were they thinking, those who spent tax-paid time jumping through hoops, skirting public votes and making promises they had little chance of keeping? Those who lined pockets for $16 million worth of financial caulk and moral duct tape, plans that were destined to be categorically rejected? As if March 1988 and the departure of the Cardinals never happened.

What were they thinking, those who led St. Louis down the dead-end path, eager to compound the preposterous missteps of their predecessors? Willing to prostitute the city and pay more ransom to keep the Rams here? As if it made perfect sense.

Not content to be snookered by Harold Hill once, they listened to “76 Trombones” again and encouraged us all to march along. It was irresponsible.

Meanwhile, The Dubliner has packed it up, Harry’s is closing, Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood will be history at the end of the month. Meanwhile, the St. Louis area is still missing more than 31,000 jobs it had in 2008. Meanwhile, our beloved town, the one we are so quick to defend against criticism, ranked 490th among 515 cities of various sizes in economic growth, according to a Wallet Hub study. It was 61st among 64 large cities with populations of over 300,000 and 511th overall in population growth.

If you take exception to the evil Kroenkladites and what they said about St. Louis, go ahead. It’s like blaming your old pair of jeans for not being able to fit into your old pair of jeans anymore. We love St. Louis for a number of reasons, none of which were going to show up in a transfer application.

But the truth hurts, and the nuts and bolts of Kroenke’s review were just that — spot on. What he might have added is that keeping the Rams here, building a $1 billion stadium on the north side of downtown would not have changed it. The scars, the liver spots, the challenges this city faces would still be here, with or without Case Keenum.

Robbing Peter to pay Stan would have made us feel better about ourselves, would have continued the “big league” charade for the sports-minded community, would have provided a beer-infused, gambling-based distraction for eight or so weekends each year. It also would have exacerbated the problems.

We already were living beyond our means with the Rams. We had no business getting in deeper, and we had no chance of going deep enough to match Kroenke’s pockets. It’s hard to see football leave, hard to be abandoned once more, absolutely. But it should make us sad, not angry.

It should make us sad that a city with so many good people, promise and pedigree can’t compete. The Rams situation was over the moment the federal government made it impossible for the Rosenbloom family to keep the team and forced a sale to Kroenke, the moment a billionaire owner set his sights on Los Angeles, whether it was five years, five months or five minutes ago.

It should make us sad our city has been so compromised by slumping schools and fragmented neighborhoods. That, according to the most recent FBI statistic, it is the murder capital of the country. That the infrastructure continues to crumble. That job growth is well under the national average. That our corporate community is now “the few, the proud … the few.” That our way of governing is so counterproductive that it pays someone a salary while also paying them a pension. That our victimization journalism and our own complacency feed the insidious cycle.

And that should make you angry, angry that lawmakers and leaders are willing to fight so hard to save football when so many other things need saving. It should drive you crazy that we are willing to go to the mattresses, make paralyzing concessions, skirt laws, squeeze constituents and sell our soul to keep a NFL franchise. You should be incensed that going through this shakedown in the early 1990s wasn’t enough, that St. Louis was willing to say, “‘Thank you sir, may I have another?”

If the same energy and effort were made to address the core issues, the real reasons St. Louis is a healthy scratch in the big-city lineup, we wouldn’t have a football problem. Smack dab in the middle of America, flush with honest, hard-working people who are passionate about sports and loyal to their athletes, St. Louis should be a destination city for big-league franchises, not a pit stop.

So go ahead, miss football downtown. But miss your city more, miss what it used to be, how it used to sing, how it used to feel. The Rams departure is a blow to our civic ego, but it has a chance to be a positive fork in the road. We shouldn’t lament the loss, we should learn from it.

Having an NFL team doesn’t make us a big-league city; it works the other way around. Maybe we will realize that. Maybe we will re-direct the focus to keeping businesses, expanding the economy and improving schools. Maybe we will do a better job of providing safety and integrating neighborhoods.

Maybe we will stop patting ourselves on the back, stop blaming someone else and start looking in the mirror. If we do, losing the Rams might be the best thing that ever happened to St. Louis.

[Stranger]

This is going to be a tough self-evaluation process for this city. Perhaps they'll clear the house of dirty politicians and big money influence and get stronger.

[LoyalRam]

Looks like Dan Oneill is the next LA Troll at the PD Rams forum....lol

[maxxx power]

"...That our victimization journalism and our own complacency feed the insidious cycle...."

[OldSchool]

Ok can we put PD in the title so I can just ignore their pity parties.

[Hacksaw]

"...That our victimization journalism and our own complacency feed the insidious cycle...."

I caught that line too. This writer get's it. And why did BM come to mind?

[Stranger]

Ok can we put PD in the title so I can just ignore their pity parties.

Yes please.

[aeneas1]

mr. o'neill meet mr.

[snackdaddy]

St. Louis fans are pissed and angry at Stan for moving the team. They blame him for all their misery. In reality, their city is not conducive for a sports league as big as the NFL to succeed at the level they want. They're baseball team in entrenched in that town. A successful franchise. Kudos to that. But the NFL is the number one sport and that city cannot support the NFL, MLB and NHL. LA is the rightful home for the Rams anyway.

[Hacksaw]

Remove the madame from Rams history and the only Rams references to StLoo would be something like this,,,,,