Mike Martz is the current head coach of the St. Louis Rams
of the National Football League. His press conference rhetoric
is almost regal and his vocabulary is not that of a footballer.
He wears small and golden Benjamin Franklinesque spectacles
that glisten in the stadium lights while white curly hair
encircles his pudgy yet wise face and the whole thing is split
and teleported a million times every Sunday or Monday into the
homes of his blue and gold subjects and otherwise colored
enemies.
Mike has been professionally involved with the NFL for ten
years. He spent his first two years with the Washington
Redskins as a quarterback coach and moved to the Rams for the
1994 season. Mike stuck with the offensive game and worked with
the Rams' wide receivers until 1999 when he became the
offensive coordinator. When head coach Dick Vermeil left
after his Super Bowl championship run in 1999, Ram's owner
Georgia Frontiere appointed Mike as the 21st head coach in the
Ram's 65 year history.
The Rams reached the Super Bowl in 1999 under the offensive
command of Mike Martz. Mike is known as a bit of a gambler when
it comes to calling plays, but has the luxury of doing so
possessing the league's best quarterback and running back in
Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk, respectively. Those two
players won back to back Most Valuable Player awards in 1999
and 2000. Mike is also known for his shocking variation and depth
of playbook. His grab-bag plays rival in number his selection of
standard play calls. Although his offense put up the most points
scored per game and his defense secured the most number of wins
last season, the Rams lost to the New England Patriots and
the young quarterback Tom Brady in the Super Bowl.
Although the last three years have been fruitful for the
Rams, they are currently struggling in the 2002 season. As of
September 24, 2002 the Rams have lost three and have won zero
games, with thirteen games remaining in the season. Instantly,
Mike Martz' reputation has changed from a liberal yet solid
winner and as close to a genius as a man who tells other men
how to throw around a ball can get, to a laissez fair cappuccino
drinker who has succumb to the inevitable downfall of all
gambling men.
Mike Martz's reputation as a head coach lingers in the balance
of the 2002 St Louis Ram's success. Mike is in danger learning the valuable lesson of the childhood cereal
experience: Many will enter, few will win.