News is out, in the pages of the Post Dispatch, that Chip and Lucia Rosenbloom are considering three serious offers -- including Dave Checketts' -- to sell the Rams. And they'll make their decision before the draft. For all you fans of the Saint Louis Rams, here is the kernel of the story:

(I like that term: "committed in varying degrees." I'm going to try that out on my wife and see how committed she is to slapping me upside the head.)

For any potential buyer, this is the critical commitment to make: Stay in STL? Or pack up the moving vans for LA? Economically, this seems like a no-brainer. You have the country's largest untapped market in one hand, close to fifteen million people and a sprawling virtual diaspora of self-glorifying celebrity culture ... and in the other hand, a modest culturally conservative river city whose last big population boom happened more than a century ago.

However, we at RamsHerd believe that St Louis is a perfect fit for the Rams, and are prepared to present our opening arguments.

#1: The Rams' Championship history begins here.

I mean, you could count those "NFL Championships" from 1945 and 1951, but those were hardly achievements. There were what, eight teams in this so-called league back then? Ten you say? And they were still working out the kinks on such innovations as "the forward pass," "helmets," and "grass" back then. I mean, they hadn't even invented artificial turf yet! Who ever heard of The Greatest Show on Mud? That's right, nobody.

#2: The NFL needs small media markets.

Okay, this might seem ass-backwards. But when a game in St Louis doesn't sell out, the draconian NFL blackout policies dictate that the game gets blacked out for the St Louis territory. Which covers about 3-4 million people. But if that same game doesn't sell out in Los Angeles -- and games in Los Angeles routinely fail to sell out, just ask the Dodgers, the Clippers, the Kings, the Raiders, or hell, the Rams -- then the NFL is forced to take their product out of 30-40 million homes. That's very, very bad for the NFL and the almighty TV dollar.

Granted, it's not a problem for the Lakers, and that could be your solution -- build a perennial playoff contender with the richest championship history in the sport and only provide about 20,000 seats to the games. Shouldn't be too hard.

And this brings us to point #3.

#3: Los Angeles doesn't need teams like the Rams.

We readily admit that Los Angeles is richer than St Louis. But who has that money? Celebrities and self-promoting assholes. And what do celebrities and self-promoters want? To always be around things that make them look better, hotter, more glamorous and valuable. Those same people don't want anything to do with a 1-15 team that has no quarterback and is just coming out of year zero of its rebuild. Those same people hear things like "faith" and "team first" and "The Rams Way" and repeat them back to you in a snide, laughing falsetto. Those same people would rather appear on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" than wear Rams gear or in any way show any kind of support for your $800 million dollar investment.

Meanwhile, the tens of millions of ordinary folks in SoCal who would support those Rams have exactly negative squat for disposable income, because the aforementioned money- and fame-hungry leeches have driven up property values and the cost of living so goddamn high in LA that kids are killing each other for nothing. Google "Los Angeles senseless killing," and you'll get nearly 20,000 results. Which is more than the number of season ticket holders you can expect.

#4: The Rams need St Louis as much as we need them. We know the Rams are bad. But if there's one thing St Louis has always known, it's bad football. It's as much in our character as winning baseball -- in fact, it might be the necessary karmic counterweight. And we still show up to games. Perhaps not as loudly or in as much force as if our team were playoff-bound, or even capable of winning a division game every once in a while, but in damn better numbers than those mopes in Jacksonville or Detroit.

There is faith in this town, even as we continue to bicker about quarterbacks and what to do with the #1 pick. We can all see a day at some point in the future when the Rams don't suck -- as clearly as we see the day when Frank Caliendo is no longer on TV, or the day when InBev sells Budweiser back to us, or the day when the mighty Hand of God himself plucks us from our Chrysler minivans and welcomes us to a slightly higher cloud than Seahawks fans get to sit on. We don't know when it's coming, but we know it's coming and we're willing to continue to root for that day.

So reward that faith, o mystery billionaire. You won't regret it. We promise. And out here in St Louis, a promise means something.

