I hated hearing it, but
in Los Angeles during the early 1960s there was a so-called dance craze and I
was reminded of it Thursday night.
Understand that your loyal blogger is
not a dance aficionado. My idea of a dance floor is a place where people who know
what they are doing go, but not me. Dancing is sort of like a math class: Been
there, didn’t know what I was doing, left in disgrace.
But the dance I hated hearing about
more than anything I could imagine as a youngster was something called The Rams Tango. The Tango goes like this: One, two, three, Punt! One, two, three, Punt!
One, two, three, Punt!
Heaven help us, that’s what the nation
saw Thursday when the Rams lost to their long-time rivals, the San Francisco
49ers. Had the late orchestra leader Lawrence Welk been alive to handle the
play-by-play, he might have called, “Ana
one, ana two, ana three, Punt!”
It was a throwback game to the early
‘60s. The Rams played well on defense but struggled on offense, just as they
did back when John Kennedy was President of the United States.
Danny Villanueva both punted and place
kicked for the Rams in those years. He didn’t get much kickoff business and
seldom strained himself kicking field goals or extra points, but he was one
busy punter. Years later I met one of Villanueva’s brothers, a very nice man.
I firmly believe the Rams are moving
in the right direction this year. I hope so.
But as the Rams’ offense fought so
mightily to make a difference Thursday, I recalled my boyhood and wished things
would go better. Agonized, I muted the television.
Late in the game, my wife walked downstairs
and said, “Your Rams are on, aren’t they?” Then she noticed the game on the
screen.
“Bad enough I have to watch this,” I
grumbled. “I don’t want to hear about it, too.”
She walked away without another word,
knowing things had to be pretty bad.
Still, there was a silver lining. At
least she didn’t ask me to tango.
Thanks for reading.
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