So Close, and Yet So Far

Yesterday finally brought the big day of going to a St. Louis Rams game this regular season. Last February Prof. Egger and I went together to bid on these tickets at the auction for Providence Christian Academy. (I guess everyone else must have realized what kind of season the Lambs, er, I mean, Rams, would have :-)

Regardless of how my Lambs, er, I mean Rams, have done this year (now 2-12, and securely clinching the bottom of the basement in the NFC West Division), sitting down on the 50-yard line, twelve rows behind the Rams bench is still a treat (pictured here from my iPhone, and hence no zooming capability - sorry). You can actually see that the players are real people - big, but still real - and you can take in the interactions among players, both on and off the field. You see, from the top of the Dome, where I would normally sit and have sat many other times, the players look like, well, ants or some of those little folks from that old TV show "Land of the Giants."

It was actually a pretty good game, until the second half and especially the last quarter, that is, when the Lambs let the Seattle Seaweeds (er, I mean Seahawks) come back and win with a last-minute field goal. So close to win number three, and yet so far from getting their act together!

I suppose one upside to the dismal season for my cellar-dweller Lambs, er, I mean Rams, is this: they'll get to go early in the draft, pick up a really good player or two (or a dozen?), and then they'll get to revamp things for next year. Yes, there's "always next year."

And perhaps one upside for me is this: no one else will want to bid on any tickets donated to next year's PCA auction, and those seats twelve rows back on the 50-yard line will come even cheaper? (Well, I can hope, can't I? :-)