St. Louis Sports Online

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Mike Huss "The Fuss According to Huss" St. Louis Sports Online lead columnist and host of "Sportstalk" on WGNU AM-920 note new time: (7:00-8:00 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays) E-mail Mike at: hussonwgnu@aol.com

Somewhere, Pete Rozelle has to be smiling. Parity in the National Football League is running rapid. The defending Super Bowl Champions and the defending Super Bowl runner-up have a combined total of four victories going into week nine of the season.

Meanwhile, last year's 4-12 doormats and whipping boys, the St. Louis Rams maintain the best record in the NFC at 6-1.

Parity like it oughta be.

Scribes and talking heads throughout the fruited plain are traveling to the Gateway City to view first hand this Rams phenomenon. Some are still skeptical. Some are jumping on the bandwagon. Gordon Forbes of the USA Today is predicting that in January, the Rams will meet Jacksonville in Atlanta for the Super Bowl. (ABC Television has to be thrilled with the thoughts of those two markets in the big game with Roman Numerals!)

Yes indeed, people can't stop talking about the Rams. Yes, I mean the St. Louis Rams! All of a sudden, there is something to do on Sunday afternoons in the fall in St. Louis.

Frequent visitors to this space know that I have been very skeptical of the Home Team. You may recall that in July, I challenged the Rams to show me and vowed not be fooled again. At that time, I predicted a 6-10 final record for our blue & gold heroes.

Realizing that my prediction is still mathematically possible, it will probably be wrong. Although kudos are in order to the Rams players, coaches, and brass, I am more happy for the thousands of PSL and season ticket holders who have opened their hearts and wallets to this outfit since they vaulted from the West Coast five years ago.

Forget Mc Donald's, these are the folks who deserve a break today.

Yes, it is a good time to be a football fan in St. Louis. However, monitoring the local reaction to this Rams season has been truly a case study in human behavior.

While hosting sport talk radio on WGNU, I have noticed that most of my callers this fall have fallen into two categories. The locals either represent those who believe that that Rams can walk on water, through fire, and will fight for truth justice and the American way. Or, they are the callers who are certain that the Rams success is merely a mirage and are convinced that on January 1,2000, the Y2K bug will eliminate their win-loss record from the standings.

Throughout these past weeks, several callers have flooded my WGNU phone lines convinced that the Rams will go undefeated in 1999. It is not totally their fault. They are following the lead of just about every television talking head in town. If you believe all of these folks, the city of Atlanta better start stocking up on toasted raviolis and start contacting Ted Drewes for the last week of January.

Gateway City sports fans are starving for a winner. There is no doubt about it. The lack of recent success by the baseball Cardinals have frustrated and aggravated their faithful. The Blues continue to play only good enough to be knocked out of the playoffs in the second round. The Billikens' and Missouri basketball programs have new coaches as well as question marks. The Football Tigers are on track for a .500 season in 1999.

You would have to go back to the football Cardinals of the mid-1970's or the baseball Cardinals of the mid-1980's to find the last St. Louis based team receiving such national and local attention

Yet, for the many who call my show with such optimism, there are still many who refuse to acknowledge what is happening around them. We are reminded that the Rams have broken our hearts many times during their St. Louis tenure. They have warned the audience that sooner or later the rest of the league will figure out the Rams plans. Next season, the Rams will have a quarterback controversy, and it will not be good. One bold caller still refers to Wide Receiver Isaac Bruce as "Donovan Osborne in pads".

To ALL of my loyal WGNU callers, as well as all local participants to St. Louis Sports Talk Radio, PLEASE take a deep breath. Now, allow me to impart some words of wisdom from that noted psychiatrist, Dr. Sidney Freedman of the television show M*A*S*H*

"Ladies and Gentleman, take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice".

First and foremost, please do not take Dr. Freedman's advice literally. But his message is very basic to all the local followers of the Rams: Simply enjoy the Ride!!

For the first half of the 1999 season, this football team has been surprising, enjoyable, and entertaining. Based on the parity of the league, you have to consider St. Louis as one of the better teams in NFL-1999. These next nine weeks should be just as entertaining.

In all likelihood, the Rams will make the playoffs. There is a good possibility that the Trans World Dome may be the site of a first: a NFL playoff game at a St. Louis venue.

In all likelihood, the Rams will lose a game or two against an inferior foe. In all likelihood there will be some games where they do not play well.

Why fight it? Who would have expected to Rams to have this much interest in the first week of November?

Should the Rams lose in Motown to the Lions, their overall record will be 6-2. Most Gateway City fans will be thrilled with this record. Others may be disappointed that the team would lose two in a row. Dr Freeman would refer to this as the classic "Half Empty/Half Full glass syndrome".

Regardless of your outlook enjoy the ride, football fans. It is has been a long time since we have ridden down this road. Unlike a bad novel, I do not want to know the ending of this story.

Isn't parity wonderful?