football Archives - St. Louis Dad

This season of football has been pretty interesting on and off the field. It has lead to some debates among friends, but we are always able to come to terms in the end over a few beers and just enjoying some professional football.

Sometimes you can’t enjoy watching football at home while the kids are running around and getting in front of the T.V. So once in a while you have to take the enjoyment outside of the house and bring the guys along with you and turn it into a night out.

That’s where 99 Hops House comes in. Located in Hollywood Casino, St. Louis, this is a great place to sit back and enjoy a variety of beers (99 of them!) and some delicious food, all while watching some football. There’s plenty of space for all of your buddies or just a couple of friends. It’s important to get out of the house once in a while and spend some time with the guys. It’s important for moms to get out and it’s important for dads as well. With me and my team it’s a little easier to huddle up the gang and head out to grab some beers. For me, 99 Hops House is a touchdown. It’s just a short drive to get some great food and watch the game with my best buds.

Drinking a few, watching the game and joking around with each other is what we do best. Throw in some food and we’re gonna have a good time. As we get older it’s important to us that we find some time to hang out every so often. Football season brings us all together as the teams work their way to the top spots. We have our fantasy leagues but it’s the real thing that brings out the true excitement. This might be the perfect spot to keep that excitement coming week after week.

While you’re at 99 Hops House be sure to check out the burgers. They are so tasty and are labeled the juiciest for good reason. Pair it up with one of their 99 different beers and you will be set until 3rd quarter when ya might want to try one of their desserts. I did not know about this when I went to 99 Hops House the very first time so I didn’t try it, but I’m thinking me and the gang might give it a go during playoffs this year. It’s the 99 Hops House Passport Program. Purchase 99 different beers and get prizes along the way! It would be a great excuse to go out with the guys and try out all kinds of different beers. Plus we’ll be watching football. It doesn’t get much better than that (don’t tell my wife I said that)…

Just ask the server for details when you get there. Here is a little break down of what you get if you get yourself into the program.

10 beers: Free Appetizer at 99 Hops House
25 beers: 99 Hops House Bottle Koozie & Hat
50 beers: $25 food credit to 99 Hops House
75 beers: 99 Hops House T-Shirt and Set of Logo Glasses
99 beers: Dinner for 4 ($100 food credit) at 99 Hops House, 99 Hops House polo shirt with your name on it, and Priority Seats to 99 Hops House Special Events!

Win $50 to 99 Hops House from St. Louis Dad!

So about this $50 prize…. You can win very easily a $50 gift certificate to 99 Hops House just by commenting below with your pick for the team that’s gonna bring it all home this year. Doesn’t matter if your team wins or loses, I just want to hear your pick! Then on Friday, November 3rd I will randomly select a winner from the comments below to receive the $50 gift certificate. Please use a valid email address so I can contact you for more information. The winner will have 24 hours to respond. If no response is received then another winner will be selected.

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED! THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE ENTERED!

St. Louis Dad was provided a complimentary gift certificate in exchange for this blog post, giveaway, and social media shares. While this blog post was sponsored by 99 Hops House, St. Louis Dad’s opinions and thoughts are his own. Check out 99 Hops House today and always be sure you have a designated driver if you are consuming alcohol!

It was announced yesterday that the St. Louis Rams will no longer be a St. Louis team. They are on their way to L.A. with a new stadium in the works. Personally, I have never been a big football fan, so this doesn’t bother me that much. I am more into baseball and I bleed Cardinal red, not Rams blue. I remember when the Rams came to St. Louis. It was exciting. We finally had a football team after all of those long NFL-less years.

Personally, the Cardinals should have never left. I do not know the circumstance behind that departure as I was only 3 or 4 at that time, but I at least know about the St. Louis Rams and the greatest show on turf. This post isn’t really about the Rams leaving St. Louis, it’s about what happened while they were here. Let me continue.

I remember the excitement when the Rams made it to the Super Bowl against the Titans. The game was amazing with a win over the Titans with just a yard more or less left for a possible Titan victory. We still had the majority of our team two years later when we went to the Super Bowl again. This time it was against the Patriots and from even before that moment when the coin was tossed the fix was in.

Now let me preface this by saying that I am not really into conspiracy theories and I tend to not believe any that I hear, but I made this one up myself and I like to chalk the loss of that game up to this unfathomable conspiracy that I have wrapped my little mind around. Let’s see what you think of what I came up with.

