[Elvis]

I know a lot of you have had with JT, but i've always liked him and find this stuff kind of fascinating. For example it's now NFL Chat instead of Rams Chat:

http://sports.live.stltoday.com/Event/N ... s_3?Page=0

Some highlights:


JT, thanks for the chat. Just wondering if you're still considering write a book about the ST LOUIS Rams, and if so when do you think we'd see it?
Thanks
by JoeChiefsfan 1:34 PM

Yes I am. It's not foremost on my mind right now. But I am trying to decide if I'll write a PG version, a tell all, or a tell some.
by jthomas 1:35 PM


Why is Mark Davis so adamant about not considering St. Louis?
by David 1:35 PM

This I would like to find out. I've been in front of him on a couple occasions to ask him about any interest in moving to St. Louis, but never got to ask him why he doesn't seem to be interested in the StL. I will keep trying. It took me a while to get in front of Jerry Jones to ask him about the Rams to LA but finally did in Oxnard. It was worth the wait. Remember his reply to my question on what he thinks of the St. Louis stadium plans. "I have none." (Pause) "None whatsoever." Priceless. Hopefully Davis will be worth the wait as well.
by jthomas 1:38 PM

Does John Shaw regret asking for the first tier clause, and does Chip regret selling to Kroenke? Was there any way Chip and Lucia could've kept the Rams? I know Mark Davis isn't exactly swimming in cash.
by David 1:39 PM

I think Shaw was just trying to protect the franchise. But he's fond of St. Louis and realizes what the move meant to his career and the Rams _ i.e., the Greatest Show on Turf and Super Bowl XXXIV. In recent years, Shaw hasn't been much of a fan of Kroenke. As for Chip regretting selling to Kroenke _ I'm not sure. I do know Chip wishes someone from St. Louis would've stepped up to attempt to buy the team at the time. He heard nothing but crickets from the StL and had to go to Champaign-Urbana to find Shad Khan.
by jthomas 1:42 PM


A tell-all please. With people like Georgia, Kroenke, Brooks, Ortmayer, Shaw, Zygmunt, Vermiel, Martz, Pasquale, Rhome, Carson, Linehan, Devaney, Spagnuolo, Snead, Fisher, Khan, Rosenbloom and Rodriguez, Carter, Banks, Warner, Bruce, Faulk, Holt, Bulger, Jackson, Barron, Bradford...anything less would be a travesty.
by David 1:45 PM

My only problem with a tell-all is that some things were told to me over the years in privacy. Even though many of those people are gone (from the Rams) and I no longer cover the Rams on a daily basis, I would be violating a trust _ a trust that is essential to being an effective journalist. So right now, I'm leaning towards a "tell some."
by jthomas 1:47 PM

You say Chip wanted someone from STL to step up and buy the Rams before he found Khan. Would that have made any difference. Ultimately wouldnt have Enos StanK have still invoked his right to buy the franchise anyway?
by rj 1:47 PM

Maybe, maybe not if the price were high enough. And I seem to remember Kroenke being willing to sell off the club to Khan for some extra "jack" (as Stan would put it). But it didn't matter at the time, remember? Because Kroenke told us at the time he was a Missouri man, an honorable person that people trusted, and that he took great pride in helping to bring football back to StL.
by jthomas 1:50 PM

We haven't signed any free agents, the draft hasn't happened, we are long way from the start of Football in LA, but do you think the NFL will "somehow"ensure the Rams are in the playoffs next year. We already know they will do anything to make more money which means the Rams succeeding in LA, at least for the first few years.
by Ex-STLFootball 1:50 PM

I don't think even money can buy a playoff berth. But the league will do what it can, I'm sure. For example, I tweeted this earlier: I heard here at Super Bowl week in San Fran that I shouldn't be surprised if the Dallas Cowboys play their first preseason game against the Rams at the LA Coliseum. Preseason or not, the Cowboys always are a draw.
by jthomas 1:53 PM


You mentioned you spoke to Demoff in Houston after the vote. You mentioned the conversation was private. But can you divulge the tone of the conversation? Was Demoff dismissive, arrogant, gleeful?
by Andy 1:57 PM

He was tired, he was relieved, he was respectful to me. We talked about some of the details of the relocation process
by jthomas 1:59 PM

On to some on field stuff....who do you like Sunday? I think if Denver can run the ball they might have a chance but that'll be tough.
by JoeChiefsfan 2:05 PM

I'm a late addition, but I have to say I'm on the Carolina bandwagon. They made a believer out of me by bullying NFC West heavyweights Seattle and Arizona in the playoffs. Yes, Denver's defense is tops in the league, but Carolina's isn't far off the pace. But you're right. I would think to have any chance in this game, Denver has to have at least some success running the ball.
by jthomas 2:07 PM


Mr. Thomas,

Any chance we could convince you to throw a shoe at the Goodell during the press conference tomorrow? I start the collection for bail, lawyers fees and a statue of you downtown.

