My Days as a Ram Fan

Jack Youngblood

I was a spectacular 0 and 4 last weekend with my football picks. I advise anyone to read what I say and do the opposite.

One game that has me nostalgic is Dallas at the L.A. Rams. Back when I was a teenager in the '70s I had a habit of picking teams to root for with no apparent reason . Maybe this was because my local teams in Detroit sucked. I loved the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati, and was a big Penn State fan (I even wanted to go to college there for a while. My nephew ended up going). In football, I somehow got attached to the Rams, and I have no memory why.

The Rams, through the late '70s, were a constant playoff team, winning seven NFC West division titles in a row. But they never won the big one, not in L.A. (the only title the franchise won was when they were in St. Louis). But they kept a kid like me on the edge of my seat, and a few of those playoff games were against Dallas.

The names come bubbling up. Pat Haden, Vince Ferragamo, Lawrence McCutcheon, Cullen Bryant, Nolan Cromwell, Jackie Slater, and Jack and Jim Youngblood, who were not related. Jack Youngblood is in the Hall of Fame, and was one of the toughest defensive players in history. He played an entire playoff series, into the Super Bowl, with a broken tibia. But to show you how the game has changed, he was a defensive end who weighed only 245 pounds. Today you can't find a lineman who isn't over 300 pounds. This is why I preferred football back in the '70s--the players were more like real people.

The Rams finally made the Super Bowl in 1979, when I was a freshman in college. Their opponent was the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were going for their fourth ring. The Steelers were heavily favored, as the Rams were 9-7 in the regular season. The point spread was Pittsburgh -11 1/2.

I was watching in the TV lounge at school, as though I had a television in my room, it didn't pull in the station the Super Bowl was on (I think it was CBS). These were the days of rabbit ears. The lounge, oddly, had a large barber's chair in the center of the room, up on a platform like a throne. I got there so early that I was in that seat, living and dying with every play. The Rams had the lead at halftime, with McCutcheon throwing a touchdown on the half-back option. But the Steelers had more talent, and scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to win 31-19. The Rams missed an extra point, and thus the Steelers covered. The nation's gamblers howled.

The Rams are back in L.A. and have a good young team, so I'll be tuning in Saturday night. I think they can squeeze past the Cowboys. I also like New Orleans over Philly, though the Eagles look like they could be on another magic carpet ride. New England over San Diego is easy.

My upset special is Indy over Kansas City, mostly because Andy Reid is the worst big-game coach since Marty Schottenheimer, and the Colts are on a roll.