Back To L.A.

For 49 years the Rams were in Los Angeles.

For 21 years they were in St. Louis. 

Now, they are back in Los Angeles.

This whole relocation process has felt more sleazy than smooth. There was a six-owner committee charged with finding the best option for a team, or teams, in Los Angeles. This committee voted 5-1 in favor of building a stadium complex in Carson. A location that focused on the San Diego Chargers. A few hours later later the owner membership voted, by secret ballot, to toss the Carson project recommended by their peers and go with St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke's Ingelwood project by a 20-12 and eventually a 21-11 vote. Their Rams got their dream site. The Chargers didn't. But, the Chargers still have the option of joining the Rams in Ingelwood. On the outside looking in on all of this was the Oakland Raiders. They wanted L.A. as well but didn't get the consideration that they expected. While the rest of the owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell departed the Houston hotel by limo, Raiders owner Mark Davis left by cab. 

No NFL team has called L.A. home since both the Raiders and the Rams left the city in 1994. The funny thing about all three of the teams that were looking to move to L.A. is that each had once called the place home. The Chargers joined the American Football League as the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960. They only stayed that first year but that was their first home. The Raiders pissed off the entire NFL when they bolted Oakland for L.A. in 1982. The Rams moved to L.A. from Cleveland in 1946. All three were looking to return in 2016. And the NFL is pretty damn happy about it. 

I hate to see teams move. In my lifetime I've seen the St. Louis Cardinals, Raiders (twice), Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, Houston Oilers, and Los Angeles Rams move from the fans that love them to fans that don't even know them. It's the fans that are hurt in these relocation tragedies. Roger Goodell and every other NFL suit routinely say that everything they do is about the fans. Well, these actions are further proof that it's rarely about the fans. The people that make the players millionaires and owners billionaires are routinely forgotten. Take Cleveland. The Browns fans lost a team that they had loved for 50 years, watched that team win two Super Bowls for another city, and watched their head coach win four Super Bowls for another team in creating a dynasty in another city. Those Browns fans were rewarded with an expansion team that can't get out of it's own way. Taking a team away from a fan base is an absolute tragedy. 

When this relocation to Los Angeles nonsense became inevitable it was the Rams that I hoped would be one of the teams. My real hope was that they would be the only team but it sounds like the Chargers will join them. The Rams long history in L.A. made them the natural choice. I'm happy for the fans that lost them and now have them again. I feel terrible for the fans in St. Louis that lost another team. This time a team that they called their own for 21 years.

At least the NFC West just got more geographically sound.