LA Rams training camp: Breaking down reports using the traffic light method

The LA Rams training camp is well underway. While that means that football is back, the truth of the matter is that real football is still weeks away. Right now, we have football players running football plays in shorts and tee shirts. But, for now, that will have to do.

But this is also the time when reports out of training camp begin to surface, and at times inundate parched fans with the drips and drops of news about the players, the plays, and the reasons for a Super Bowl victory. But not all reports out of training camp are created equally.

I have found that reports out of training camp fall into three categories, much like the three signal colors of a traffic light. After all, each and every morsel of information is always welcome. But there is a bit of difference in the quality and use of that information. And that is where we struggle at times, making those distinctions.

In the interest of helping to sort through the varying types of information, I use a very simple but effective method of sorting out information. In the end, I've found that it helps to keep my optimism and enthusiasm in check for the real juicy stuff, and forces me to limit my expectations to the positive and negative news for the entertaining news.

Why categorize data?

What do I mean? Well, let's imagine that a person is shopping for a new shirt, makes the purchase, pays for the purchase, and leaves the store with the new shirt in a bag. The juicy 'news,' (green light) in that case is that the person made the purchase. The yellow light news, in that case, is the fact that the person was seen in the store and that the person had an intended purchase and was standing in the checkout line. Finally, the red light news in the same example would be that the person was seen in a specific aisle in the store.

Over the next several weeks, we will all have the opportunity to read, see, and perhaps even hear news about the LA Rams. But what conclusions we draw from the myriad of sources and purposes of that information is up to each of us to decide. The goal here is not to limit what news is used to form the expectations of the Rams roster this season. Rather, the aim is to limit the expectations we set to the right sort of information.

Confused? Sorry if that is the case. But hopefully it will make more sense as we sort out the information that has been reported already.