Weekend Woundup

-A nice couple of wins this weekend for the Blues. And when's the last time we were able to say that? The more I watch pro sports, the more I have one of my core belefs reinforced. You must have a group of hungry young players on your team to be successful. I'm not saying that the veteran Blues players are "too comfortable". But, it's obvious that when you infuse some players who may be marginal on talent, but high on effort, that you get a better game from everybody. I think that, as much as anything, explains the success of the Blues this weekend. The group worked hard for a full game. And even though some key performers were out injured, the organization overall has more depth of talent and bringing up some of those guys from Peoria brought a higher level of effort to the overall picture.

I remember seeing Steve Regier during training camp and thinking the guy had a good skill set and size. Seemed like he could play some NHL hockey. Well he's beginning to make that look like a pretty good observation by this non-expert. Cam Paddock is another who may or may not have a long-term NHL future. But he's good enough to play the game at this level and certainly not embarass himself. Some of the other youngsters are stepping it up as well. At least it's nice to know that the future continues to brighten and the depth of the team continues to deepen as The Note's long haul back to Cup contender continues.

-The Rams? Oh my goodness! Maybe we were spoiled by the late 90's/early 00's success of the Horned Sheep. But holy mackerel...this team has become unwatchable. Were the really bad Rams of the early St. Louis Rams days this bad? I don't think so. They were pretty bad...but at least they seemed to put out a reasonable effort. This team seems hell-bent on convincing us that they don't want to play the game. "Please coach...please, please, please put in somebody else. I don't feel very well", is the attitude I seem to be getting. I had to watch the Cardinals play the Giants today to get what I considered a pro football fix. The Cardinals? Oh my goodness!

I suppose the two wins after Jim Haslett took over must have been a couple of Sunday mirages. I can't imagine this bunch of losers actually beat the Redskins and the Cowboys. That couldn't have happened.

The off-season can't come fast enough for the Rams organization. Will we see the team sold? Will we see a front office and new coach? We certainly must see a new...maybe not better...but new, set of players. Somebody, somewhere better have a very strong game plan on how to bring this team out of the state it's in. As I said ...Oh my goodness!