I’ve been catching up on my Ram reading of late.
25 Things I’ve Never Gotten Over as a Rams Fan
By Joe Torosian
I can’t shake them, they will be with me until I die…
1.) October 1, 1972: I come home from my first day of church and see highlights of the Atlanta Falcons 31-3 win over the Rams. I wasn’t a fan then, but there was something I didn’t like about the way Falcons fans celebrated and seeing Tommy Nobis return an interception for a touchdown angered me. I don’t know why. It was the first loss ever to Atlanta. Hate the Falcons.
2.) November 4, 1973: When I leave for church the Rams led in Atlanta 10-0. After church we go to another family’s house and I watch Nick Mike-Mayer kick his fifth field goal in the final seconds to give the Falcons a 15-13 victory.
3.) December 23, 1973: The Rams finish the regular season 12-2, Dallas finishes 10-4, and we beat the Cowboys at the Coliseum, 37-31 (Oct. 14), that year…But the first round playoff game is played in Texas? I know it was some stupid NFL rule, but talk about stupid. All it did was make me hate the Cowboys even more.
4.) December 23, 1973: Rams rally from 17-0 deficit and trail 17-16 in playoff game at Dallas. But Free Safety Steve Preece goes for the interception instead of the hit on the Cowboys Drew Pearson and 83-yards later Pearson is in the end zone. Cowboys 27 Rams 16. I’ve never forgiven Steve Preece.
5.) December 29, 1974: NFC Championship game: Minnesota 14 Los Angeles 10. For years we (my brothers and I) didn’t know who twitched and got the false start call at the goal line. First we thought it was Charlie Cowan, then Pat Curran, years later Jack Youngblood confirms in his autobiography it was Tom Mack. After the flag is thrown James Harris’ pass on the next play is tipped and intercepted by Wally Hilgenberg.
6.) November 9, 1975: San Francisco’s Steve Mike-Mayer kicks a 54-yard field goal to beat the Rams 24-23 at the Coliseum. Listened to Dick Enberg make the call over KMPC. It is the 49ers first win over the Rams since 1970. Frisco had lost 10 in a row to LA.
7.) January 4, 1976: NFC Championship game: Dallas 37 Los Angeles 7. I’m in attendance in the closed end of the Coliseum. I hate the Cowboys, I hate the shotgun, I hate Preston Pearson. As we’re exiting in the final minute I’ll never forget a very angry black man sitting in his seat and cursing those of us leaving. “You cheap Rams fans you’re going to wake up tomorrow and see the Rams won 42-27!”…Even I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I fought back tears on the long bus ride back to El Monte.
8.) December 26, 1976: NFC Championship game: I’m twelve and given a choice of going to a nude beach or staying home and watching the Rams game. I responded: “Are you fricking nuts? I’m watching the Rams!” Final Minnesota 24 Rams 13.
9.) December 26, 1976: Ron Jessie crosses the goal line on the reverse at the start of the NFC Championship game in Minnesota. But the lying, cheating, Fran Tarkenton kissing, officials rule him down at the one inch line.
10.) December 26, 1976: Instead of playing to win from the one inch line Rams HC Chuck Knox plays it safe by sending Tom Dempsey in and 90-yards later the Vikings Bobby Bryant returns the blocked kick for a touchdown.
11.) December 26, 1976: The Rams trail in the NFC Championship game 17-13 but are driving. Then Bobby Bryant reads Pat Haden’s eyes, breaks off his receiver, and intercepts the pass. I hate Bobby Bryant.
12.) 1977: The Rams give up on James Harris and send him to San Diego, then acquire Broadway Joe Namath. My heartbreaks, Harris had been my favorite Ram.
13.) December 26, 1977: Rams finally get the Vikings at home for a playoff game and lose in “The Mud Bowl”. Vikings 14 Rams 7. Joe Namath should have replaced Pat Haden late, but Chuck Knox this time doesn’t make a quarterback change. It’s his last game as HC, and it’s the last time I hear Dick Enberg call a Rams game over the radio. The game had been blacked out.
14.) 1978: Everyone remembers the hiring and subsequent firing of George Allen…But during that summer the Rams trade Harold Jackson to New England.
15.) January 7, 1979: NFC Championship game: Dallas 28 Rams 0 at the Coliseum. This one hurts to the point of cussing. Knew things were bad when Jim Jodat was getting touches at critical moments. It was 0-0 at halftime and only 7-0 at the start of the fourth quarter. Image of Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson’s pick six and dunk of the ball over the crossbar complete the nightmare.
16.) April 2, 1979: Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom dies “conveniently” when everything in his will goes to wife Georgia. But what also happens here as Georgia takes control and fires her stepson Steve Rosenbloom, is the phasing out of Don Klosterman as GM. Klosterman is the unsung hero of the Rams success during the decade.
17.) January 20, 1980: Super Bowl XIV: Steelers 31 Rams 19…All of it. This bipolar event never leaves me.
18.) January 20, 1980: Super Bowl XIV: What happens if Nolan Cromwell holds on to Terry Bradshaw’s errant pass in the third quarter with nothing but open field and paydirt in front of him?
19.) January 20, 1980: Super Bowl XIV: Pat Thomas knocks Lynn Swann out of the game in the third quarter. So you keep John Stallworth in double coverage the rest of the night. I thought so, my brother thought so, and apparently Rod Perry thought so when he let Stallworth go inside of him early in the fourth quarter. The only problem was safety Eddie Brown didn’t know and hung Perry out to dry as Bradshaw and Stallworth hooked up for the go ahead touchdown. I have two standing orders: One, everybody fights, nobody quits. Two, Eddie Brown is never ever allowed in my house. It burns! Like holy water on a possessed girl.
20.) 1980-1982: Everything begins to crumble under Georgia. The holdouts after the Johnnie Johnson contract. Vince Ferragamo throws for 30 touchdowns in 1980 and is allowed to leave to Canada. In 1981 the Rams miss the playoffs for the first time since 1972. The Fred Dryer debacle. The 2-7 season in 1982.
21.) 1982: Rams deal for Bert Jones. Jones suffers a neck injury and soon retires. But what if Jones was the player he’d been as recent as the season before in Baltimore? If the Rams could have milked two, maybe three seasons out of him. How different would the ’83, ’84, and ’85 seasons have looked?
22.) 1985: Dieter Brock…Every time he took the field…every time he over threw a receiver.
23.) January 14, 1990: NFC Championship game: San Francisco 30 Rams 3 in Candlestick. Most remember Larry Roberts phantom sack of Jim Everett, but two other plays stick out to me. First, the Rams drive the length of the field at the start of the game and then go Chuck Knox and settle for a field goal. I knew the game was over when we were leading 3-0. Second, later in the first the flea flicker pass where Everett had Flipper Anderson open but Ronnie Lott recovered to bat the ball away. I always link that play to the last play of the Los Angeles Rams before the Georgia plague took full effect.
24.) January 30, 2000: Super Bowl XXXIV: Rams 23 Tennessee 16. The Rams leaving hurt, but nothing was more infuriating and blood boiling than the moment after Dick Vermeil handed the Lombardi Trophy to the Devil herself: Georgia said: “This proves we did the right thing in going to St. Louis.”
25.) February 3, 2002: Super Bowl XXXVI: New England 20 Rams 17. Besides “spygate”? I still swear there were two seconds left on the clock when Adam Vinatieri’s alleged game winning field goal cleared the uprights.
P.S. Did I mention Eddie Brown not being invited to my house?
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