I used to love the Greatest Show on Turf, Kurt Warner is one of my heroes because of his story. I'm a sucker for the underdog, but then again aren't most fans?
I think where the problem comes in is the type of fans that St Louis has neglected to cultivate. The team has been bad, ownership has been fractured over the years, they came there from LA and we know how lazy those fans are. Just a lot of bad karma surrounding the team, a real lack of continuity, so it has attracted fair weather fans who are miserable and don't want to hear anything bad. Talk about head in the sand.
Kronke will make it a successful franchise but the next 2 years are going to be painful. He's one of the reasons the NFL has suspended the blackouts. They know that they need to keep the Ram fan base alive so they don't dare black games out at a time when fans will refuse to support a team that is going to move.
Once he gets his new stadium built, and the team moved, fans old and new can feel confident in their fandom and it will grow.
I see this as the same thing as the Browns moving to Baltimore. The owner didn't feel that Cleveland had the right atmosphere to produce a winning team but Baltimore did. And you know what? He was right. One can always claim that with Ozzy the "Browns" would have had success too, but would they have been able to keep quality free agents?
I think the Greatest Show on Turf was a wonderful boost for St Louis fans, but that's a baseball town. Without Kurt Warner they can't seem to get back on track. And look what Kurt did with a perennial loser in the Cardinals! Why Whisenhunt wasn't coach of the year was beyond me. The Bidwells were notoriously cheap and the Cardinals had never won anything of note. But of course they gave it the Steelers head coach who was handed a Superbowl caliber team. sad.
Anyway, a shiny new stadium, and a new lease on life will do the Rams some good and I believe in 2018 they will be good again. Sadly, just about the time all their talent starts to leave.
I have never in my life seen such a talent laden team suck so bad. No wonder Ram fans are so sensitive. :34853_doh: