Everybody, say hello to Gunner!!

via lh5.googleusercontent.com

via lh4.googleusercontent.com

We've had him for almost a week and he already plays soccer. Sorta. He boxes at the soccer ball and barks at it. He's a ton of work right now but he'll be a great dog once he's grown (he's already mostly house trained and knows what 'NO' means ... though he clearly ignores it sometimes).

We spent hours trying to come up with a name. We went through literally hundreds of names from traditional to goofy. We tried to come up with a name about the way he looks, about the way he acts. About his birthday (Feb 14th). Nothing quite clicked. I told my wife that when we come up with the right name, it will just feel right.

We were all quiet for about 10 minutes and my wife said "Gunnar." I said, "That's it!."

It is perfect because he's a German dog (Gunnar is a German name) and I just spelled it like the Arsenal nick.

Anyway, thought I'd share!

It is generally assumed that Arsenal are going to buy a few players this summer. Who those may be is up for debate, however. I have been saying "I want Hazard." or "I want Gotze." etc ... and many others on here have said similar.

I wonder though, if you look at the roster and the players on loan, if maybe our spending will MOSTLY just be keeping our current players. Rather than buying new players (at a premium cost), doesn't it make more sense to just NOT lose current players?

We paid Rosicky. We are going to pay Song. I can't imagine we don't pay RvP. We paid Vermaelen... there is no transfer fee to keep a player.

Also, getting players back from injury is almost like a new signing (seems like I heard that somewhere before).

With our current roster and loan players, let's look at our starters (more or less).

RvP

Miyaichi / Wilshere / Ox

Song / Arteta

Gibbs / Vermaelen / Koscielny / Sagna

Szczesny

The bench, would look something like ...

Fabianski, Jenkinson, Rosicky, Ramsey, Gervinho, Walcott, Santos, Mertesacker, Djourou, Coquelin, New centerback, new striker, new left back?

Anyway, my point being, when healthy (when healthy), we are pretty close to having a roster that will seriously contend for the EPL title.

Podolski spells, RvP on occasion (like, almost every game for 20 minutes with the occasional start).

Miyaichi is the creative attacking force we are looking for in Gotze or Hazard and seems to be able to play wide or up with RvP.

I'd love to see another centerback (send Djourou out on loan), another left back (unless Santos and Gibbs can reasonably be expected to no longer be injured simultaneously), and really, what else?

Beyond that, improving the roster would involve costly transfer fees, high wages and the demotion of a current fan favorite.

Who's a regular starter now (when we are injury free) that you'd rather see on the bench? (For me, it is Walcott).

I'd like to see us sell Walcott while his value is high (relatively to his value 3 months ago).

I guess my point is, we are a lot closer to being 'set' than I originally thought (injuries notwithstanding) and most of these guys are still improving.

Thoughts?

I apologize but I totally forgot to bring my camera, and my phone takes lousy pictures so I've got nothing.

1. Billy Devaney and (separately) Kevin Demoff were both on the sidelines chatting during pregame. I am not sure why, but I didn't expect them to be at an away game. Maybe they are making a show of not giving up and are evaluating the roster talent. Billy Devaney is really short.

2. The young CB's seemed to be the most interested in playing. They had energy and enthusiasm. On this team, that really stood out.

3. Jerious Norwood is really skinny. No wonder he's always hurt.

4. Dominique Curry is bigger than I thought.

5. With one notable exception, Steven Jackson looks just about as big as his linemen.

6. That one notable exception is Harvey Dahl. That dude is a goon (and I mean that in a good way).

7. The offense had no passion from the get go.

8. The defense is a pretty good unit. They need help on the other side of the ball. This is nothing new, just worth repeating.

9. Craig Dahl was mostly awful.

10. I never noticed Robert Quinn.

11. In real life, the balls that hit our WR's in the hands and they still drop are even more embarrassing than when watching them on TV.

12. The Niner fans didn't believe me when I called the Brit Miller run on 3rd and 1. Pity from the Niners fans is the worst kind of pity. I had plenty of it nonetheless. I'd rather fight.

13. I noticed a 260 pound kid (Aldon Smith) crush a 300 lb man (Adam Goldberg). Aldon Smith is pretty good, but I can't give him credit when Goldberg is quite simply, horrible.

14. I did not notice Danario Alexander except for the one deep incomplete.

15. I did not notice Lance Kendricks.

16. I heard Chris Long had a good game, but his work was mostly on the far side of the field from me.

17. Quentin Mikell was pointing to Crabtree right after the snap of the ball on the TD pass.

18. The Rams defensive gameplan seemed to be "Don't let Frank Gore beat us. Make Alex Smith beat us." Alex Smith looked average most of the game, but the pass to Crabtree was beautiful and other than that, average was more than enough to overcome the 0 points we scored.

19. I can't count more than 2 times we were in Niner territory all game. Was there more?

20. I noticed Steven Jackson standing alone on the sideline in the second quarter, clean. That's just not right.

21. I saw Steven Jackson standing next to Sam Bradford (nobody else around) on the sideline in the fourth quarter talking. Jackson had his helmet on. The Rams were on offense. I'd pay $100 to hear that conversation.

One thing I have always loved about football (and sports in general) is the way it transcends social and economic barriers.  On Sunday, a rich Rams fan and a poor Rams fan could commiserate in the stands, a white Rams fan and a black Rams fan could both be awed by Steven Jackson while watching the game in a bar, a Catholic mother and an agnostic father could relive the great comeback by Sam Bradford on Monday morning.

Regardless of background, Rams fans were a part of a family of sorts.

Granted, we'd still always beat the hell out of a PhoneyWhiner fan, but that's beside the point.

I sure don't like how this CBA issue has brought out many of our irrelevant backgrounds.  I've been pretty outspoken my disdain of the player's union (which sounds like I'm FOR the owners, but I'm mostly just against the union).  I've heard others generally agree with my stance, and I've heard many disagree.  We are all certainly entitled to our opinions.

I guess what I'm saying is ... this is starting to become too much like work and not nearly very fun.

I'd like to see us start being Rams fans again, and maybe let go of the politics.

I'm not sure this post will accomplish anything, but maybe it will.

I'd much rather argue with Ramchop about the ability to sign 20 pro-bowl free agents than argue with dbcouver about unions.

/rant

After a few days of speculation and various opinions on the subject by fans and media alike, the St. Louis Rams have hired Josh McDaniels to be their Offensive Coordinator.

If you wanted him,  great.  If you didn't, too bad.  He's here.

While there is some conjecture and some room for interpretation, the facts surrounding Josh McDaniels are still pretty clear.

He was a great offensive coordinator in New England.  He was a terrible head coach in Denver.  He does not fit the 4 Pillars philosophy both because of cheating (read: questionable ethics) and a pretty extreme sense of self importance (read: it is fair to question his motives.  Will he buy into the team concept?).  Is Josh McDaniels a risky hire?  Maybe it was more risky to NOT hire him.

However, this is all beyond the scope of this post.

I want to talk about what the Rams' hiring of Josh McDaniels really means.

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