Last time I bought a Powerball ticket, the Rams hadn’t left LA yet. This time I bought one, like almost everybody. I knew my chances were infantesimal, but if you don’t buy a ticket…

Turns out I was the victim of a cruel twist of fate. One of the big winners of the record $1.5 billion Powerball is a guy named John Robinson. Not me. I had almost zero chance of winning. My odds were better that somebody else named John Robinson would win, since there must be 10,000 John Robinsons in America.

Well, it happened, and it was somebody else.

But in a way, I got close, the same way I got close to coaching the L. A. Rams back in the ’80s. And now former Rams coach John Robinson must feel a bit like a lottery winner, since his Rams are back in LA. It’s been a good year so far for more than one John Robinson.

Hope it spreads.