April is too important to fool with for risk-taking LA Rams

Oh boy, do the LA Rams really need an April 1st this year? No. No, they do not.

Yes, It’s April Fools Day, and with it comes the risks of prankster peril for the naive, innocent, and unguarded folks willing to run with what they read online rather than what makes sense. It is a necessary mental exercise to most, the pause, ponder, and professional skepticism steps to avoid the embarrassing blind acceptance of what we want to believe and running with it.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve been on both ends of the pranking. I’ve been so very gullible in my early years. Perhaps that is the skillset that refined my ability to spin a good and believable yarn. And my oh my, I have spun some good ones. Five years ago to the day, I wrote a true ‘gotcha’ article at the Sixer Sense on April 1st, 2016 about the Philadelphia 76ers’ ownership. In that fictitious piece, I wrote that Will and Jada Pinkett Smith had bought the ownership of the 76ers outright.  The article was so believable, that the Washington Post followed up with a story that revealed my piece for what it truly was, just a fun April Fools day prank.

No laughing matter

So why don’t I pull a prank on the LA Rams this year? Well, to be honest, this April is simply too important. The Rams organization when they nearly depleted their first-round draft picks to make one last move to win a Super Bowl Championship soon enough to benefit Aaron Donald in his prime.

The post-game scene after the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs was heartbreaking. The long season ended prematurely. The number one defense could not stop the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field. Aaron Donald was in severe pain and was not playing to his full potential.

The Rams needed the offense to step up. It did, but not nearly far enough. The final score was 32-18. The Green Bay Packers would host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And Aaron Donald would sit after the game and collect his thoughts. But in hindsight, perhaps the person who took it the hardest was head coach Sean McVay. He led his team back to the playoffs. An imperfect team that had the potential to advance. They fought like warriors but fell short.

Warriors

Warriors. The LA Rams had warriors in 2020. Aaron Donald played despite labored breathing. Jared Goff played with a surgically repaired broken and dislocated thumb on his throwing hand. Andrew Whitworth played on a still rehabbing knee.

Yes, I could toss something out to you right now believable enough to hook some of you into chasing down a story from my imagination. I could create an article that would be just believable enough that I would get views over substance. But here’s where I draw the line. The LA Rams are trying to swim against the current of dead cap money, few draft-picks, and win a Super Bowl against all odds.

SoFi Stadium is the crown jewel of the NFL. It was designed to be the best stadium of its time, not just for today, but of tomorrow. A home befitting of championship play, by championship teams. The Rams would like to fulfill that void. The Rams have the pieces, but do they have the substance?

The substance of winners

Substance. The ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The magic of turning the momentum around and winning when hope seemed lost. That was the missing ingredient.

These LA Rams are made of the stuff. I can’t vouch for players yet to be drafted, or how the new faces will all fight together to assemble a winner this year, but I know that they will try their hardest. I also know that it’s no laughing matter.

The offseasons for the Rams are bursting with non-believers. They spin their yarns about the Rams’ hopeless future, the fact that because the Rams have surrendered the uncertainty of a first-round pick, their entire season is just wreckage that is destined to sink to the bottom of the NFL.

And yet, four winning seasons. A 43-21 record.  The Rams may be unorthodox, but other teams are following suit now. Why? Because the Rams seem to be breaking the rules and succeeding. Even as other teams struggle to understand it, they are mimic the Rams.  The Seattle Seahawks offered a Jalen Ramsey-like package to get safety Jamal Adams from the New York Jets. The San Francisco 49ers offered a Jared Goff-like package to get the third pick from the Miami Dolphins.

The Rams are indeed trendsetters.  In respect of the team’s efforts to win Super Bowl LVI in SoFi Stadium this year, there will be no April Fool’s jokes from me. Merely a token article of appreciation for the LA Rams, for the risks they take, and for the innovative and unorthodox methods and lengths they will employ to win.

It will always be more entertaining and satisfying to cheer for a team tries and occasionally screws up than to cheer for a team that takes no risks. In the end, perhaps the April Fools joke is on those who do not understand what the Rams are up to. Thankfully, I do get it. While it may seem risky, the reward will prove to be worth it.