LA fans face learning curve when it comes to Rams

Los Angeles fans face learning curve when it comes to Rams
By Steve Dilbeck

[espn.go.com]

IRVINE, Calif. -- The Rams are coming! The Rams are coming!

Now, potential fans just need to figure out who's on the team.

The Los Angeles area has been all atwitter since it was announced in January the Rams were returning after a 22-year absence. The full allotment of 70,000 season tickets at the Coliseum sold out in less than six hours.

The five-county area is hungry for the Rams' return. Which is not exactly the same as claiming the new fanbase is anywhere close to being knowledgeable about this team. The average sports fan in Los Angeles would be hard pressed to name three Rams, maybe two if the team hadn't chosen quarterback Jared Goff with the first overall pick in the draft.

The Rams welcomed 88 players to their first area training camp at UC Irvine. That's mostly a list of 88 unknowns.

That's a mammoth learning curve for area residents, let alone the local media. A lot of skills and personalities to learn. A lot of stars to discover, heroes to embrace.

The Rams know it will not be an overnight process but are doing what they can to introduce their team to eager fans.

"We try to oversaturate with information," said Artis Twyman, Rams senior director of communications. "It's a new experience. Football hasn't been here in over two decades and we try to educate as much as we can."

So the Rams already have had their players out in the community, at local schools and hospitals. They've had former Los Angeles Rams still living in the area -- Eric Dickerson, Vince Ferragamo, Dennis Harrah, Jim Everett -- at team events. And they are crisscrossing the vast area with their team presence.

Their games will be near downtown, but initial workouts were in Oxnard, nearly an hour and a half to the northwest. Their camp at UC Irvine is in Orange County, an hour south of the Coliseum. And when camp ends, their daily practice facility will be on the campus at Cal Lutheran University, back another hour-plus northwest of Los Angeles.

The Rams will make 16 of their practices at UC Irvine open to the public.

Still, in an area with more than 18 million people, the Rams will touch a small portion of their fans (or potential fans).

"This is not going to be an overnight thing," Twyman said. "We're here for the long haul. We're going to be in the community. As we continue to go along, we'll be able to do more things.

"When the games start, things will pick up."

Area fans will get a boost in learning about their new players. HBO selected the Rams for this season's ongoing NFL team documentary, "Hard Knocks."

"It's a good thing for the people of L.A. to get to know their team, not just names on the back of jerseys," quarterback Case Keenum said. "Kind of get a glimpse inside our lives and what we go through and who we are as people.

"I think we have a great team, great guys, and people will fall in love with the Rams."

Unlike most sports, of course, football players wear helmets, making it more challenging to identify individuals.

It helps that a strong base of Rams fans remain in the area, and that the NFL has only grown in popularity since the team left town after the 1994 season. But the team has been gone for 22 years.

"Football hasn't been here for a long time," Twyman said. "Those people who are [NFL] fans -- guess what? They may be Chargers fans or 49ers fans or even Packers fans. We want to kind of get all those people and say, 'Hey, now you have a home team.' Get them rooting for the Rams. We're working on our grassroots efforts now to get the word out and get those fans back to becoming Rams fans."

Their first camp practice is Saturday. One more step in the learning curve.

"I think it will be exciting back in L.A.," Keenum said. "Exciting first time back in the Coliseum, and it just goes on and on from there."