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The running theme so far this weekend has been the value of rest -- a poke in the eye to all of us who ridiculed the Colts and Saints for laying down in the last weeks of the season. Neither team showed much rust, with the Saints looking every bit the Greatest Show II team that we saw midseason, and the Colts methodically, surgically, imposing their will on their opponents. This weekend introduces two new well-rested heavyweights -- the Vikings and the Chargers. Do the underdogs have a chance against either? Let's check in with our FanBall correspondents:

Cowboys at Vikings (-3)

Heavy must be the crown for the man on the Vikings Throne, because it currently sits empty. But our man Brandon has weighed in on several of the running themes for the Vikings all season, and two are the biggest cause for concern among the slightly-favored Vikes: Does Brett Favre have enough left in his legs? And what happened to the monster Adrian Peterson? His early answer: Patience and hope. Meanwhile, pundits are split on whether Favre or Peterson should be feeling the pressure more. All eyes have been on Favre, but I think there are more questions around AP. Since the bye week, Peterson has gone seven straight games without cracking 100 yards, his yards per carry is sub-4.0, and he's fumbled five times, losing four. His perception as a tackle-breaking machine is fueled by three monster games against Detroit (twice) and Cleveland, where he averaged better than five yards after contact per carry. Those games were a long time ago, in football terms. (Stats via ProFootballFocus.) Coming back to a Vikings Throne observation in early December that still holds true: Without him at full strength, they may not advance past this game. Across the aisle, at Respect the Star, we have a quiet confidence but a wariness based on the last 13 years of playoff futility. RTS offers their pros and cons of the matchup, and concludes that the Cowboys's pluses at quarterback (yes, really), linebacker, and in the rebuilt secondary will be enough to lead the team to victory. However, we can't ignore this caveat:

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Jets at Chargers (-7)

Three weeks ago, Turn On The Jets correspondent Joe Caporoso pronounced his team's playoff hopes a "pipe dream." But when the Colts pulled their starters, they also unwittingly unleashed the unholy keyboard of FanBall's winner of the "Blog of the Year," and TOJ has blogged up approximately a thousand words per minute since then. Meanwhile, the quote-unquote Hottest Team in the Playoffs are confident if for no other reason than that their injury list is exactly one player long heading into this contest. With no other excuses, if they don't win expect the blame to fall on their head coach. I actually like the Jets' chances to pull off the only upset of the weekend, or at least give us a watchable game after three dispiriting blowouts. One thing is for sure, if the Jets do win, it will increase the Rams fan chorus crying out "We should have drafted Marc Sanchez!" no comments

The first weekend of football dropped a couple of pretenders, including the Eagles and Bengals, saw the downfall of the mighty Patriots, introduced an ideal smashmouth dark horse candidate in the Jets, and gave us perhaps the game of the season between the Packers and Cardinals -- as well as a fresh bit of overtime controversy. In this second weekend, we usher in the pantheon of four favorites, fresh from their bye week and ready to wreak havoc on the football field. In today's games, the Colts and Saints try to get back to their highest gear after spending weeks with self-imposed shackles. How do our FanBall correspondents see these games shaping up? Let's take a quick tour.

Cardinals at Saints (-7)

Hunter at Desert Flock predicts an offensive display that threatens to trump last week's 96-point thriller, and offers a position-by-position breakdown. He sees relatively even matchups, swinging slightly to one team or the other, except for a clear Arizona advantage on the defensive line. However, in the position group that will make or break this game, he gives a slight advantage to the road team: More from Desert Flock: A Karate Kid Preview. (Sweep the leg, Johnny!) Meanwhile, we might expect our New Orleans friends at the Who Dat blog to have a slightly different opinion. First, a quick flashback to our epic pre-game exchange prior to the Rams-Saints matchup in Week 10: Of course, that game turned out to be the highlight of the Rams' season, as we very nearly pulled off the upset of the year before losing 28-23 to the then-undefeated Saints. Firstly, Mark at WhoDat thinks he's happy that the Cardinals were the team to emerge from last week's shootout, and thinks the Saints match up better against the Cards than the Packers. But in a shocking bit of candor, or perhaps just the typical Saints-fan defeatism, the WhoDat announces that even if they win this game, the Saints will not win the Super Bowl. And I find his final reason to be the most surprising: I suppose the masterful performance against the Patriots on an October Monday night was too long ago to count in as "Prime Time" ... but the point stands that, after an 0-3 finish to the regular season, the Saints have the most pressure on them to find that high gear again. My prediction? Saints do find that extra gear in the second half, and win by a field goal, 37-34.