FYI my conspiracy isn’t exactly in line with Marshall Faulk or Kurt Warner’s theory that the Patriots spied on the Rams’ practice or did something that would resemble cheating. My theory has a little more tin-foil to it then just recording a practice. Let’s dive into it…

To start we need to go back to a time before the Super Bowl and the playoffs even happened. Let me take you back to September 11th, 2001. Many will remember this day as the day America was attacked and thousands lost their life. With that in mind read here from this Wikipedia article about what the NFL did considering the playoffs and the Super Bowl logo for that year. I have quoted the relevant information below.

Effect of the September 11, 2001 attacks

New Orleans had been preparing for Super Bowl XXXVI ever since the city was awarded the game on October 28, 1998 during the NFL’s meetings in Kansas City, Missouri, beating out San Diego as host city.^[5] However, the September 11, 2001 attacks led the league to postpone its September 16 games and play them a week after the scheduled conclusion of the regular season. This caused the playoffs and Super Bowl to be moved back by one week. Rescheduling Super Bowl XXXVI from January 27 to February 3 proved extraordinarily difficult. In addition to rescheduling the game itself, all related events and activities had to be accommodated. This marked the first time in NFL history that the Super Bowl was played in the month of February; however, all subsequent Super Bowls (excluding Super Bowl XXXVII) would be played in February.

Historically, the NFL made allowance for an open weekend between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. However, there wasn’t one scheduled for 2001, due to the NFL’s decision beginning in the 1999 season to move the opening week of games to the weekend after Labor Day. Because the date of the Super Bowl had been set through 2003, the bye week prior to the Super Bowl would not return until 2004.

The NFL and New Orleans officials worked diligently to put together a deal to reschedule the game. The league considered a number of options, including shortening the regular season, shortening the playoffs, condensing the three playoff rounds in two weeks, and moving the game to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was eventually decided to make every effort to maintain a full regular season and playoff, and push the Super Bowl back to February 3.

One of the most significant logistical challenges was accommodating the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention, which was originally slated to occupy the Superdome on February 3. On October 3, 2001, the NFL announced its intentions to hold the game on February 3, even though no agreement had been reached with NADA. Several weeks later, the three parties came to an accord in which the NADA would move its convention date to the original Super Bowl week in exchange for financial and other considerations, including promotional spots shown during selected regular season NFL games. This agreement permitted the NFL to move the game back to February 3, and allowed for a full standard playoff tournament.

Janet Jackson was originally scheduled to perform during the Halftime Show, but allowed U2 to perform to tribute the events of September 11.^[6]^[7]Initially, the original logo for Super Bowl XXXVI had a style that reflected the host city, and was distributed on some memorabilia items during 2001. However, after the 9/11 attacks, a new logo reflecting American pride was designed. It featured the shape of the 48 contiguous states and the American flag colors of red, white, and blue.

Now with all of that said and in mind, think about this, the NFL had no problems intervening to change the schedule and logo after the horrible 9/11 attack. So what’s not going to stop them from getting involved with WHO is actually going to the Super Bowl. The Patriots did not have a great start that season. Their defense kicked it up some later in the season but the offense at least in my opinion wasn’t as good as the Rams’ that year. After the attacks, the President and many other political figures started in with rhetoric about being a patriot and how important it is to not let the terrorists win… That is great and it is a good message to send but what if there was another way to spread some patriotism? What if the NFL could do a little something to rally up the red, white, and blue?

What better way to show that the terrorists cannot win then by putting actual Patriots into the Super Bowl? To battle the Rams that had dominated the field the last few years with Kurt Warner and company. A new logo was already made with New England’s team colors before playoffs even ended. The answer was right in front of them the entire time. Now to just get a team that was behind for a good part of the season to rally and become the under dogs in this new era of patriotism. Being a Patriot is now in every American’s mindset and with the Patriots in the Super Bowl, the stage was set, now they just needed the victory. With rumors of listening to plays, recording practices, and more, in my personal opinion it is hard to see that something wasn’t afoot. With deflate-gate kinda sorta still looming over the Patriots heads, maybe my conspiracy theory might just be plausible?

I have no hard evidence to support my theory, but it’s a fun theory to explore. Like I said in the beginning of this post I am not that big of a football fan, so in all reality this does not even bother me. It’s just something I noticed that is probably just rubbish. However, I do think all teams play a tough game and it’s just a little sad to see St. Louis lose a football team, but this isn’t the first time it has happened, and probably won’t be the last.