I was born and raised in Los Angles, California. I am a St. Louis Rams fan and a Los Angels Dodgers fan. Today, I reside in St. Peters, Missouri. St. Louis has been my home now for the past 30 years. I enjoy St. Louis and the people. I do miss the beaches of Sothern California and that is about it. I grew up a Rams fan, still a Rams fan and will forever be a Rams fan.
I spent my youth watching the Rams and Raiders play in the Colosseum. My boyhood heroes were Jack Yougblood, Jack Snow, Marcus Allen and Dave Casper. The teams received solid support when they were in the playoffs. The teams received little support when they stopped winning. One thing I can remember well, is seeing the Colosseum and Anaheim Stadium occupied with fans from other cities. California is packed with people from other parts of the country. I would see Cowboy, Redskin, Bear, Packer, Chief, Steeler and Jets fans well represented at games in Los Angeles and Anaheim.
While serving in the Marine Corps, I was stationed at Camp Pendelton in Oceanside, Ca. The Rams and Chargers would provide free tickets to the Marines on the base. When the Rams would give away tickets, it was hard to find people to go with me. At the time, the Rams were not doing very well. I can remember the stadium not being very full. People in the Los Angeles and Orange county areas would just rather spend the day at the beach or take advantage of one of the other many options in the area.
Most people in Los Angeles are just more passionate about other things. Don't get me wrong, there are people in Los Angeles that are very die hard fans. When it comes to the Trojan football, UCLA basketball and Dodger baseball you will find passion. The passion for USC and UCLA comes from the Alumni and students for the most part. Baseball and Softball can be played year round in southern California; therefore you have a bigger interest in Dodgers baseball than any other sport. When it comes down to it, people in Southern California would rather play sports than watch sports.
Right now the Lakers are not doing so well and they are not drawing very big crowds. Sports fans in the Los Angeles are fair weathered fans. The only exception is the Dodgers. Good or bad the Dodgers always draw large crowds. I believe this is due to the large Hispanic and Asian populations in Southern California, Hispanics and Asians play baseball more than any other sport. Baseball is and will always be the most popular sport in Southern California because of this.
In St. Louis, we do not have as many options when it coms to our choices on how we spend our free time. We have great museums, hunting, fishing and one of the best Zoo's in the world. Because of the limited entertainment options in our region, people all across the state of Missouri will and always have supported major college and professional sports. This creates an natural interest in sports.
The Rams, Chiefs, Cardinals, Royals and Blues always draw crowds no matter what. I have seen loosing and wining football here in St. Louis. Playoff and regular season football have always been more exciting to attend here in St. Louis than they ever were in Los Angeles or Anaheim. There is a real bond and attachment to the St. Louis Rams. There was never this win or loose devotion in Los Angeles. Because of this, it does not make any sense to me why an NFL team owner or the NFL would want to move any team to the Los Angeles area. Los Angeles may be the second largest market; however, what exactly does that market consist of? What is the Los Angeles market really watching?
In is my belief that Los Angeles area may embrace a new marriage to NFL with a shinny new stadium and great attendance; however, after the honey moon is over the crowds will dwindle as they always have in Los Angeles. The NFL will be back in the same situation it was in when the Rams and Raiders left once again.
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