The Los Angeles Rams played the New Orleans Saints Sunday afternoon at the LA Coliseum. It was the second game of the doubleheader on FOX. And that’s the way it should be. After this year, however, it won’t. Another piece of our history is about to be tossed to the curb.
Growing up, I used to love watching the Rams play the second game of a Sunday NFL doubleheader from the Coliseum. My brothers and I would watch the Giants play the first game with our dad, and then we would head to my grandparents house to watch the second game. More often than not the game was on CBS and usually involved the Rams from the Coliseum. That’s why this Sunday’s twin bill evoked many memories, as they have since the Rams moved back to Los Angeles.
The Rams themselves have been a story. They started out in Cleveland, moved to LA, playing at the Coliseum, ditched that historic venue for Anaheim Stadium then hightailed it to St. Louis. A couple of decades later they returned to LA and the Coliseum and next year they move into their brand spanking, new multi-billion dollar facility in Inglewood, sharing the joint with the Chargers, who moved back to LA from San Diego. In fact, on Sunday it was announced naming rights for the new stadium have been awarded to an eight-year-old startup that refinances student loans. For the next two decades it will be called SoFi Stadium. Somehow it doesn’t have that ring to it as “The Coliseum.” Maybe in time people in southern California will say “let’s go to the SoFi.”
I will miss those LA Rams games at the Coliseum, after this season. Don’t worry, the arena isn’t going away. It just underwent a $315 million dollar renovation and is home to the USC Trojans. Like everything else, things change, but this season, when the Rams play the second game at home, I’m dropping everything to watch the game. It will be my excuse to reconnect with my youth and days when I watched the second game at my grandparents.
