Rams 'Battle' Ranked Among Fox Sports' 10 Greatest

A viral tweet put Fox Sports on the satirical warpath, one that poked fun at the Los Angeles Rams' costly conquest toward Super Bowl LVI.

It's only crazy if it doesn't work ... but, even if it does, comedy will still follow.

The Los Angeles Rams' risky yet rewarding gambit en route to Super Bowl LVI, one that sacrificed a good part of their draft capital for superstars like Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, and Von Miller. Each played major roles in the Rams' Vince Lombardi Trophy hoist, leading Los Angeles fans, and even general manager Les Snead, to adopt the unofficial mantra of "F*** Them Picks." 

A disappointing follow-up reignited debate around the strategy and it was recently brought up in a list by Fox Sports. Responding to a viral post from Twitter user @tamsully12, who asked users to declare their "favorite historical battle," Fox curated 10, listing the Rams' supposed issue with draft picks at No. 5.

"Rams general manager Les Snead went viral during the Rams' 2021 Super Bowl run," the list declares. "He embraced the meme of him implied to say "f--- them picks" after trading a bevy of draft selections for established veterans to help his team get to its first championship since its 2016 L.A. return."

The final aftershocks of the transaction were felt at this spring's draft, which saw the sixth overall pick (dealt to Detroit in the Stafford deal) drift away from Southern California. Ironically, the Rams wound up holding the most selections in the 2023 draft, bringing in 14 names over the selection weekend.

While the Rams' dispersal yielded a championship, the same can't be said for a team that joined in the same issues: the NBA's Phoenix Suns. 

The Suns, two years removed from an NBA Finals appearance emptied their cabinet to land Kevin Durant. Though Durant failed to prevent another second-round embarrassment (Phoenix's season ended with an embarrassing 125-100 loss to eventual champion Denver), the Suns apparently refused to learn their lesson: by trading for former Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal as the NBA offseason's first big deal, Phoenix has no control over its drafting destiny until 2031.

Fox makes sure that the Suns realize who "did it" first.

The Suns, under general manager James Jones and more recently under new owner Mat Ishbia, have pretty much adapted the NSFW phrase as their guiding motto," the list declares.

The Rams' inclusion won't be the only thing that ruffles the feathers of NFC West fans: just above the Rams is "Pete Carroll vs. The 1-yard line in championship games," referencing the Seattle Seahawks head coach's propensity to bungle lucrative one-yard scoring situations in both the Pacific Northwest and USC.

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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