Sundays From the Cellar: They Sound as Bad as they Look

Record: 1-10

Sunday’s Inevitable Outcome: Seahawks 27, Rams 17

The Line: Seahawks -4.5
For the second time this season, I was confident enough in the points the Rams were getting to put some actual coin down on them via my BetUS.com account.  The other game was their lone victory over the Lions, so while the Rams may have been 1-9 going into the game, I was 1-0 betting on them. 

They made certain that prosperity didn’t last. 

Week 12 Viewing Listening Strategy: For those that have listened to the JoeSportsFan podcast with any regularity, you won’t be surprised to hear/read me rant about the NFL and their increasingly unfriendly policies towards fans.  One of those policies that no other major sport shares is the infamous television blackout.

Last week with a blackout looming, the Rams organization bought the remaining 3,000 tickets to the Rams-Cardinals game to allow it to be shown on local television.  Credit to the team, as they recognized that the combination of a crappy economy and an even crappier team meant they should be thankful that they sold 61,000 tickets and avoid antagonizing the remainder of the fan base by allowing a blackout.

Of course, the NFL has a rule that allows a team to make that gesture towards a fanbase only once per season because heaven forbid their fans not be treated like expendable pieces of trash.  Thus when the 1-9 Rams were unable to sell the final 5,000 tickets to their game today versus 3-7 Seattle, the first blackout of the year and only seventh since 1995 hit St. Louis.  (The blackout’s intent of spurring more walk-up ticket buys worked like a charm considering a 15-year low of 47,475 actually were in attendance on Sunday)
 
So, while listening to the Rams on the radio, I was able to watch two competing informercials on the two primary networks that carry the NFL on Sundays.  Maybe next time I’ll think about shelling out that $50 to watch my team get slaughtered in person.###MORE###

Random Photo Comparison that had nothing to do with this game…

By the Numbers…
Number of times I documented Rams announcer Steve Savard saying the word “unload” during Sunday’s broadcast: 15 (the dude just loves using the word ‘unload’ anyway he can)

Fox Sports – Home of the NFL’s most awkward pregame show
Comedian Frank Caliendo was on hand in person for the Fox pregame show to mix it up with the gang Sunday and throw out the same impressions we’ve been hearing for five years now (Frank, you can retire the George W. Bush voice, he’s not the president anymore). His visit officially confirmed that the only thing less funny than watching Terry Bradshaw attempt to trade jokes with Frank Caliendo is Terry Bradshaw attempting to trade jokes with Frank pretending to be Charles Barkley.  Hilarious stuff, Fox.

The Moment of “This team is horrible”…

When the announcers pointed out that the Rams had given up over 150 yards on the ground to the 32nd ranked rushing offense in the NFL even though said team happened to be playing their backup running back. 

Over the last three games, the Rams have given up a combined 556 yards rushing despite the fact that two of those games were against rushing offenses ranked 27th or below.  The 556 yards came on 90 carries, meaning the Rams have given up an average of 6.1 yards per carry over the past three weeks. 

The conclusion: this defense is really, really shitty. 

My new Rams Jersey

NFLshop.com has a new feature that allows you to customize your jersey online to get a glimpse at what it might look like if you choose to go through with the order.  You know what that means?  That means not only can you come up with some clever name, using some hip spelling, but you can also break out the most badass number of them all…

Fist pump!

Competition for #32

#25 Kansas City (L 43-14) – After their improbably upset of the Steelers last week, the Chargers went ahead and made sure they didn’t get a big head. 
#27 Seattle (W 27-17) – Not sure if having two of your four wins courtesy of the Rams is a real feather in the cap these days
#28 Washington (L 27-24) – I’m done trying to figure out if the Redskins are going to show up from week to week. 
#26 Oakland (L 24-7) – What a Thanksgiving treat it was to get to see the Raiders play on national television in primetime.
#30 Tampa Bay (L 20-17) – Atlanta lost their starting quarterback and their starting running back in the game and it still wasn’t enough of a handicap to give Tampa the win.
#29 St. Louis (L 27-17) – They blow.  Nothing else needs to be said.
#31 Detroit (L 34-12) – And here I thought the new aggressive Lion logo was going to lead them to the playoffs this year
#32 Cleveland (L 16-7) – Take a bow, Mangini.  It’s no small feat to maintain a stranglehold on the #32 slot amidst this bunch. 

Up Next: at Chicago

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