1967 Coastal Division...

Markie, such discussions are a real plus of blogs. Old friends can get together and reminisce about sports, politics, etc. And talk about eerie...I'll get to that in a minute.

In '67, the Rams and Colts tied their first game at Baltimore, 24-24. Ironically, they also tied games on the same day the following week, as I remember because we actually went to the Rams' 28-28 tie with the Redskins at the Coliseum, and I remember the Colts tying the Vikings that same day, 20-20.

The Rams beat the Pack in the Guillory blocked punt game in the next-to-last weekend, and the game was on a Saturday. TV was blacked out locally in those days, and I always listened to a young Dick Enberg's call (every play!) on KMPC. My dad was at the game and said it was almost surreal right before and after the blocked punt, from total despair to total ecstasy. He might not remember it today, but for years he would talk about the Coliseum and the excitement of the blocked punt that day.

In a bit of local trivia, that game was on the same day that the Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach. It was December 9, 1967. We still lived in Inglewood, but my cousins lived in Long Beach, and my dad played golf with Uncle Lyle that morning and almost every Saturday morning in Long Beach (yes, he played golf that morning before going to the game!), and they all talked about hearing the Queen Mary's smokestack horns blowing early that morning, in the harbor 5-6 miles away. In retrospect, what a day.

The Rams beat the Colts in the final game, 34-10, a game that would have been rendered meaningless had the Rams not beaten the Pack the week before. The Rams thus won the division on tiebreakers, 1-0-1 and in total points, 58-34. I remember reading in later years that Lombardi feared those Rams more than he feared the Colts, which might be why the Pack played to win that otherwise meaningless game. The Pack really low-keyed it the next week when they lost the regular-season finale to a bad Steelers team, 24-17, at home, no less, using Don Horn much of the way at QB. There's more trivia: Lombardi actually lost his last regular-season game as Packer coach, just as he lost the last game he ever coached, with the Redskins vs. the Cowboys in 1969.

But it turned out okay for the Pack because they beat the Rams in the rematch at Milwaukee two weeks later, before the Ice Bowl. In '67, the first playoff game was at Milwaukee, the only Pack playoff game ever played at County Stadium, I think. Home fields were predetermined for the playoffs in those years.

As for the ties, I can recall four teams with 3 ties off the top of my head. Two of them came in 1967, the Redskins (5-6-3) and the Vikings (3-8-3). The 1963 Steelers were 7-4-3, and the 1970 Chargers were 5-6-3. There are probably some others, and I will do some research.

The eerie part of your blog message is that I just saw a note on the wire that said Jack Snow is in critical condition tonight in a St. Louis hospital with a staph infection. When I saw that, I immediately recalled 1967, when Snow caught an 80-yard TD pass from Gabe against the Colts in that big win to put the Rams ahead 10-7. Snow always used to say that he was never caught from behind, and it was true on that play. I was a good Rams fan in those days.

Then, when I saw your blog a few moments later, talking about the 1967 Coastal Division, my heart jumped into my mouth. Talk about coincidence.

God works in mysterious ways; I can only suppose He's telling us to say a prayer for Jack Snow...