When I was a little kid, the intro music to a Rams Monday Night Football Game would literally make the hair on my arms stand up.
The combination of the music, the Ram horns under the bright lights and the announcing made MNF a dream for me.

I can still hear a long ago Monday Night Game clearly in my head where the late great Howard Cosell was introducing the game in his familiar cadence, blending in over the musical introduction: “ and….. the….. RAMS, led by their young QB. . . vince FERR-A-gamo….. give….. him… TIME and he will throw as PRETTY…… as a Spiral ……as there IS . . .. . in the National……Football…..League!!!

It was literally magic.

For 3 hours, I would have no thoughts other than football. Names like Youngblood, Reynolds, Brudzinski, Harrah, Slater, McCutcheon took on god-like proportions. They stirred passions in me like mythical legends of a bygone era.

I remember a Monday Night game in December of 1980 when I was stuck at my friends Phil’s house just as the Rams v. Cowboys game was about to start. My father, a physician in a small community was called off to some emergency and my mom was tied up with my brothers, so it looked like I could possibly miss the start of the game because Phil had no interest in football.

Phil was a Greek kid, like myself, who came from Greece at a young age. But unlike me, his parents never exposed him to sports on TV. 10 year old me, tells 10 year old Phil “you have to watch the Rams v. Cowboys on Monday Night, seriously, it’s the greatest thing ever!!!!”.

Phil had no point of reference. He didn’t know what was great football or bad football. He didn’t know football at all.

“OK,” but we have to watch it on the “small TV” because “Dad is watching something on the big TV”. That all sounded fine to me because all I really heard is that we were watching the game.

The small TV turned out to be a 8 inch black and white in his sisters room.

Even with the small TV, the black and white, and subpar speakers, the Rams still looked amazing under the lights of prime time.

The game had the energy you would expect from a match between heavyweights, teams that had established themselves as among the elite teams of the previous decade and teams that faced off in the playoffs just one year earlier.

The night, however, belonged to the Rams.

In what still ranks as one of my all-time favorite games, the Rams dismantled “America’s Team” on prime time. The play was inspired and exciting. When Preston Dennard reeled in a diving 35 yard touchdown pass from Vince Ferragamo, I erupted with screams.

To my amazement, Phil was right there with me.

Jumping up and down in his sister’s room we started using the pillows as a football and mimicking the diving Dennard catch on his sister’s bed.
Phil was hooked.

I could literally pinpoint the game and the moment.

I’ve often pondered why people become “fans” of certain teams. Some, like my kids, simply get swept up into their father’s fervor. Others, they get hooked because a team is dominant or exciting. Some get mesmerized by a certain game or moment which plants a seed so deep that its ultimate fruition can’t be denied. When it does come and come like it did for me and for Phil and for most on this board, it comes for good. It becomes more than just football, it becomes a part of the fabric of our lives.

Big team moments become shared memories among true fans.

Billy Waddy running through the Cowboys in ’79. Ivory Sully’s blocked kick in 82 to deny the 49ers a chance to repeat. Ron Brown taking the opening 2nd Half to the house on a beautiful December Monday Night in 1985. Flippers 336. Vermeil’s tears and Warner’s Heroics. Holt and Hakim jawing down the sidelines in the Dome.

Long-time fans, who probably allowed thoughts that maybe they would never get to witness THEIR TEAM, hoist the Lombardi Trophy, stood in stunned disbelief when Mike Jones made “the TACKLE” and the confetti came down. Allowing, finally, that feeling to truly take hold that we were “Number 1” and for the first time in our lives we were happy that a GREAT season actually ended!

The thing is, you don’t really plan for the great moments.

Sometimes they just happen.

When the Rams announced their game in Mexico City, I used it as an excuse to spend a week in Mexico City with the Family and catch the Rams in a totally strange environment.

We coordinated the trip so we could catch the Rams v. Seattle on Sunday in LA at the Coliseum and then fly down to Mexico on Monday.

When we arrived in Mexico City, you could immediately feel the difference in the altitude v. sea level. It seemed to make good sense that the Rams would be practicing at altitude in preparation for the game.

