Suffice to say, the Rams have a LOT of work to do - not just in generating fan allegiance during the season...but off-season as well. I won't speak for your observations, but I'd suspect that you didn't see any shortage of Laker gear being worn (despite the fact that their season was a disaster this year).
The reason for this is that the Lakers and (to a lesser extent) the Dodgers have been able to capitalize on on-going recent success. Fans will fly those colors (even purple) 24/7/365. Rams aren't there yet.
But don't worry. I think that they are well on their way of re-establishing their presence in the SoCal market. The first step was beating the 9'ers in the NFCCG (that was huge). The second step, of course, was actually winning the Super Bowl. Some additional steps will include beating the 49'ers repeatedly and stomping the Raiders when they come to town next season. I won't lie, though...it was a little disappointing to see so much available championship gear in department/sporting goods stores after the Super Bowl win. I would've thought there would be a run on all that stuff.
But I'm really wondering about the team-branding on all of this. I posted a pic yesterday of the Robert Woods modern throwback white jersey I bought (complete with Super Bowl/Captain's patch). I was a little bummed that I just paid all this money for a player that had just been traded, but decided to wear it out to the Camarillo Premium Outlet Center a couple of weeks back. Now, if you don't know, Camarillo is very close to the Rams' training facility in Thousand Oaks. But it's also closer to Oxnard - home to the Cowboys training camp. And there are a LOT of Cowboy/Raider fans out there.
No problem. WE (the Rams) won the Super Bowl. So, as far as I'm concerned, I'm representing wherever I go. The response was crazy. I had no fewer than 4 people (not wearing any football gear whatsoever) stop me to tell me how much they liked my jersey (a couple following up with a few choice words about the team trading Woods). Mixed in were another three people (who were wearing Cowboy/Raider t-shirts) who saw the jersey gave me nods of approval. So, I won't rule out a lack of enthusiasm due to jersey/t-shirt type.
