"There's no way of knowing what will happen Wednesday when Stan Kroenke's negotiating team commences the rather delicate haggling with the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission over the ways to keep the Rams from moving out of the city and turning us into an NFL ghost town again.

But before we get too deep into this uncomfortable conversation, let's keep our eyes on the real target here.

That begins with establishing that Kroenke's not the bad guy in this negotiation, at least not yet. We're a long way from being able to start taking sides in this fight, because whatever happens Wednesday is merely the prelude to months of difficult negotiations that will either lead to the Rams becoming a permanent fixture in the city or just another refugee heading West."