RealityCheck: Gordo, I was reading your answers so far and you say who cares who the backup LB's are. Um well you should care, when is the last time any LB of 3 played every down of every game?

Jeff Gordon: But . . . the Rams aren't paying millions for a back-up LB. Not happening. I'm not crazy about Culberson, based on what he did last year. I know the Rams do like Grant a bit. Last year's rookies were OK in limited duty.

G Turner: Blues have good young team. They need another backup goalie and a puck moving defensemen in addition to Johnson. Petro? A free agent (only if Brewer cant play). Are hockey contracts guaranteed like baseball?

Jeff Gordon: Oh yeah, they're guaranteed. So this makes cap management tricky. Teams can buy out players, but that is a painful proposition. A lot of players move because teams want to move their salary more than the actual player.

real ram fan from cali: 1 question how do you deal woth these Rams fans from stlouis: Earliers in the year all I read was get Pisa out of here now all of a sudden there crying cause hes gone .....His hard work and sweat led to us being almost last in every def stat....Lets let the new guys figure things out All STL fans should just stick to baseball......by the way Jeff you do a great job

Jeff Gordon: Pisa is a hard worker. This guy played hurt all the time. He is a tough guy -- but the team paid him a premium wage and he didn't play to that level. Now he doesn't fit what the new coach wants to do.

G Turner: What are the chances that the Missouri football team will have a vastly improved defense?

Jeff Gordon: Vastly improved? Dunno. Improved, sure, if they can clean up their pass coverage, that will happen.

magiardino: Hi Gordo. Re the draft... why pay ridiculous money for a #1 or #2 pick when you really don't need that pick until later on. For example, the Rams could have picked Monroe instead of Smith and saved about $20 million. If I were Detroit, I would have called the top 5 or 7 guys and said "OK, who wants to make $20 million, because that's all we are going to offer our pick?". Kind of like a reverse auction. The Rams could have done the same with their needs (Smith, Curry, Monroe, Crabtree, Sanchez, etc.) and saved a fortune.

Jeff Gordon: This issue has come to a head. I see the NFL negotiating a new deal with a rookie pay scale to fix this. You are right, it is absurd.