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Ravens at Colts (-6.5)

I'm surprised to find the Colts a slightly smaller favorite than the Ravens here, but then again, Vegas could be reacting to a strong anti-Indianapolis fan sentiment among bettors. Especially with the Patriots' Evil Empire no longer in the field, fans need somebody to hate, and the Colts appear to be it, after their "pull the starters" stunt against the Jets in Week 16. To my mind, the Ravens are the biggest underdog of the weekend. I just don't think the brand of one-dimensional football they played last week against New England will carry them through this round. However, it's not surprising to find that FootBaltimore has another opinion, as well as three keys to the Ravens' chances of winning the game: More from FootBaltimore: A roundup of pregame links Meanwhile, Brooks at Colts Chatter shies away from making a firm prediction, but does offer this note of confidence: More from Colts Chatter: Big Time Birds (A preview of the Ravens' defense), Stover to Start, Take a Step Back and Breathe. My prediction? A sizable Colts win, if not a massacre. IND 24-13. no comments

Last week's post and poll about concussions, dogfighting, and the possibility of Michael Vick as the next Rams quarterback yielded some surprising results: Rams fans appear to be very supportive of Vick. By more than a 2:1 margin. A much larger sample voted in Bernie Miklasz's Five Minutes blog, with much the same results. Naturally, I wondered how Vick was being perceived by those who have watched him closest over the past year. Joe Burt from the excellent FanBall blog Eagles Have Landed agreed to answer a few of my questions. [youtube RMExOuayS2Y] Eagles Have Landed: After getting over the initial shock of it all, I did in fact like the move to sign the controversial Vick. From the very beginning, I knew the Eagles brought him in for a combination of two reasons. One is that he is an ideal player to run the gadget, "wildcat" offense employed by so many teams nowadays. Vick might be the best running quarterback of all time, so to sign a guy like that for under $2 million was a smart move. The second reason to sign him was the chance to trade him off for a high draft pick from a team in need of a QB. After letting the Eagles take the public relations blunt of a Vick signing, other NFL teams could look at Vick as a potential starting option. Vick did not necessarily surprise or disappoint me this season. When he got going later in the year, you saw flashes of the dynamic player we saw turn around the Atlanta Falcons franchise. But in a backup capacity, it is tough to shine enough to turn heads. Eagles Have Landed: That's hard to say, Will. He never saw extended time to prove any type of handling of the Eagles' WCO. In practice, he worked in with the first team offense in "wildcat" situations during the season but had a training camp and preseason to grasp the whole offense. With Vick's past knowledge of a west-coast scheme down in Atlanta, it is safe to say he knows this version fairly well. Eagles Have Landed If you read all the Philadelphia-area writers, many are calling for the axe on the best quarterback in Eagles history. Now, these are writers, and are paid to stir up drama. Just as many Eagles fans are willing to give No. 5 at least one more shot at leading this talented but young Eagles offense to a Super Bowl. I mean, no one really expects Vick to be the guy, and how excited can you really get about Kolb? Both guys could be successful NFL quarterbacks right now, but it doesn't mean they would outperform McNabb. The whole situation will be under the microscope until Andy Reid decides what to do, which could be all the way at the end of the 2010 season. Eagles Have Landed: Although it is hard to make a judgment with such little game film on Vick, a few things stand out. His arm is still strong, we saw that with the rope of a ball to Jeremy Maclin for a big touchdown last weekend. When he finally settled into his "wildcat" role later in the season, he showed a quick burst and a knack for picking up a tough couple yards. He is no longer the extreme speed threat he was in Atlanta, but would instantly become the best running quarterback in the league should he get a starting job next year. Eagles Have Landed: No, I want a first-round pick for him. Or two second-round picks. But if McNabb is traded (however unlikely), I would like to see him stay to backup Kolb.

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In a way, Andy Reid and the Eagles have played the Vick scenario perfectly -- they've showed just enough of him to put themselves in an ideal seller's position. The question that Joe put to me in return, I will now put to you:

{democracy:11}

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Editor's note: This started as a comment of mine over at Turf Show Times, but I feel it's a topic worthy of a full post. In the third round of the 2009 draft, Billy Devaney and the Rams reached for a physical cornerback from the University of Iowa named Bradley Fletcher. Devaney and Spagnuolo touted his ability to play physical bump-and-run coverage as a key ingredient of the Rams' secondary unit. Fletcher played well throughout the preseason, and his play motivated Billy Devaney to make a bold move -- trading away starting CB Tye Hill as part of the Rams' first five cuts. As the Rams got stronger and more coherent on the field this season, Fletcher got stronger and better in practice and in his limited playing time, until he had earned the starting job opposite Ron Bartell in Week 6 against Jacksonville. One week later his season ended with a sickening pop on the artificial turf of the Edward Jones Dome. His foot froze to the turf as he landed, trying to defend a deep ball from Peyton Manning, and his knee buckled inward, tearing his ACL and lateral meniscus. He now faces two surgeries and a long road to recovery. His is not an isolated case -- in fact, every Rams player listed on the IR sustained their season-ending injury at the dome, or on a turf-covered practice field, except for OJ Atogwe. Read on, if you dare, for the painful blow-by-blow. Pre-preseason: Two rookies -- WR Brooks Foster and Safety Eric Bassey -- injure their knees on the brand-new Lindenwood turf during a very light-hitting exhibition game for fans. It's the same type of turf that is used in the dome. Meanwhile, Adam Carriker badly sprains his ankle on the same field. Preseason: Donnie Avery suffers a sprained foot in practice, while making a cut on the turf. Avery is able to return in time for the regular season opener. Carriker is not so lucky, though, sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury during the Governor's Cup game against the Chiefs. Home Game #1 (Week 3 vs Packers): Laurent Robinson's season ends on the turf as his ankle gets rolled onto while setting a block. He fractures his fibula and sprains his ankle. Marc Bulger is also removed with a shoulder injury, though he would return to start three games later. Home Game #2 (Week 5 vs Vikings): Gary Gibson, the promising DT who stepped in for Adam Carriker, breaks a bone in his ankle joint during a routine play on the home turf. His season is over. Home Game #3 (Week 7 vs Colts): CB Bradley Fletcher and long snapper Chris Massey both tear up their knees during routine plays and are done for the year. Richie Incognito sprains his foot and misses several weeks, just as Donnie Avery did in preseason. Home Game #4 (Week 10 vs Saints): WR Keenan Burton, the team's most prolific pass catcher to this point, is lost to a gruesome knee injury in the first quarter, running a simple dig pattern. Home Game #5 (Week 11 vs Cardinals): Before the Rams even get to the game, CJ Ah You is lost for the season to a knee injury sustained on the practice turf. Ah You is the third DT to go down. OJ Atogwe finally returns the favor by bouncing Kurt Warner's helmet off the turf, sidelining the QB for a game and a half, and breaking his career-long streak of games started. However, karma would bit bite back hard, as Marc Bulger's season unofficially ends with a tibia bone fracture at the knee joint. Jason Smith also suffers a major concussion that would knock him out for the rest of the season, though he is never placed on IR.) Home Game #6 (Week 12 vs Seahawks): Jason Brown sprains his knee and misses the second half, leaving the offensive line in tatters. And Jason Smith, while merely sitting on the sidelines of this house of horrors, suffers a relapse and has to be hospitalized. Week 13 (At Soldier Field vs Bears): Even though it's not turf, Soldier Field has been called "the worst natural grass surface in the league." Atogwe can attest to that, after severely injuring his shoulder while trying to tackle Matt Forte. The season-ending injury breaks his string of 60 consecutive starts for the Rams. Week 14 (vs Tennessee): Jacob Bell's season is done after suffering a hamstring injury. He and Atogwe are the lone members of the IR not injured on turf. Home Game #7 (Week 15 vs Texans): The team's most trusted TE, Daniel Fells, and its newest rookie commodity at cornerback, Quincy Butler, both wreck their knees on the turf and are placed on IR. Home Game #8 (Week 17 vs 49ers): Not content until someone's viscera is shredded, the turf grabs ahold of practice squadman Roger Allen III, who had been pressed into starting duty after a season-ending triceps injury to Mark Setterstrom. In his first career start, Allen's left ACL is torn. And as a closing act, Keith Null and Donnie Avery are both removed with concussion symptoms.

