Screamin' All Over This Town

Well, the New Year has arrived, and I do not know what to do with it. I cannot believe that this is my first post of the New Year, but things come and go too quickly.

...and now for something completely different.

The world of St. Louis sports is tumbling down in front of me.

First, the Cardinals blew their chances of making it to the post season, and now they have made no real big noise this off season. Give me Greg Maddux or give me death.

Second, after the season ending injuries to Al MacInnis and Barret Jackman, the Blues have no way of winning anything even mildly related to the Stanley Cup. Now they not only need one or two more top flight scorers to help Doug Weight on the second line, but now they need to shore up their defense too. And by the way, whatever happened to Brent Johnson, and who is Reinhard Divis? If Chris Pronger does not win the Norris trophy this year than there is no justice in the world of sports.

Third, this just in: the Mizzou men's basketball team sucks! Does Quin Snyder have another year of eligibility left? He was a point guard right? If Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson do not step it up NOW, Mizzou may be waiting outside the NCAA tournament. Has a team ranked in the top five during the preseason ever not made the tournament at all? This is scandalous.

Finally, Jeff Wilkins is the best kicker in the NFL right now. So maybe the farthest he can kick one is 50 yards. So what? Mr. Wilkins makes better tackles than any other kicker out there. Has any kicker made a more athletic, heads up play than the one Jeff made on that onside kick recovery during the playoff game? Unfortunately, he was the only consistent scoring threat we had this year. My apologies to Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, but they do not throw passes to themselves. Should the Rams fire Mike Martz? No, especially not after a 12-4 season! Should the Rams get rid of Mark Bulger and Kurt Warner? Yes, Martz has lost confidence in Bulger, and the other players do not like playing for Warner. Why is Bobby April still with the team? I have no idea. Could we please get James "The Hammer" Hodgins back? God, I hope so.

I have to start a whole new paragraph to talk about the defense. Our defensive line needs help putting consistent pressure on the opposing quarterbacks. Maybe we need to draft better. Our top draft picks from the last two years, Damione Lewis and Jimmy Kennedy, are underachievers at best. Our top three linebackers, although I like all of them, cannot put together 16 solid games of football between the three of them, and our secondary is in shambles. Couldn't we get Aeneas Williams to play corner and free safety? Oh yeah, by the way, who is going to replace Lovie Smith?

Well at least Daryl Doran and the St. Louis Steamers are back in town! Isn't Daryl like 50 years old now? Did anyone know that the MISL All-Star game was going to be in St. Louis? Are there any players that anyone has ever heard of in this league?

(SCREAM)