Satan Gets Another Soldier

Don't let the Texas housewife portrait fool you. Georgia Frontiere, St. Louis Rams owner and devil incarnate, has joined the Dark Prince at the age of 80. Ouch, you say, why such a harsh characterization for the recently departed?

Well, let's run down the history of Ms. Frontiere:

• 5 husbands by the age of 30 (eat your heart out, Larry King)
• Traded Eric Dickerson, the best running back in the league at the time, for a sack of footballs and a used jockstrap
• Moved the Rams out of California to St. Louis, then mocked SoCal after winning the Super Bowl a few years later
• Oh yeah, most likely killed off Husband #6

Details, you say? Let citybeat.com do the explaining:

By the age of 30, Georgia had burned through five husbands and moved on to sucking money from Colts owner Caroll Rosenbloom (husband #6) in 1966. Rosenbloom would trade teams with Rams owner Bob Irsay, taking over the Rams in 1971.

Rosenbloom, an accomplished swimmer, drowned under mysterious circumstances in 1979 leaving the team to Georgia. Rumors persist to this day that the former showgirl had her husband bumped off. In the premier episode of the PBS series Frontline, several mobsters claim his legs were held to cause his drowning. Before he died, Rosenbloom had made it clear that his son and the Rams GM would take over the team in the event of his death. That of course didn't happen. Georgia inherited the team as a tax dodge and promptly fired her son in law. A couple notes on the funeral...While Rosenbloom had asked for a simple ceremony with friends and family, Georgia kept the 600 guests she had invited waiting an hour before entering with musical accompaniment and Jonathan Winters served as master of cermonies (Winters and Don Rickles would do a ten minute comedy bit later in the service). Three months after the funeral, Georgia shacked up with musician Dominic Frontiere who would later become husband #7.

Murderer? Perhaps. Thief? Definitely. When Rosenbloom and Irsay swapped teams, Georgia conspired to keep one of the Colts' Super Bowl trophies. The NFL had to replace the trophy.

As for any regret over missing this pick, much like Brad Renfro, we're not too upset. Frontiere was only 80, and picking a random football team owner, even one formerly in Anaheim, would have brought on a certain level of crap from the rest of the group. We tried to stick to more tried and true celebrities, those whose selections wouldn't rock the boat too much. However, we're a bit surprised this one slipped past Marc Popovich. Random sports figures are right up his alley (Joe Gargiola, anyone?), and he had nothing else if not a solid, consistent drafting strategy. We think Pops had to be kicking himself just a little bit when he heard the news. Those are the ones that come back to haunt you.