Rams return may seem like old times, but don’t get used to it

Rams return may seem like old times, but don’t get used to it

By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News

[www.dailynews.com]

To put it all in perspective, the last time the Rams played a regular-season home game at the Memorial Coliseum, Magic Johnson was a 20-year-old rookie and the Lakers’ Showtime Era hadn’t yet begun.

Jimmy Carter was the president, everyone was rocking Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” on the radio, and some crazy all-sports TV station called ESPN popped up on cable networks across the country.

So yeah, the nostalgia will be dripping Sunday when the Rams make their triumphant return home to Los Angeles against the Seattle Seahawks at venerable, old — we’re talking 93-years-old here — Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

More than 90,000 fans are expected to fill the place, and they’ll be treated to a turn-back-the-clock afternoon as the Rams pull out their classic throwback blue-and-gold uniforms and roll out a bunch of former L.A. Rams.

Suggestion: If you’re going to the game, get there early. The Rams have some treats up their sleeve as they commemorate the occasion.

And why not, considering the historical significance?

The cherry on top being the Rams’ first home opponent: None other than former USC coach Pete Carroll, now the head coach of the Seahawks. He came as close as anyone to bringing professional football back to L.A. when he presided over one of the great college dynasties from 2001 to 2009.

And don’t think for a second the players and coaches involved aren’t caught up in the hoopla.

“Every week is big, and there are storylines behind everything,” said Rams head coach Jeff Fisher.

“This is special. This is the first one that counts at the Coliseum, the first one that counts here at home. And we couldn’t think of a better opponent to open against.”

Rams star running back Todd Gurley said: “We’re playing at the Coliseum, great tradition. It’s just going to feel like college — that game day atmosphere.”

“Hopefully, we can just get this win for the city.”

Yes, the Rams went on to play 14 years at Anaheim Stadium before 1994, when late owner Georgia Frontiere left Southern California for good by leaping at the pot of gold offered to her by the city and county of St. Louis. So technically, it’s only been 22 years since the Rams last played in the region.

But hard-core fans still remember making the trip to the Coliseum.

This time, the Coliseum is supposed to be temporary. The Rams are slated to play there for the next three years, as their space-age-style stadium gets built in Inglewood.

The recommendation for now is to enjoy this time and soak it all in.

Everything about the current version of the Rams — from the uniforms to the ticket prices to the game-day experience to the quarterback and possibly the coach — figure to be different when from the Rams kick off in the new, supposedly permanent stadium.

Sunday’s starting quarterback at the Coliseum will be Case Keenum. But if things break the way the Rams hope it will, Jared Goff will be lining up behind center by 2019, if not the third quarter today.

And while the Rams and Fisher have discussed a long-term contract extension, nothing is set yet. If the Rams play many games like Monday night’s nightmare loss to the San Francisco 49ers, who knows, maybe ex-49ers coach Jim Harbaugh will be on the sideline when the Rams reach Inglewood.

Heck, it’s possible Los Angeles doesn’t even have its last NFL team yet. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders still hold options on a potential partnership agreement with the Rams.

But more on that in a bit.

For now, it’s OK just to kick back and take in all in.

There’s just something about the Rams playing in their old stadium that makes their return home so much more magical.

Carroll, who had some spectacular moments there, can relate. One of his memories is walking down a Coliseum tunnel to a USC game with ex-Trojan Ronnie Lott.

“I said, ‘Is this special to you?’ And he looked at me like he thought I was crazy. He said, ‘Are you kidding? Special? There’s nothing like this.’

“I was so moved because that was years after — he had played 12, 13 years, whatever the heck it was, in the league — and he still recalled the great sense of connection.

It’s all the more alluring that it’s the Rams who will usher football back to Los Angeles.

Let’s face it, when they left us 22 years ago, only a fool would have believed they’d ever come back. And as the years rolled on and an entire generation grew up without a local NFL football team to cheer for, we almost resigned ourselves to the idea that L.A. might never be the home to the NFL again.

Let alone the Rams.

Then St. Louis handed them a golden ticket out of town. It came when they declined part of a key agreement in the original lease the Rams signed upon moving to Missouri 22 years ago, giving Rams owner Stan Kroenke a chance to look elsewhere.

The billionaire owner moved quickly. He scooped up more than 300 acres of open land in Inglewood, promised the NFL he’d build a stadium and entertainment complex befitting the second-biggest market in the country, then won an incredible roller-coaster ride of a competition in which the Rams’ Inglewood stadium project was pitted against the Raiders and Chargers Carson project.

The NFL sided with the Rams. Back to Los Angeles they marched, carrying the NFL torch and close to 50 years of Southern California history with them.

“It means a lot to us,” Fisher said.

“Yeah, we’ve had a generation that’s been without (pro football) here. We want to, from a marketing standpoint and from a football standpoint — from a winning standpoint — attract their attention and get them behind us. Because that’s what storied franchises are all about, and we expect this to last for a long time.”

But the phase that’ll launch today, in the Coliseum, is only temporary.

As the Rams ease back into L.A. over the next three years, an entirely new era and narrative will be created behind the scenes.

The Coliseum is about nostalgia, but the new stadium in Inglewood will be a sleek, stylish slice of stadium art expected to take the contemporary stadium experience to a whole new level.

It has to, being situated in the entertainment capital of the world.

And there will be a price to be paid. Personal Seat Licenses will be required if you want to buy season tickets at the new stadium. Such fees — money paid for the right to spend more money — weren’t around when the Rams last played in LA, and no local team has pushed them. But they’re typical business these days in the NFL.

While the Rams haven’t begun selling PSL’s yet — nor set a price — ponder this: When the Dallas Cowboys opened their new stadium a few years ago, PSL prices ranged from $16,000 to $50,000.

Most teams provide financing for their PSL’s — in fact the Cowboys offered a 30-year plan much like a mortgage. So if you don’t have $16,000 laying around, you’re in luck.

It’s all part of the new NFL experience.

But for today — and the next three years — it’s a chance to reminisce.

Enjoy it.

Because in the blink of an eye, the stadium, uniforms, quarterback, coaches and prices likely will change.