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This is a continuation of a 40-year-old theme of turf-related injuries, and even though the Dome uses next-generation turf that has simulated blades of grass and even "dirt" pellets embedded to provide more give and bounce, that turf never gets a chance to get worn in. Unlike any other NFL stadium I know of, the Dome tears out its turf every single year to accommodate its offseason second life as a convention center. New turf has two characteristics that correspond to higher injuries: more friction, and less ability to absorb shock: You could argue that both the Rams and their opponents play on the same field, but opponents only play one game per year on the surface, whereas we spend a whole season on it. Similar surfaces in baseball shorten the careers of certain home field players, while not impacting visiting players at all. And as Jim Thomas has noted in the past, this phenomenon is hardly unique to this year. (emphasis mine.) So please, Jim, Tell us that there's somebody watching! Tell us that the Rams are going to take notice and put a real playing surface in the Dome! Goddamn. no comments

We continue our look around FanBall for takes on Sunday's game, while pondering what in the hell happened to the Eagles, and whether we should be excited now that Michael Vick is one step closer to being a free agent. The day's first matchup is the odd game out, in a weekend of instant rematches, as the Patriots host the Ravens. These two teams haven't seen each other since October 4, almost a lifetime ago in football terms. The Patriots dug a little knife in the side of the then-unbeaten Ravens in that game, but their most memorable recent matchup came two seasons ago, with the Patriots looking to pad an 11-win start to their season. Instead, Kyle Boller (remember him?) and Willis McGahee very nearly led the Ravens to a career-defining upset win. It was a game that perfectly captured the fates of these two teams. The Ravens had fought and clawed all game long, running on pride and moxie, while the Patriots countered with an overclever "death by a thousand cuts" offensive approach that very nearly lost them the game. Brady targeted 9 different receivers in effort to mystify Baltimore's ultra-aggressive defense, but misfired on 20 of 38 passes. Down 24-20 and facing a desperation 4th-and-5 play, Tom Brady didn't target Randy Moss, or Wes Welker, or the everready Kevin Faulk -- he bounced a pass off the harmless hands of Ben Watson. 55 seconds left, game over, until the referees found or invented enough contact to throw a 13th penalty flag at the feet of the Ravens. In any close game between these two teams, the refs have seemingly always been the deciding factor -- and that decision has greatly favored the Patriots. Perhaps it's for that reason that PatsChowder, the FanBall blog covering the Patriots, is already looking ahead to next week. This is the pressing question on the top story of the site: It's either that, or the season-ending knee injury suffered by Wes Welker in a garbage-time loss to Houston last week has caused our faithful correspondent to dump his laptop and his faith in the football gods into the Boston Harbor like so much overtaxed tea. Meanwhile, if our FootBaltimore correspondent feels surge of triumphant rage, or a warrior's sympathy for his opponent, he is keeping it very close to the vest. Rather, it is likely that he and Mark Clayton alike are looking forward to a rarely-provided second chance at redemption. A quote from coach John Harbaugh in the linked article might just say it all: More from Footbaltimore: Prediction: Ravens at Patriots I can't pretend any impartiality in this game. Like many Rams fans, I absolutely cannot stand the Patriots. The joy of rooting against them was made manifest at my friend Mike's annual Super Bowl bash two years ago, as thirty guys and gals and some odd number of kids with no particular love for the Giants suddenly adopted the men in blue as faithfully and fully as though Kurt Warner was under center and Marshall Faulk was lined up in the backfield, and we had the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXVI to do over again. Even if I feel a bit dirty rooting for Baltimore (and I do), root I will in this one.

