Alas, the season that never was has returned. A new shape and some new personnel, but the same outcome and expectations.

That’s right Rams fans, the 1999-2000 season that was supposed to be has finally appeared and pathetic football has returned to its old home, St. Louis.

Don’t deny it, I know how you all felt back then. Your starting quarterback, the hometown boy was supposed to be perfect. He was going to bring victories and a season full of high hopes. But he went down, and this city’s high hopes for that season were dashed. The season was lost, expectations entailed the Rams going winless, limping their way to the season’s end.

But some sort of grace spared this city from that horrifying season. Something supernatural brought a grocery bag-boy up front-and-center to lead St. Louis to the Super Bowl. The season was saved and those horrid expectations disappeared into thin air, as the “Cinderella Story” Rams marched to the pinnacle of pro sports.

Unfortunately, the Rams play in a dome. So, the pathetic season that was supposed to disappear into the clouds was not allowed to escape that giant hot-air balloon we call an indoor football stadium. That season hovered around the rafters, searching for an escape.

Eventually, however, gravity prevailed and the season that never was has finally returned. The quarterback is hurt, the offensive line is putrid, the defense is sorry, the coach is washed up, the running back sure gets paid a lot to handle the ball so few times and the record … just as it should have been this time of year in 1999: 1-5.

I know, I know: the Rams beat one of the strongest teams in the league last Sunday the Oakland Raiders, but that still doesn’t heal the bone-deep wounds that have been inflicted on this veteran Rams’ team. Please let me explain these harsh words.

Following Trent Green’s example, quarterback Kurt Warner goes down with a serious injury. Warner, once considered the most accurate passer in National Football League history, was as bad as Tony Banks in the season’s first three and a half games. Banks’ play was so bad in the past that they put all their faith in Green.

Marshall Faulk, arguably the best all-around back in the game today, has no way of showing his skills with a crippled, lame, weak offensive line. That line has not been this dismal since the days they blocked for Lawrence Phillips.

Mike Martz, once considered the genius behind the “Greatest Show on Turf,” is quite possibly the most helpless coach in the league. During Dick Vermeil’s tenure as head coach, Martz was considered the brains behind Vermeil’s name. At the beginning of the 1999-2000 season, Vermeil’s stock was falling fast and patience had run out with even his most loyal fans. Martz seems to be quickly heading in that same direction.

With the receivers, the pattern continues. These guys may have been the wheels behind the circus act that Martz calls a football game plan, but football players? Hardly. Isaac Bruce can make catches, Az Hakim can make a few sassy moves, but those crossing patterns get old and defenses have finally caught on. It was once a cinch to toss a 40-yard pass for a touchdown, now the Rams struggle to convert on a short-yardage fourth down play.

As far as their record is concerned, the Rams fate has gone full-circle. Just as it was supposed to happen in 1999 before Green’s injury, the Rams’ were expected to the run the table and return to the Super Bowl. But with a handful of interceptions and a little finger injury, all hope is lost again, just as expected post-injury in 1999.

My final beef comes with the fans. Just as expected, no loyalty. People weren’t attending in 1999 until the team won a few straight games. Now, with a few losses, people are choosing to stay at home and accept the fact that this is a baseball town.

This little tiff of mind proves the old saying, “what comes around goes around.” But just as things started shaky for the Rams this year, maybe Kurt Warner’s reincarnation will appear to save the Rams. Maybe it will be a guy named Jamie, maybe it will be a guy named Bolger, or who knows … maybe it will be the next checkout boy at Dierberg’s.