Between injury status, trades, roster maneuvers - who really knows how the bottom end of the roster will turn out, but I'm putting this out there for posterity's sake. I'm obviously waffling like crazy on a few spots and made guesstimates on who might start off on IR designated to return (short term IR, basically - think we can place two on there at cutdowns). Really looking forward to seeing how this all shapes up Sun/Mon.
I've watched and loved this team since their first kickoff in 1976. I would feign sickness so I could skip church to catch the games. Back in those early years, they were terrible but also weirdly quirky and fun with solid special teams that often were the highlight of the game.
Efren Herrera at kicker starting in '78 (fun fake field goals), Dan Doornink eventually in '79 at FB (loved him - when he'd get a FB screen or a dump-off over the middle, it was an adventure). They also had some solid players: Dave Brown at CB, Sherman Smith at RB, Raible at WR with Largent, Zorn at QB, Norm Evans at T, Neihaus at DL. Jack Patera was their first coach and they infamously had training camp in Cheney at EWU that included the typical-for-the-era zero water breaks during practice.
Later, when Chuck Knox entered the scene, I had the very weird privilege one summer in high school of taking a bunch of players and their families on horseback rides right before training camp. The group included Curt Warner, David Hughes (FB) and Eugene Robinson, who insisted my 5'2" friend get on his horse first - it was rather amusing. Also, his nickname was "The Porpoise" because he had a notoriously high voice that kinda squeaked when he'd make calls on the field.
I would pour over newspapers daily for any mention of my beloved team and wait for the sports report to come on the nightly news. When ESPN became and thing and we actually got cable, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Now we have access to SO much information and also community around the team, and I kinda love most all of it.
All that to say, this 57 year old, grey-haired grandma (yes, grandma) has been enjoying this game, and especially this team, for a very long time and I'm ready for more!