Here's my recovery of some recently remembered thoughts... and have a great weekend.
Reading Time 5 minutes:
* Will the Rams stay or go? I don't know what Stan Kroenke is going to do with the Rams, you don't know what Kroenke is going to do with the Rams, no one in the media knows what Kroenke is going to do with the Rams, none of the Chicken Littles know what Kroenke is going to do with the Rams, none of the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil CandyLanders know what Kroenke is going to do with the Rams ... so let's shaddup already. (The big boy here included.) There's a long way to go in this particular ballgame, and until we have actual and meaningful news, there's no reason to make grandstanding and premature predictions (one way or another) or risk having coronoary episodes each time Kroenke's name shows up on the Internet.
* About the only thing more foolish than obsessive Kroenke-related angst is the stewing over potential NCAA Tournament seeding for Mizzou. Why? (1) It's Jan. 27. Way too early. (2) Missouri, Kansas and Baylor have six regular-season meetings against each other and only two have been played; (3) if the team can't win at Oklahoma State, talk of a No. 1 seed is, um, misguided at this early date. Play the games. We'll know more later.
* On Sunday night on HBO, the new series "Luck" is (officially) on the air. Dustin Hoffman, thoroughbred horse racing, Nick Nolte, Santa Anita, Dennis Farina, degenerate gamblers, Michael Mann, David Milch. I'm in.
* The Cincinnati Reds will be the primary challenge to the Cardinals in 2012.
* The Cubs will be better than expected.
* Milwaukee is wounded, but the free-agent signing of 3B Aramis Ramirez was one of the more overlooked and underrated moves of the offseason.
* To Springsteen fans: The Boss bypassed St. Louis on the first leg of the upcoming U.S. tour but that's a good thing; he'll wheel in on the second leg and as fellow Springsteen travelers know the shows are almost always at their best late in the tour.
* David Freese recently sat down with Sports Illustrated's gifted baseball writer Tom Verducci for an extensive interview; we look forward to reading that one.
* Andy McDonald, thank you. But at least Ovie won't be poisoning an All-Star locker room.
* Lots of peeps talk about how the New England Patriots haven't played many good teams this season, and it's true. They played only three regular-season games against teams that made the playoffs this season, losing to the NY Giants and Pittsburgh and beating Denver. But the Giants only faced four playoff-bound teams during the regular season: New England, San Francisco, New Oreans and Green Bay. They lost three of the four.
* Not long after the Detroit Tigers signed free-agent 1B Prince Fielder, manager Jim Leyland received a phone call from his buddy Tony La Russa. Leyland told me that La Russa offered an enthusiastic endorsement of Fielder as a person, a player, and a competitor.
* The peeps that are saying that Mizzou is somehow better without Laurence Bowers ... goodness, check your oil.
* If you participate on Twitter, then you need to follow Joe Buck @buck
* I think I'm the only adult in the STL that didn't make it to the popular and praised Farmhaus restaurant in 2011. My loss. But it's a new year.
* Elevator conversations are the worst.
* I like Real Estate. (That's a band.)
* Looking forward to finally meeting St. Louisan Dan Connolly at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis next week. He's the starting center for New England which means he's the envy of a lot of women that have crushes on Tom Brady. (Think about it.)
* Rams' media-relations director Ted Crews is leaving the organization to head to Kansas City for a similar position. Ted is a good guy who has plenty of experience in working for paranoid and insecure bosses so he'll fit right in at KC.
* St. Louis U at UMass: Big game. SLU needs this one for Tournament resume-building. The primary challenge: UMass is 6th in the nation in rebounds per game; SLU ranks 289th. But according to the analytics at kenpom.com the Billikens have a substantial edge over UMass in the ratings of adjusted offense and adjusted defense.
Thanks for reading ...
-Bernie