To my dismay, however, while I was seeing Chiefs fans at most of the tourist locations, nary an obvious ram fan was to be found.
In Frida Kahlo’s house, on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, at Diego Rivera’s famous murals, on the top of Chapultapec, the Red Shirts of Chiefs fans were everywhere. If it wasn’t for me and my family, no ram gear would be seen anywhere.

Oh well, another “home game” where the opposing team forces us into a silent count or we simply don’t have the numbers. Frankly and sadly, I’ve kind of gotten used to it. If only there was a catalyst game that could really kickstart a renewal . . .

Ironically, shortly after we arrive, rumblings start to emerge about the game possibly being played back in LA. The Wife asks, “could they actually move the game back to the US?”.

I respond: “Are you kidding me? That’s impossible!” “Can you imagine the logistics of that? What a black eye to the country of Mexico that would be? No FNG way do they move this game! “

Since we didn’t come down on any package and we were basically free agents, the Wife was quite relieved given the amount of scrambling we would have to do to (1) cut our trip short (2) make arrangements to get back to LA early (3) screw ups some pretty cool travel plans around Mexico (4) lose a bunch of money changing airline seats etc.

Just for good measure, I add:

Don’t even worry about it. If it really gets sketchy they will call in George Toma…..”

I leave the name George Toma hanging out there.

As a skilled attorney, I know exactly what my Wife’s next question will be: She is going to ask: “Who is George Toma?”

I’ve got this big spiel ready to reel off about George Toma. How George Toma is known as the “Sod God” and how he has been the lead ground keeper at EVERY SUPERBOWL ever and even at the age of 105 (I think he is in his late 80s) he truly is the SOD GOD and if the field needs fixin, you just call him in and he fixes it in about 5 minutes! Ain’t no game going to be cancelled!”

My wife doesn’t ask who George Toma is and in fact, doesn’t say another word about it.

Hmmmmm. So much for my skilled attorney nonsense.

A day later, I get a notification on my cell phone:

“NFL Moves game from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to field conditions”.

Damn.

Uh, Wife, “The NFL moved the game back to LA”

“But you said”

“I was wrong”.

What are we going to do?

“Well, I’m sure hell not going to watch the Monday Night 9-1 Rams v. 9-1 Chiefs from my Mexico City Hotel Room!”

My wife, being the cool person that she is, chimes in what has been a consistent theme for me: “Well, the harder it is to get to the game, the more likely it is the Rams win.”

I thought back to Super Bowl 34. Due to an ice storm, my plane was cancelled and I couldn’t find a replacement to Atl. It was hard to find rooms. I ended up having to land in Chattenooga and drive an icy road to Atl. Of course, the Rams Win.

Super Bowl 36? Cruise right in, all flights on time, the people in my section of seats on the plane don’t show so I can sleep across a whole row of seats, they upgrade my room at the hotel. When I go to the game, I buy a ticket off of the street and don’t like my seat, I walk back out and get a ticket 20 rows back on the 35 yard line for face value. This is going to be GREAT!!!!

You get the idea. It’s never failed me.

Changing countries? That has to be a win for sure.

It was an ordeal changing everything (and quite costly too) but eventually I got it sorted out. I wasn’t going to miss the so-called “Game of the Year”.

We arrive back in LA late Sunday Night. Interestingly, the surprise LA game seems to have caught the Chief Fans flat footed and the Rams fans pleasantly eager to get such a marquis game in their backyard.

Despite having attended many games, I’ve never seen a MNF game at the Coliseum in person.

The thing about the Coliseum is that by the time I got to my first game there, the Rams had moved to the Big A. In fact, my first game in the Coliseum was a raider home game v the Rams in 1988. Gary Jeter had 5 sacks and the Rams won. Fun times, but I couldn’t feel what I thought I should be feeling there.

Again in 1994, I was back for another Rams Raider game, this time a loss, not knowing both teams would be gone for decades soon. Despite being on such hallowed ground, I never had a real connection with the Coliseum.

Even upon their return, the big Cowboys preseason game (which I watched from home because my flight was cancelled) and the Seattle opener, while great, I just couldn’t lock into the mystical feeling I knew I should be getting from such a historical place.

Not even at the Atlanta playoff game last year.

I’ve often looked at old photos of the Coliseum and I knew there was something more to be revealed to me.
There is one picture that if I looked at it long enough, I would get the sense of what was:




I look at that photo and I see the Stadium, the Team and the Colors that got it all started for me. I see Youngblood and Elmendorf names which still carry weight when saying them. I see a stadium filled to capacity, a dominating defense and an elite team.

I’ve always tried to picture myself there.

Since the Rams moved back, I have been searching for a game at the Coliseum where I could experience what a Civil War battlefield guide once told me was called a “period hit”.

It’s that special feeling you get when you truly become connected with the historical significance of a place and what came before. You become so in tune with the aura of the place, that you actually feel the power of the past. There is a great quote by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain who gained fame for leading the 20th Maine in the Battle of Gettysburg about why visiting battlefields was so important:

"In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."

While obviously a football stadium is not a civil war battlefield, for many of us it is our Holy Land, our Mecca. It is such a historically significant place for me, I believed that at some point, on some day, I too would feel its “mighty presence” and the “power of the vision would pass into my soul.”

Monday November 19, 2018, would be the day the Coliseum revealed her true self to me.

Of the many silver linings of the Mexico City Rams game moving back to LA, my favorite was that I got to send my friend old friend Phil a text:

“Phil, you ready to join me for where it all began? Rams on Monday Night Football in LA?”

“Really?”

“HELL YES REALLY!”

“I’m in!”

From the very moment we arrived at the Stadium, a Stadium I had been in the week before, the vibe was TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Perhaps it was because we were playing a team that was clearly capable of beating us. Perhaps it was because the game was so unexpected, that only the hard cores showed up.
Whatever it was it was different. . . . WAY DIFFERENT.

I immediately post in the game time forum about how the fans seemed to be way pumped up. RamUK mused about how a true home field advantage would be great. I add: “I Don’t want to Jinx it But holy @#$%& the local fans are pumped”.

Now normally I take my place at the tunnel and try and get players/coaches attention by making random statements. I’m usually the loudest guy and usually alone in my musings. But this time, the Rams fans around the tunnel were jumping in with me.

Every time a Chiefs player came by I started screaming 9-2! 9-2! Before I know it a huge group of Ram fans were chanting “9 and 2” “9 and 2” “9 and 2”.
It was beautiful.

Mahomes rolls by “9-2!” “9-2!” “9-2!”

Andy Reid comes by, immediately the entire group “9 and 2” “9 and 2”.

Every Chief player got a 9-2 chant or a solid Boooo.

I haven’t seen that from our guys in LA . . . . .EVER.

Reid walks right under me and I say “ANDREW REID of LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA?” “I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE PUNT PASS AND KICK COMPETITION”.

He turns up and looks at me:

“How were you able to enter the competition at age 41?”



Reid cracked up and did this underhand pumping of his fist.

Reid’s a good dude and a damn fine coach.

As night time fell over Los Angeles and the stands filled up with what was CLEARLY a majority rams crowd, I began to sense it…..

I see “the Nature Boy” Ric Flair walking around the field . .. . . . “WOOOOOOOO” This is going to be big!

Looking around, you could feel the grandeur of this great stadium finally hosting a game befitting its greatness. I began to have those “period hits” the civil war guide told me about.

When they brought out a huge American Flag and did the national anthem. You looked around the stadium and saw the Old Lady in all her Glory and I literally had chills up and down my spine.

Phil looked over and we both nodded.

He felt it too.

Monday Night Football! The whole country is watching.

9-1 v. 9-1

Battle of the Titans.

I could hear the theme music in my head.

As a kid, I always liked the Rocky movies. Not only did my guy win, he overcame the most ridiculous scenarios to prevail nearly on grit alone.
If you are over 40, there is a decent chance you cracked a raw egg in a glass and swallowed it because you watched a Rocky movie.
The thing about Rocky, it was so over the top. I mean how do to opponents both take 50 clean head shots each and keep fighting?

But what we were about to witness was the football equivalent of a Rocky Fight and it was real.

I mean the Rams came out and with the help of the Refs looked to be setting up a possible lopsided win.

