Written by Dieter Kurtenbach at Fox Sports.com
The Rams organization was given — or rather bought — something incredible 11 months ago: the second-largest media market in the United States. And they had it all to themselves.
Los Angeles didn’t have an NFL team for 20 years, and then the Rams were handed an opportunity to win over the 13 million potential fans in the Southland. The billboards went up everywhere, the team carved out a massive media presence, and they went out and got the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, which they used to select a Golden State quarterback straight out of Central Casting — Jared Goff’s nickname might as well be Kid Hollywood.
The Rams did everything they could to win over the Los Angeles market in an effort to reverse two decades of free agent fanhood and unite Southern California behind their new NFL team, and by all accounts, they were making progress: 90,000 fans showed up for the team’s first preseason game, a record, and the excitement for the season opener had the town buzzing.
In the three months since the start of the season, though, the Rams have done something even more incredible — they’ve completely squandered most of the goodwill they were given and eliminated much of the progress they might have made with their new potential fan base.
You don’t talk about the Rams in L.A. these days unless it’s to make fun of their dysfunction.
And boy have the Rams given Angelenos a lot to talk about this week.
Eric Dickerson was the face of the Los Angeles Rams even when the Rams weren’t playing in Los Angeles anymore. When the Rams returned to L.A., he was one of the voices on the local news and sports talk radio shows drumming up excitement for the team. He’s not on the team payroll, but he sure was working for the Rams.
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