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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Grip on Sports: The NFL’s mostly boring wild card weekend ends with a matchup that bores into our memories

A GRIP ON SPORTS • When you get to be a certain age, and have been a sports fan for more than a few decades, déjà vu isn’t just an occasional visitor. It’s more of an uninvited relative who refuses to go back home.

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• Do you recognize this number: 8675309? Then you may be old enough to recognize this series of digits: 23-20; 14-10; 24-13; and 14-7.

The first one should make you think of Jenny, and not the Jenny that Forrest Gump loved. The latter ones?

You have to be a fan of a certain Los Angeles-based pro football team to understand the pain that accompanies them. And of a certain – read, ancient – age. After all, they are all scores of Rams loses in the NFL playoffs. All against the Minnesota Vikings. And all before Tommy Tutone decided to plant a phone-number-based earworm in the American zeitgeist.

The déjà vu part may just happen today around 8 p.m. Though, actually, it already has kicked in for this one-time Ram fan.

You never forget your first, do you? Your first NFL team you rooted for takes root in you subconscious somewhere and stays there, even if you move thousands of miles away and change allegiances to the team of your children’s youth. When the Rams, the team of Roman Gabriel, Deacon Jones and a young Vince Grippi, do well, those old feelings come bubbling up. And often times over the recent years made us want to retch, mainly because they occurred as Aaron Donald and friends destroyed another under-talented Seahawk offensive line.

But today, when L.A. plays the final game of Wild Card Weekend – all uppercase because that’s what the NFL wants – I’m pretty sure retching will be in the cards.

After all, the Vikings are on the field too.

Let me take you back to November, 1969. It was a simpler time. Cars belched and only Ralph Nader cared. People drew peace symbols, wore tie-dyed shirts and sported puka-shell necklaces. George Allen’s Rams were older than Methuselah and about as mobile. To move on in the NFC playoffs, they were faced with playing the Vikings in Minnesota, where it was cold and snowy. Always. They were not up to the task. The 23-20 loss set a tone.

Even as Chuck Knox – remember him, Seahawk fans? – took over, Bud Grant’s Vikings stood in the way. In 1974 and 1976, the Rams also traveled to Minneapolis and saw their season end in a flurry of, well, flurries. And turnovers and missed field goals and whatever else you can think of. They couldn’t win in the snow and cold. They were snakebit, if the snake was named Carl Eller or Fran Tarkenton or Alan Page.

But 1977 was going to be different. The Rams were better. Knox built his best Ground Chuck version yet, featuring Lawrence McCutchen and a defense that was a perfect mix of young and old. Won the NFC West with a 10-4 record. Were 7-0 in their venerable – even then – home, the Coliseum. And were going to finally host Minnesota in their first-round game. The losing streak would end.

The Vikes would be crushed under the weight of the Rams’ rushing attack, third-best in the league.

Except … yes, there was always an “except” for the L.A. Rams back then. This time it was Mother Nature who changed the season’s trajectory. She sent monsoon rains into the Basin. The rain fell and fell and fell. The Coliseum turned into a mud-pit that only Dewey Oxburger could love.

The Rams, used to perfect conditions, continually stalled in the red zone. Pat Haden, a quarterback whose biggest weakness was his size, had trouble throwing the wet ball – to his guys anyway. He tossed three interceptions, the Vikings took advantage and won 14-7. Once more, failure.

Which brings us to Monday night. The Rams won the NFC West. Again. Minnesota is the first playoff opponent. Again. And Mother Nature has intervened. Again. Instead of a flood, it is fires. Awful, awful fires. The NFL made the right choice to move the game. It will be in Glendale, Arizona (5 p.m., ABC). No home-field advantage.

Pardon me if I expect the Vikings to win. After all, it’s not just déjà vu, it is a tradition.

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WSU: The Cougars had a size advantage over Saturday night’s host, Gonzaga. But the Zags had a plan to combat it. And, as Theo Lawson tells us in his look back at the contest, the plan worked. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Ohio State is a big favorite in next Monday night’s CFP title game. If I were a betting man, I would think about taking Notre Dame and the points and then laugh at myself for even contemplating it. … It may only be January, but that’s not too early to take a swing at Washington’s fall offensive depth chart, is it? … Oregon State is looking for a defensive coordinator. Keith Heyward is no longer on the staff. … Where does Dillon Gabriel rank among the all-time best Oregon quarterbacks? … Arizona may have made its biggest offseason pickup this week, when the Wildcats welcomed home coach Joe Salave’a. … Among the future Pac-12 members in the Mountain West, hey, it’s a day for Rams’ news. The franchise’s former Super Bowl winning quarterback, Kurt Warner, is ecstatic his son E.J. is transferring from Rice to Fresno State. … In basketball news, the Big Ten road woes continued Sunday for the Washington men (and for many of the former Pac-12 schools) with a 91-75 loss at No. 24 Michigan. … No. 15 Oregon was on the road and was forced to rally past Penn State. … The Husky women saw their winning streak end at home against 20th-ranked Michigan State. … Oregon watched as No. 9 Ohio State scored 27 consecutive points in the second quarter. Yes, the Ducks lost on the road. … Speaking of Oregon, McArthur Court is no longer around but the memories remain. … San Diego State will not be sad when it no longer has to play in The Pit.

Gonzaga: The look back at the Washington State win is linked above. But I thought I better link Theo’s story here as well, in case you missed it. … Elsewhere in the WCC, USF’s dominant big woman, Debora dos Santos, suffered a knee injury last week and is lost for the season. The Dons are one of five teams, including the Bulldogs and Cougars, tied atop the standings. Two of them, Portland and Gonzaga, meet Thursday night in Spokane, while WSU plays at USF at the same time.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, the exodus from Bozeman continued yesterday as Montana State lost another defender to the portal.

Seahawks: Here are a dozen answers to a dozen questions about Seattle’s upcoming offseason issues. … Former Eastern star Cooper Kupp tried to see the positives for the Rams in this week’s tragic events. … There was only one decent game over the weekend. Washington, with former Hawk Bobby Wagner making a key play, went to Tampa and won, marching down the field and scoring on its last possession for the fifth time this season. Remember when the Hawks had a young quarterback who could such things?

Mariners: I linked this story yesterday about Seattle placing profitability over playoff potential. I link it again today not just because I believe it is true, but because it ran in the S-R.

Kraken: Walked upstairs yesterday, where the dining-room TV was on the Kraken game. Heard Ian Furness’ voice in the first intermission before I entered the room. He was saying something about it being 4-0 or something. And not in Seattle’s favor. I decided not to walk into the kitchen. Went back downstairs to watch another NFL playoff blowout.

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• After the mud-bowl loss, Knox abandoned ship. Signed on in Buffalo, where the weather in December was an advantage, not a curse. Ultimately, turned the Bills around. He was replaced by L.A. defensive coordinator Ray Malavasi, who did two things in his brief tenure as Rams head coach. He took the Rams to the Super Bowl in his first season, defeating the Vikings 34-10 in the process, and, a couple years later, fell asleep while on hold for his weekly radio show. Robert W. Morgan’s ensuing one-sided interview – he would ask questions, such as “what do you think of the Rams’ offense?” and the only answers were Malavasi’s loud snores – made Malavasi a laughing stock and ultimately contributed to his dismissal. Until later …