Despite all of the hype surrounding Mahomes (it was deserved), we have our own guy in Goff that took another step towards becoming elite while the football world was watching.

From the opening drive, Goff was his cool self in setting up multiple TD passes and an early lead. From the 45 yard line upper level seats I took in the Coliseum, Goff was consistently finding the WIDE open guy and putting the ball on the money.

After Gurley took an awkward shot to his leg on the first drive, I watched him closely in the huddle and on the sideline, it was clear he was hurt. He was fiddling with is foot and leg between almost every play. Reggie was manipulating his foot regularly and was also stretching him between series.

It was very unusual for Todd who is usually immortal during the game.

Goff was going to have to be the focal point and our boy did not disappoint. Not once during the game did he exude anything short of complete confidence. One of my favorite reasons to attend games is to watch the guys on the sidelines and in the huddle with high powered binoculars to get a feel of how the respond to different pressures.

I will say GOFF IS THE MAN (outside of Talib that is – Talib really is the man. He is the Alpha Dog on the sidelines). The guy was unflappable and cool as can be on the sidelines.

Back and forth the teams go, landing one head shot after the other. Despite multiple big shots, the teams end up 23-23 at halftime with both Kickers blowing an XP.

The crowd continues to buzz through the halftime show.

With KC getting the ball to start the 2nd Half, you figure there is good chance we trail again until the Greatest Player in the League, Aaron Donald blows up Mahomes for the 2nd time tonight causing the ball to be jarred loose finally being recovered by John Franklin Meyers after a bloops and blunders type scramble to get the ball.

After Cooks drops what could have been a TD pass, Goff immediately marches the team down and, on 3rd and Goal after dropping back to the 16 yard line, Goff PLANTS like he is Todd Gurley reading the zone blocking and turns upfield and sprints into the endzone finishing with a flourish by finger rolling the ball over the goal posts and then imploring the crowd to keep up the excitement.

The crowd goes nuts.

But since this is a Rocky Fight, you know Creed is about to land another blow. Moments later, Travis Kelce is in the endzone and the smattering of chiefs fans around the stadium start standing and making Tomahawk Chops.

The teams exchange two quick shots and are 30-30. When the Rams only come back with 3 I’m thinking, we NEED 7s!

Rams up 33-30, Chiefs have the ball. . . .

Just then, Ebukam picks Mahomes and turns up toward the goal line. Only Mahomes has a possible chance to stop him but Samson trucks Patrick as he bulls his way into the endzone sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy!

Throughout the night somebody apparently hit the turbo button on Samson Ebukam. The guy was moving around the field like those old highlight reels of Babe Ruth rounding the bases at an unnatural clip. He was moving just a bit faster than everyone else.

Phil and I were laughing at his cartoonish hyperactivity. What the hell is going on with Ebukam? When did he become Lawrence Taylor?

During a break in the action, they wheel out members of the 1979 Rams. I see Dennis Harrah, Vince Ferragamo, Doug Smith, Jackie Slater and others. I don't like it!

Don’t they know when you bring out the legends community during a game like that you lose?

Rams up 40-30. It appears we may be putting this thing away! But wait, there's more!

Minutes later the scoreboard shows the Rams up 46-30 late in the 3rd when the refs erroneously say Littleton scooped as a fumble what turned out to be a forward incomplete pass.

Even with the TD coming off the board, it was clear the Rams had all the momentum in the world.

I start getting a text from a friend of mine who works in the league:

“WOW, best game in a long time”.

Surely we would hold this lead now . . . .

Its 40-30, were looking good!

Wait! Wait!!!! WHY IS TYREEK HILL 30 yards behind our coverage???!

Damn, 40-37, well at least we still have the . . … . W.T.F.!!!!

Strip sack, Goff loses the ball and now the Rams, who literally minutes ago were shown as having a 46-30 lead are LOSING 44-40 with 11:09 in the 4th.

More Tomahawks.

My league buddy sends another text: “one of the best games ever”.

Can the Rams respond? Goff answers the call hitting a streaking Robert Woods for a monster gain to get us back in the red zone. Then, on 3rd and goal the "much maligned by some" Tight End Gerald Everett snags a TD pass to put the Rams back on top 47-44.