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The weekend's potentially most explosive game now comes with some additional emotional baggage, thanks to this tweet by Adam Schefter: With the Cardinals hurting all over, and Anquan Boldin doubtful to play, this could very well be his last game. But we don't expect it to be a replay of the Packers' 33-7 win last week -- if anyone can capture the Drunken Master kung fu and lead a sudden return to glory, it's the old master himself. Hunter at Desert Flock is showing confidence, or at least a brave face: More from Desert Flock: Anquan Boldin, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie injured in loss Meanwhile, Adam at PackingCheese takes confidence not in week 17's exhibition win, but in the matchups between each team's top personnel. So far, both rematch games this weekend have gone nearly exactly according to Week 17's script. I think this game will be different, in that it is more competitive, but I fear that the Packers will be too fresh-legged and too strong for the Cardinals, and that this may be Warner's last game in the NFL. However, if there's a force for the Cardinals, it's Warner's own indefatigable ego, his drive to be recognized as one of the game's great quarterbacks. He knows as well as anyone, whether he broadcasts it or not, that his Hall of Fame credentials are still in doubt, and one final Super Bowl appearance could very easily tip the scales in his favor. no comments

This weekend promises some of the best and most intriguing football of the season, thanks to a series of rematch battles. Week 17's complicated array of motivated and unmotivated teams created three matchups where the coaches knew beforehand that there was either a strong possibility or certainty of a rematch, and the result was three exhibition games -- each dominated by the team with more of a chip on its shoulder. The apparent strength of each winner, though, was magnified by the somewhat purposeful bumbling of the loser. The loser then hopes to find in the playoffs a magical ingredient, as well as untapped strength and unseen maneuvers that will guarantee victory. This strategy could be called "Drunken Master" style, as it is perfectly illustrated by the final fight scene in Drunken Master 2. (Transformation moment comes at 3:06, when Wong Fei Hung starts drinking industrial-strength grain alcohol.) [youtube f6o9p8yXjr0] But can this strategy actually carry over into the NFL world? Is there some sort of magical coaching elixir or combination of hidden plays and players that can transform chumps to champs in a week's time? Here's what the FanBall bloggers for each of Saturday's teams are saying, after the break: Turn On The Jets: How easy will a repeat be? More from Turn On the Jets: First Look -- Position by position breakdown -- TOJ TV -- Final Thoughts Bengals Jaw: Is there a secret ingredient that the Bengals saved up? More from Bengals Jaw: Playdate in the Jungle Both these bloggers are on Twitter -- follow @TurnOnTheJets and @BengalsJaw for in-game fun.

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The second game tonight offers a different level of rematch, pitting division rivals Dallas against Philadelphia -- a matchup the Eagles have already lost twice this season. Rather than looking for an ingredient purposely held out in a meaningless game, the Eagles will be looking for something that they have yet to find in this matchup. Respect The Star: How confident are you in a Dallas three-peat? More from Respect The Star: Cowboys-Eagles: Final Round Eagles Have Landed: Is there a missing ingredient? More from Eagles Have Landed: Back to the Drawing Board after Shutout Loss -- Three Key Matchups to Watch Saturday Neither blogger is a big twitterer, but follow @EaglesHavLanded anyway and hope for some choice in-game tweets. no comments

Ted Carlson at the Five Tool Blog, an excellent fantasy resource on the FanBall network, has a nice take on the Rams and how to go about fixing them in five easy steps. Among other things, he addresses the #1 pick (Suh or not?), Michael Vick, and RamsHerd's dark horse pick for 2010 starting weakside backer, Derrick Johnson. I can't argue with the philosophy at all, and highly recommend the read. no comments

Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Blink" and "The Tipping Point" is one of the most thought-provoking business writers working today. He loves exploring data and finding connections between seemingly unrelated ideas to produce revelatory content. His starting point in this October 2009 article for the New Yorker, though, is not a startling one:

"Playing football causes brain damage." His primary case in point? Former Ram Kyle Turley.