PS - I want to buy and read the tell all. After all this city has been through with the NFL we deserve the whole story.
by JR 2:13 PM

Throwing a shoe? Is that a Middle East tradition?
by jthomas 2:13 PM

So, to recap, you didn't know what was going on re: the move, what disinformation you did know you won't be putting into a book, but you do believe the false story from the Boston Herald about the Rams pre-Super Bowl practice being taped. Did I miss anything?
by Pete 2:13 PM

Pete, let it go. The Patriots cheated. We know it. You know it in your heart of hearts. As coach of Denver several years later Josh McDaniels was caught red-handed taping the 49ers' practice in London. I believe one of the New England video guys was working for him in Denver at the time. It's a New England tradition. #Patriotsway
by jthomas 2:15 PM


Greeting Jim, I don't want to miss my opportunity to say Thank You to you. You have spent a career providing me with insights and coverage of the St.L Rams. You have been an excellent read for me and I am grateful. I wish you the very best. Wish I could've said the same to Joe Strauss. We have to appreciate folks as no one knows who the bell tolls...
by Huggie Bear 2:35 PM

Huggie Bear going heavy on us today. I can't tell you all how much I've appreciated all thoughts, concerns and well wishes from the readers over the past few weeks. It's very touching and much appreciated. Running into many media friends at the Super Bowl this week has been interesting. Some look at me almost as if I have some severe illness _ I tell them, "I haven't died, just pro football in St. Louis!" (joking) But it's been good to hear from them and see them.
by jthomas 2:38 PM

Jim, I know you said jokingly that NFL football is dead in St. Louis but I actually agree with that statement. I can not see the NFL ever coming back. Short of a 1904 Renaissance. What say you?
by Hmmm... 2:43 PM

I'll put it this way, I can't see it happening in the near future.
by jthomas 2:44 PM


Jim,
Is there any chance we find out who the final 2 "Official" no votes were. The only chance I ever root for another NFL team would be one of those. the other 28 are dead to me!
by Love STL 2:44 PM

All along, I've assumed it was Davis and Spanos. But I don't know. Then again, Carolina's Jerry Richardson may have been one of the two as well.
by jthomas 2:45 PM

Do you have an opinion why the NFL dumped on St Louis so hard? Was it more of falling for Kroenke's LA stadium plan, or they share Stan's concerns about long term viability. It's odd the NFL went to to great lengths to crap on a pretty big market - one that may never embrace the NFL again.
by Dan 2:48 PM

I think it had much more to do with falling in love with a showcase stadium and returning to LA. St. Louis was viewed, as a reader aptly termed it: "acceptable collateral damage."
by jthomas 2:49 PM


Jim, Thanks for all the great football coverage that you have done in our town! What is going to happen to all of the memorabilia that is around town that is Rams related like the ring of fame down at the dome? Are we just going to forget about all our history regarding football?
by John 2:53 PM

Good questions. I'll try to find out on the stadium stuff. I don't think our town's football history will ever be forgotten or swept away locally, but several off the Greatest Show players and coaches _ I've quoted some in the paper _ have wondered if what they've accomplished will be swept away in LA.
by jthomas 2:54 PM



Hi Jim,
Do you have a general sense of how the players feel about moving to LA?
by Jeff 3:05 PM

I think if you're young and single you're probably excited about the move the LA. And if you're one of the team's stars, you could have more endorsement opportunities. You've got to realize, more than half of the current roster had been Rams for only a year, or two, or three. They hadn't really established roots in StL. All they saw was the bitter end of the Rams in StL and lots of empty seats.
by jthomas 3:07 PM.


The comments all read to any Rams story "stop reporting on the Rams", I still want to read about the Rams, I still will follow the team and hope they loose and see how Fischer manages to do 500 better then anyone other coach, at least for a few years. I have followed the team and players.
by Mark S 3:08 PM
Permalink

For every "stop reporting on the Rams" comment you see, I get about a dozen from readers saying they are still interested in the NFL and still interested in the Rams.

[bubbaramfan]

There is something I just can't wrap my head around, its this notion that "St. Louis Rams" stuff will get "lost" in a move to LA. Memorabilia, GSOT, "St. Louis" Rams Ring of Fame. As if St. Louis was the reason the Rams won a SB in '99, or players made the ring of fame. Or that because the Rams are moving to LA, anything the Rams did in St. Louis would be forgotten.
Please, someone help me understand this kind of thinking. To me Ram's stuff and history belong to the Rams, not to the city where they had success. Some St. Louisian's seem to believe otherwise.

[maxxx power]

There is something I just can't wrap my head around, its this notion that "St. Louis Rams" stuff will get "lost" in a move to LA. Memorabilia, GSOT, "St. Louis" Rams Ring of Fame. As if St. Louis was the reason the Rams won a SB in '99, or players made the ring of fame. Or that because the Rams are moving to LA, anything the Rams did in St. Louis would be forgotten.
Please, someone help me understand this kind of thinking. To me Ram's stuff and history belong to the Rams, not to the city where they had success. Some St. Louisian's seem to believe otherwise.

Agreed.

[Hacksaw]

It's been displayed repeatedly that many St Louisans are city first team second. Not a surprise they keep this in the 'woe is me' category since the team left them. It's easier than trying to reconcile the obvious fact that their beloved city blew the bit. The city didn't leave them after all,,, the Rams did. Homers.

[snackdaddy]

Another thing they don't seem to get. Or they don't want to accept. St. Louis is not viewed by the NFL as a viable football town. JT says he doesn't know why Davis doesn't want St. Louis. Davis knows he won't make money there and he's the poorest owners in the league. He wants a city where he can profit. St. Louis is not that city anymore.

[Hacksaw]

JT, thanks for the chat. Just wondering if you're still considering write a book about the ST LOUIS Rams, and if so when do you think we'd see it?
Thanks
by JoeChiefsfan 1:34 PM

Yes I am. It's not foremost on my mind right now. But I am trying to decide if I'll write a PG version, a tell all, or a tell some.
by jthomas 1:35 PM

That ought to be a best seller ,,,,,, in St Loo.

[OldSchool]

JT, thanks for the chat. Just wondering if you're still considering write a book about the ST LOUIS Rams, and if so when do you think we'd see it?
Thanks
by JoeChiefsfan 1:34 PM

Yes I am. It's not foremost on my mind right now. But I am trying to decide if I'll write a PG version, a tell all, or a tell some.
by jthomas 1:35 PM

That ought to be a best seller ,,,,,, in St Loo.

A real tear jerker fit for the bathroom.