This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 20, 2011 - It's mid-October in St. Louis. The weather is gorgeous; the foliage is turning and a football fan's fancy turns naturally enough to baseball -- Game one. World Series. That's a winner. A quick glance at NFL statistics explains why this is so.
- Number of teams to start season 0-4 and win the Super Bowl: 0.
- Number of teams to start season 0-4 and reach the Super Bowl: 0.
- Number of teams to start season 0-4 and qualify for playoffs: 1.
- Rams' current record: 0-5.
It takes some doing in this league to be mathematically eliminated before Halloween, so Coach Steve Spagnuolo and General Manager Billy Devaney can be fairly said to have left their mark on the franchise.
As of this writing, Spaggs has coached 37 regular season games, winning eight of those contests and losing 29 -- including eight of the most recent nine games played. Promising young talents like Sam Bradford and Rodger Saffold actually seem to worsen the longer they play in this system.
To help a lackluster attack locate the end zone, Devaney brought in Denver reject Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator. Under his tutelage, the team has yet to score more than 16 points in a game and has been outscored 49-137, overall. This juggernaut thus scores an average of 9.8 points a game, while surrendering an average of 27.4. Average margin of defeat: 17.6 points. Four touchdowns scored in 5 games.
If you think housing values have dropped in your neighborhood, check out game-day real estate at the Edward Jones Dome. At the home opener, management actually broadcast instructions to incredulous fans as to how to cheer at a football game. Maybe next time, they can explain why you'd want to ...
The local sports scene underwent something of a metamorphosis between the waning days of summer and the ides of October. By late August, the Rams were in the process of wrapping up an undefeated preseason while the Cardinals were staggering out of the hard ball equivalent of the Bataan Death March. Smart money had the Rams poised for a breakout season and the Redbirds dead in the water.
During spring training, a friend of mine had booked passage on a bus trip to Milwaukee for a 3-game series against the Brewers, beginning Aug. 30. As he prepared to leave on his moribund journey, I remember kidding him about the folly of buying tickets before Easter for games that wouldn't be played until Labor Day.
In the event, the Cards swept that series. Afterward, we both agreed the effort was too little, too late and lamented the fact that the team hadn't played up to its potential when the games still counted.
Flash forward to Oct. 16, and we find two local teams visiting Wisconsin. The winless Rams dutifully reported to the soon-to-be frozen tundra of Lambeau Field for their scheduled noon beating. Fresh off their bye week, they were rested and ready for the undefeated defending world champions, who promptly dispatched them in workmanlike fashion, 24.
Meanwhile that evening in Milwaukee, the Cardinals -- who'd undergone a late season resurrection that would have astounded Lazarus -- played the Brewers in Game 6 of the NLCS. By winning that contest 12-6, the team took the series 4 games to 2, thus securing its 18th NL pennant. It's probably worth noting that the baseball squad also managed to outscore its gridiron counterpart that day, 12-3.
Candor demands that I admit my role in the smart money heresy. In fact, I'd written the Cards off before the season even began when the team announced that mercurial manager Tony La Russa would return for yet another campaign.
Tony's managerial persona is a weird hybrid of Hamlet and the late Al Davis. Dark and brooding, he speaks halting non sequiturs through pursed lips and often wears sunglasses to night games. Besides, I'd never felt that a vegetarian lawyer from California was a particularly good fit for a beer gut and muscle town like St. Louis.
When he was in Oakland, he took what was arguably one of the best teams in the history of the game to three consecutive World Series but won only one of the Fall Classics -- and it took an earthquake to accomplish that feat. After nine years in St. Louis, he finally got back to the big show with a 2004 team that had recorded the best regular season record in baseball that year (105 wins), only to be swept by the previously hapless Red Sox. Even with the "Curse of the Bambino" on his side, he couldn't engineer a single game victory.
Two years later, he limped into the postseason with an 83-win team -- the worst record ever for a WS winner -- and somehow managed to take it all. Since then, his team had not won a postseason game and had qualified for the playoffs but once. I felt Tony had worn out his welcome.
My feelings were complicated by the fact that I'd met the skipper several years ago at a police officer's retirement party. He was relaxed, approachable and obviously comfortable in the company of off-duty cops. He even bought a couple of rounds.
I came away from the encounter very favorably impressed but alas, like most fans, I know a lot more about managing a ball club than the future hall-of-famer and ultimately tired of his ineptitude.
After this season's miraculous finish, Tony's as firmly rooted in the local landscape as the Arch. Riding playoff momentum through a 3-2 game one win, it's even possible his team will surprise the favored Rangers and win its 11th World Championship in 2011.
On Sunday, the Rams and Cardinals will both play in Dallas. Maybe Wisconsin history will repeat itself in the Lone Star state. As Joaquin Andujar used to remark you-never-know.
M.W. Guzy is a retired St. Louis cop who currently works for the city Sheriff's Department. His column appears weekly in the Beacon.