Ramdom thoughts: Longtime EWU SID and Rams fan Dave Cook is in football heaven

Before there was Cooper, Samson and Aaron, there was Jack, Jim, Fred, Merlin, Phil, James, Lawrence, Harold, Jack and even a pair of Toms – shoot, there may have even been a Seth or a Lance in there, for all I know.

You see, I was a Rams fan long, long ago. Like 50 years. Even before the 1973 move from the white horn on their helmets to the yellow. Before the hometown Seahawks even existed.

Some people have fandom; I have Ramdom.

I’ve got the goods to prove it. Cards, that is. Genuine Topps trading cards. Yes, with the shingle they called gum included.

Those cards – usually Christmas and birthday gifts from my hard-working parents – were everything to me in my childhood. I’m still the proud owner of cards from the ’70s of such Rams icons as Fred Dryer and Merlin Olsen, who would become favorites on TV as actors soon after their careers were finished.

There was also Merlin’s brother Phil, and the unrelated Youngbloods – Jack and Jim. And my ’70s version of Mac and Jack’s – Tom Mack and Jack Snow. Both versions were equally able to knock you on your rear end.

But my prized cards were RB Lawrence McCutcheon, QB James Harris and WR Harold Jackson. After all, they had the ball in their hands, and that meant lots of TV time and indelible prepubescent memories. Later in life, I had the thrill of briefly meeting McCutcheon and Harris – together, if I recall correctly – when they were scouting players for the NFL.

I had many other cherished Rams cards – somebody even gave me a 1960s Jack Pardee card at some point. I didn’t have them all from the early ’70s, but I had plenty. You could get the boxed sets and have all the cards, but there was no money for that – and besides, it would render useless the checklists you would occasionally get in a pack.

Ever heard of the game “Pro Draft”? It used the cards to create teams with players and their values, ranging from $0 to an All-Pro salary of $100,000. A max contract of $100K? See, I told you it was a long time ago. I played that game over and over, and I was most proud when I had a Ram or two on my squad. To heck with their worth on the attached value card, they were my guys!

My Ramdom didn’t stop with cards.

I loved reading my NFL books, including “More Strange But True Football Stories” which told the tale of Tom Dempsey’s record-breaking 63-yard field goal in 1970. I read his back story over and over again, and how he kicked with half a foot and a special shoe. And then he became a Ram.

I have his card, too, and the book still sits right next to “How to Punt, Pass and Kick.” Those have gathered dust near my PPK trophy from 1971, when I finished third in my age group (out of three, of course, but a trophy is a trophy!).

My Roman Gabriel Rams puzzle in the unique oversized tin can was put together a dizzying amount of times, and I recently dug it out. Of course, a vintage Roman with the white horns would look awesome on Facebook during the current Rams’ playoff run.

First, find the corners and straight pieces, I told myself, but I found only one corner and about a dozen straight pieces. OK, a few missing pieces I can work with. I thought at first I was a little rusty putting together puzzles, so my wife joined in. It was a mere 300 pieces, gosh darn it, so easy my grandson could put it together (and I don’t even have a grandson).

And then, what was this? Pieces of my Jim Plunkett Patriots puzzle, too? The red-and-green turf gave it away. Curses! In the transition from childhood to senior citizen, remnants of my youth were missing. Epic fail. Let the waste-to-energy incinerator put the puzzle together. But I did keep the label!

Puzzle pieces weren’t the only lost remnants. Only recently did I come to wish I still had the catalog-ordered Rams jacket from Sears I wore every day to school (of course, always fashionably worn with my Toughskins jeans). It was blue with goldish/yellowish sleeves – the equivalent of a letterman’s jacket for the late grade-school to junior-high scene. I wore it until my junior year in college, or so it seemed.

I had a matching Rams stocking hat, too – I think that may have survived the Goodwill bag through the years and is still somewhere. My vintage Rams cap also survived; I wore it proudly the night before the refs – I mean the Rams – beat the Saints.

But I wish I had that jacket now, in much the same way I wish I had my dad’s red ’61 Chevy step-side pickup I drove in high school. Yes, the remorse of letting go is setting in. Now that I’m back on the Rams bandwagon, I truly missed out on being the talk of Super Bowl five-three – and having a sweet old ride to get there.

My Ramdom would begin to wane when the Seahawks came into existence in 1976, and my hometown team and the “Norm Evans Seahawks Report” newspaper stole my heart. Heck, we even had former Ram Chuck Knox as our coach in Seattle! And training camp in Cheney. Sorry, Rams.

Even when the Rams played in the Super Bowl in 1980, I was pretty much over my early obsession. The move to St. Louis sealed it, and as much as I loved the story of Kurt Warner helping the Greatest Show on Turf win Super Bowl thirty-plus-four, I was just a lukewarm fan.

Until now.

As the perfect alignment of the stars, earth and moon would have it, here I am for the second time in my lifetime watching the Rams with the white horns on their helmets – the ultimate litmus test of my original Ramdom. They dumped the gold just for me, of course, and certainly had me in mind when they added some of my buddies to the roster.

Cooper Kupp, Samson Ebukam and Aaron Neary are three former Eastern Eagles I got to work with during their All-America playing careers in Cheney. I was the sports information director – and never prouder to work with such great young men.

I already had history with Cooper when he burst onto the scene in 2013, and eventually had a dizzying amount of honors and records on his résumé (I’m still dizzy, and it ain’t the Mac & Jack’s). I knew his grandpappy before Cooper was even born. Jake Kupp was my Sunday school teacher in Yakima after he retired from the New Orleans Saints. I’ve never been so star-struck in my life as when I met Jake for the first time! Sadly, no Topps card of him.

Plus, great-uncle Jeff played previously for EWU, and I got to know him over the years. Then I met Cooper’s parents, Craig and Karin, and eventually Cooper and Coop’s younger brother, Ketner. Trust me, they are the highest-character people you could ever meet.

Cooper, Ketner and I also share the irony of attending renovated and updated high schools – the same one, actually. I was an ’81 grad of Davis in Yakima at a time the original castle of a school was replaced, while Coop and Ket got to destroy my condo of a high school some 30 years later.

And now, nearly a month removed from Ketner’s appearance in the NCAA Division I championship game, we are on the cusp of an equally gratifying moment for a most deserving family. My heart will be with them all – and Samson and Aaron as well – on Feb. 3 in Atlanta.

Others are more than welcome to join me on the bandwagon as Super Bowl cinco-tres approaches. I’m proud to be a lifetime resident of the Inland Northwest who didn’t step foot in La-La Land (I loved that movie, by the way) – or California, for that matter – until I was in my 20s. I’d say I’ve been a lifelong Rams fan, but I can’t say that. However, it’s so cool – so overwhelmingly cool – to be back.

Even as a kid, I had a weak moment and bought a 49ers helmet when no Rams helmet was available at the local K-mart. I still have that helmet, but nothing replaced those cards and that puzzle and that jacket (and, on an unrelated note, that truck).

Those cards, with the bios, stats and quick facts on the back, would some day essentially become my job. I proudly wrote and talked about Cooper, Samson and Aaron while they were Eagles. I can’t imagine a better intersection of the two eras than this.

This is my nostalgic moment in time … my Ramdom. Go Rams!