I grew up as an L.A Rams fan in Southern California throughout the 80's and 90's until they left for St. Louis in 1995. Thank god I was in High School at that time and had a little more perspective. Otherwise I would have been heartbroken. I followed the Raiders and rooted for them on occasion as well but nothing could compare to how I felt about the Rams. They played in "The Big A" in Anaheim which was only about 30 min from my house in San Clemente and they played on the same field as my favorite baseball team the "California" Angels. I think my first memory of the Rams was when I was very young maybe 5-6 years old and watching them on TV play the 49ers with my dad. The 49ers were like gods to football but I loved that the Rams were always fighting for relevance and support in a town where there is everything else to do besides watch football. The Rams were never really great during that time but they were never really bad either. They would go to the playoffs most years as a wild card and even made 2 appearances in the NFC Championship Game. Unfortunately, both games were played against arguable one of the best teams in NFL history. The '85 Bears and the '89 49ers. I was old enough to remember the magical run they had in 1989 but the NFC Championship Game was a gut punch. They had won two road playoff games on the east coast leading up to the game and I was convinced this was their year. My dad and I were all set to watch the Rams finally go to the Super Bowl. They had been there in '79 but I wan't born until later that year. What transpired in the '89 game against the 49ers could only be described as a beat down. If anyone remembers that was the game where the Rams QB Jim Everett was sacked by a ghost. He felt pressure (or so he thought) and decided just to fall down. That stigma of being scared would follow him for years until finally coming to a head when he fought Jim Rome on national TV. The game was so bad that my dad and I went outside to shoot hoops because we thought somehow if we stopped watching the game would turn around. It didn't and the 49ers went on to kill the Broncos 55-10 in the Super Bowl. The Rams never made it that close again while they were in Los Angeles. In the early 90's I started going to some of the games with my Uncle and Grandfather. The Rams had fired long-time coach John Robinson who went back to USC. Instead they brought in Chuck Knox who was the former coach of the Seahawks. It really made no sense because he was basically the same exact coach as Robinson. An old school conservative coach who wanted to run the ball. The Rams continued to decline and eventually brought in Rich Brooks from Oregon. Not much changed and the Rams still didn't make the playoffs. The last game I ever went to was when the Rams played the 49ers in 1994. This was the year the 49ers basically caught fire after the 3rd game of the year and completely destroyed everyone they played. They could not be stopped on offense with Steve Young, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, and Ricky Waters just to name a few. It was a colossal mismatch but I remember how much of a joy it was to watch the 49ers in action. They were like poetry in motion. The lasting image for me in that game was Jerry Rice catching a fade route down the sideline and sticking out one hand and catching it for a touchdown. That pretty much summed up the season and the end of the Rams in LA. The Rams left the next year for St. Louis and I swore I was done with them. I don't think I watched another game for a while. That was until 1999 when Kurt Warner came out of nowhere and took the league by storm. Those teams were great and I started to support the Rams again because of it. They finally won that super bowl I was waiting for but it was bittersweet considering it was in St. Louis and not LA. The funny thing is that was the same year that I began playing for the very same coach that I grew up watching. John Robinson was now the head coach of UNLV where I played football from 1997-2001. Every day I got to play next to the same man that coached my beloved Rams which for lack of a better word was pretty cool. I look back on that time and I wish I had asked him more questions about his time with the LA Rams. Either way , they are back and I couldn't be happier that they are back in LA where they belong.
Me and my friend in our Hutch 1980's NFL uniforms:
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