For Turley to come forward and share stories like this represents a break of the ranks, a break in the code of the locker room, but only the latest and most explicit of stories that are being told all around football. We as fans generally don't learn of events like this until something catastrophic happens. It took Lyle Alzado's death to expose the rampant steroid use in football to the light of day. But in the case of head injuries, rather than a single tragic event, we have a building wave of publicity shedding light on the issue.

And now, after coming forward in Gladwell's article, Turley is now providing key testimony as the US Congress investigates the seeming epidemic of concussions in football.

The article is a topical one for Rams fans not only for Turley's antics, which continue in detail. The heart of our rebuild is in our offensive line, and both Jacob Bell and Rams rookie tackle Jason Smith have missed time with concussion symptoms, with Smith missing six weeks and being held away from the practice field all together. The severity of his symptoms after so little game time as a pro cast a sudden sharp doubt on his status as a true "building block" for the franchise. Additionally, we saw Keith Null and Donnie Avery knocked out of the season's last game with concussion symptoms, and both Danny Amendola and Kyle Boller suffered high-profile knocks to the head.

It's callous to suggest any of these guys are "soft," but it's hard to hide our disappointment when our players leave the field, especially with the game on the line. And we cheer lustily when we see retribution, as when OJ Atogwe banged Kurt Warner to the ground, causing him to leave the game and miss his next start.

Cheering for the violence of the sport is a natural part of being a fan. We want our guys to not only be better football technicians and strategists, we need them to be physically tougher than our opponents. And a big part of our job as the 12th man is to maintain our players' fighting spirit, to make our voices heard in the pit of action.

And this is the parallel that Gladwell draws between football and dogfighting:

In other words, the devil isn't just in Michael Vick, it's in all of us.

This is especially relevant as the Rams ready themselves to part ways with Marc Bulger, and a contingent of Rams fans and media columnists openly pine for Vick's services.

It will be interesting to see these two debates collide in the St Louis sports airwaves. Are the same people who champion Vick also turning a blind eye to the increasing publicity that concussions have gained? Are the same ones who morally oppose Vick clamoring for reform in the way the game itself is played? And which attitude will prove dominant in this city, this fan base?

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If you haven't already bookmarked Cameron Hollway's "On the Rams" column at the St Louis Beacon, I suggest you do it. His latest column, written before kickoff but just as relevant now, explores the reasons for Rams hope in 2010. I know what you're thinking, Rams fan: where have I head this before? But it will be a long and painful offseason if you can't bury some of the game-to-game pain and start taking the high road. Of course it would help if Null had established himself as the surprise "QB of the Future" in his audition, or if you didn't have nagging feelings of doubt putting so much faith in one boy named Suh to turn this whole thing around. But you have to admit, one of the small but enduring victories that Coach Spagnuolo has earned this season is the full faith of his team. He has stood up with the team and taken the punishment just as they have. He hasn't shied away from the injuries, the bad bounces, the bad play, and the near misses. He hasn't changed his positive attitude, his desire to teach and coach and carry this team forward. It's an attitude that is worthy of adopting for our own as a fan base. Consider, by comparison, the attitudes in Denver toward their rookie head coach, the hotshit McD whose brash temperament immediately drove a wedge between the franchise and its franchise quarterback, and then just as shockingly led his team to a 6-0 start on the season without said quarterback. Now they are 8-8, and Bryan, our FanBall correspondent at the Broncos Stable is questioning everything. And one in-game tweet in particular stood out to me: And other football observers are openly saying the same things: that the Broncos quit, that they might be worse off under McDaniels, and that he should be on the hot seat, deserving "as much more scrutiny" as Spagnuolo and the coaches of the NFL's other downtrodden teams. Take heart in the fact that there is not the same swirl of negativity around the Rams, despite their sorry record. Take heart in the fact that there are no Shanahan or Cowher rumors in St Louis. It's not that the Rams don't want to win, it's that they already have the leadership in place to do so. Now it's just a matter of restocking the talent. no comments