WIN ROCKY! WIN!!!

The Rams have the chiefs down 47-44, its 4th and 2, maybe if we get the stop here we can run it out.

Mahomes to Kelce. First Down Chiefs.

Oh No! The chiefs might be able to score and kill the Rams who have no time outs!

The crazy thing is the Chiefs take the lead and I am relieved. There is over 2:40 on the clock.

The Chief fans hit their highwater mark. The reds jerseys around the stadium are all up doing Tomahawks.

During the break, I google how many teams scored 50 points and lost?

Uh, none.

Teams that score 50 points are 216-0 in the LEAGUE HISTORY.

216-0.

In order to win this bad boy, we are going to have to break 1 nasty trend right there.

Well, if this is one for the ages, that record is going to 217-1.

2nd and 9, a little over 2:15 on the clock. Goff throws an INT! NOOOOO but Scandrick drops it.

I turn to a chief fan near me: “You do realize that if he held on to that, you guys won the game? The Rams have no time outs”. He nods.

“You also realize that that interception is going to haunt you right?”

He nods.

I knew it. He knew it. You can’t drop those.

3rd and 9. 2:11 to play. Rams trailing 51-47. Goff drops back, plants and rips a pass to Cooks who brings it in, and turns upfield to midfield. Next play, Goff again to Higbee who makes a beautiful catch at the 2 minute warning.

We come out of the two minute warning. 1:56 to play. Now if the Rams can just milk some clock before they score . . . .Negative.

In what will be one of many signature plays, Goff drops back standing right on the Rams Helmet Logo at Midfield and hits Jemach’s guy for a catch, tightrope walk and score.

Goff and McVay are exchanging happy hand signals as Goff runs down to celebrate with his teammates.

Loudest I have ever heard the Coliseum.

While it probably wasn’t necessary, the scoreboard operator was imploring the Rams fans to get LOUD LOUD LOUD!!!! as the chiefs were preparing to take the field.

Pulling out all the stops: “Do it for the Rams. Do it for the Firefighters!!!! (I mentally tip my hat to whoever came up with that emotional hook to get the crowd involved though this game it wasn't necessary).

Within moments of the chiefs getting the ball, Lawrence Taylor, I mean Ebukam again finds his way to Mahomes and Peters picks him off. What a fitting ending, surely this is over now.

Whitworth gets a false start! Well, lets run Malcom or Todd into the teeth for 3 plays and kill the chiefs time outs. No!

McVay channels his inner Mike Martz and you realize that Creed is not done, he is getting off the canvas. Creed's getting up, he's getting up!

Hekker comes on.

Man if we ever needed a big punt out of Hekker now would be a good time.

Johnny, obviously feeling the adrenaline of the game, hits a punt reminiscent of Clark Kent in Superman 1.

68 yards and the bearded one, Jake McQuide down there to make sure Tareek doesn’t do real damage on the return.

That was a huge play.

Another Text: "Best football game I have ever seen. Tops the 1982 Dolphins Chargers Playoff game!"

As we go to break, I take in the surroundings.

This is what I have been searching for. The stadium was lit up. The towels were swirling. The Rams were winning a big game.

I was 10 years old again. Phil puts his arm around me gives me a heart felt “Thanks Man. I’m so glad I’m here right now.”

I feel the ghosts of the past.

Deacon, Merlin, Hirsch, Waterfield, Fears, and Towler, Gabriel and Snow, Hacksaw and the Youngbloods.

With the game on the line, Phil busts out his cell to capture the final moments:





As I walk out of the stadium, literally floating, I picture a couple of kids watching somewhere in our great country thousands of miles away.

They are smiling. They know they saw something very special.

One of them picks up a pillow and starts calling out "Goff drops back!! sees EVERETT, he launches it!!!!" As his buddy reaches out for the game winning score in some living room, the both call out "TOUCHDOWN RAMS!!!!"

On some street, in some town, I know there are a few more rams tonight and the Coliseum finally got to show the world itself in all of its glory one more time.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2018 12:33AM by stlramz.