As much as the Los Angeles Rams have been a thorn in the Seattle Seahawks' side for the last decade, at least respect is due. The Rams remade themselves in the mid-2010s and became a playoff contender in most seasons. LA is led by a fantastic coach, Sean McVay, and an excellent general manager, Les Snead.
The Seahawks are pretty good in both categories, with John Schneider and Mike Macdonald, respectively. However, the team is likely to run slightly differently than when former head coach and vice president of football operations Pete Carroll worked for the team. For Snead, this is a good thing.
Snead does not appear to have any real animosity toward Carroll. But he found one aspect of something Carroll might have done to be sneaky funny and slightly irritating. The issue concerns furry conventions.
Former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll might have done something funny to the Rams
For those who don't know (or do not have access to search tools like Google), furry conventions are where like-minded individuals show up to share in their love of anthropomorphic animals. There are games, parades, and all kinds of things that happen. Many times, these conventions take place in hotels.
This is where Les Snead and the Rams come in. In a recent interview with Rich Eisen, the general manager, Snead said that twice during trips to play the Seahawks in Seattle, the team stayed in the same hotels where a furry convention was occurring. He "blames" Carroll for the situation.
Snead said, "Not only have we shared a hotel in Seattle with a furry convention. I think we’ve done it now twice."
Far from aggressively upset about the situation, Snead learned to respect the furry community. He didn't argue to stay elsewhere or complain that the team might be distracted by the ongoing activities.
He told Eisen, "If you talk about people that are passionate, (the furry community is) passionate." The costumes were "well thought-out" and "well-intended." (Heck, maybe even someone dressed up as a ram?) But the team ending up at a hotel with such a convention, "...seems like something Pete might do."
One wonders what other teams are doing for other teams when they play home games. There could be far worse things than furry conventions, of course. At least, what the Seahawks were doing came with a bit of a laugh, not without any real menace.
Snead certainly took it the right way. Carroll would likely be mum about the situation. The whole thing might give John Schneider something to think about the next time the Rams play in Seattle.