| It’s not often that LeBron James wants to party yet doesn’t make it onto the guest list, which is perhaps the ultimate proof these are unusual times when it comes to the Los Angeles sports scene. The Los Angeles Rams got to have a parade to celebrate their Super Bowl triumph on Wednesday, something that James’ Lakers and Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t able to enjoy when they clinched titles in 2020. And even with James and Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner publicly calling – only half-jokingly – for a three-pronged celebration to laud all of the city’s recent sporting triumphs, the event that spanned from the Shrine Auditorium near the 110 Freeway and stretched to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum was all about the Rams, and only about the Rams. Matthew Stafford smoked a cigar and enjoyed some adult beverages along with his teammates, while getting a Twitter warning from veteran Super Bowl celebrator Tom Brady to mix in a water with the booze consumption. There wasn’t a mass collection of humanity in attendance but it was still the most fun the Rams have had since coming back to L.A. and they deserved it. Teams that won championships in the early part of the pandemic got somewhat shortchanged. The Lakers did their thing in an Orlando bubble, with no crowd and a slightly eerie air about the whole thing, overshadowing what was a spectacular display of postseason dominance by James and Anthony Davis. The Dodgers won the World Series on a quiet field in Texas as the end part of a revamped season and expanded postseason. No parades for either of them, for obvious reasons. The first line of this column was offered in jest – James is close friends with several members of the Rams squad and can hang with them any time he likes. He danced in celebration when Odell Beckham Jr. scored the first touchdown of the Super Bowl and greeted Aaron Donald with a warm hug as the defensive superstar watched the Lakers’ victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. But there was a reason the Rams weren’t inclined to share their moment in the sun with their L.A. neighbors. It has been difficult sledding for the team since moving from St. Louis and returning to California. Getting to this point, with fans in the streets on a midweek lunchtime, was no small feat. “It is very unfortunate that LeBron and the Dodgers were not able to have the fans celebrate this moment along with them,” FS1’s Shannon Sharpe said on “Undisputed.” “I get it. But it is too late. It is 16 months removed from when they won their championships. This is the Rams moment. They deserve to have a moment.” The takeaway from the Rams’ season and the Super Bowl victory was that it had been built upon star power. That narrative wasn’t wrong as Stafford, Beckham, Jalen Ramsey and Von Miller were brought in at great expense. Donald and Cooper Kupp are among the very best players in the league, regardless of position. However, it hasn’t all been glittering times hanging out in the dazzling surroundings of SoFi Stadium. It was six years ago now that the franchise left St Louis and getting their new (old) home to pay attention has not been easy. Whatever happened last week, the city’s love for the Lakers and Dodgers is far more ingrained. Things are shifting now, but not at rapid pace. “Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers were part of the Rams’ torturous six-year climb to the top,” wrote Bill Plaschke in the LA Times. “Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers ever had to endure the national criticism like the Rams when they couldn’t fill the Coliseum. Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers had to work so hard to develop a fan base that initially was numb to the returning Rams.” Los Angeles is a tough city to crack. Generations have grown up with the Lakers success and the glitz and glamor of how they do business fits in nicely with the Hollywood vibe. The Clippers have done a much better job in recent times but gained more traction when they went star-heavy too, following Blake Griffin and Chris Paul with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The Dodgers are big spenders and serial winners and the reality is that L.A. has very rarely been a football-first town across its history. The Rams are trying, seriously trying, but what they are attempting to accomplish is a really big ask. Even with the superb run through the season, home fans were outmatched in the Week 17 defeat against the 49ers, the NFC Championship game against the same opponent, and by Cincinnati Bengals supporters last Sunday. The best way to keep making an impact is to keep winning – and keep swinging. Stafford is 34 but isn’t going anywhere for a while, Kupp is 28 and possibly still improving, Donald indicated that he’s likely to return after rumors of retirement and Sean McVay is the youngest Super Bowl-winning coach in history. There’s room to grow, even after this. There is always a battle for attention in L.A., not just among sports teams but against the entertainment industry and the sunny skies and all the other things that are competing for the public’s notice. Right now though, the Rams have gotten their city to sit up and applaud them. All it took was to win the biggest game in sports. |
