Readers React: Sorry, St. Louis fans: The Rams’ move to L.A. wasn’t personal, just good business

To the editor: Some St. Louis fans are upset that the Los Angeles Rams made it to the Super Bowl in only their third season after moving from Missouri. Actually, before then, the Rams played in Los Angeles and then Orange County.

They’re not the only nomadic teams. The Raiders went from Oakland to Los Angeles, back to Oakland and will soon relocate to Las Vegas. The Chargers started in Los Angeles and quickly moved to San Diego before coming back to L.A. The Kansas City Chiefs were once the Dallas Texans, and the Arizona Cardinals moved from Chicago to St. Louis to Phoenix.

In baseball, the New York Yankees started out in Baltimore, the Oakland Athletics previously played in Philadelphia then Kansas City, the Atlanta Braves were once in Boston then Milwaukee, and of course the Dodgers started in Brooklyn.

This is just good business, but it feels personal. Just ask those Rams and Titans fans who watched their St. Louis Rams beat the Tennessee Titans in the Super Bowl in 2000 just a few years after moving from, respectively, Los Angeles and Houston.

My guess is that in 20 years, when the shine of the new stadium fades, the Rams will be looking for a better business opportunity.

Frank Miceli, Burbank

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To the editor: As a native of Los Angeles, I grew up a Rams fan. I was devastated and angry when owner Georgia Frontiere took the team to St. Louis in 1995.

In the era of President Trump, where money is king and a lack of integrity in business and personal relations is prevalent, it is no surprise that a team without moral fiber would leave a city that welcomed and invested big time in them. It’s all about money, right?

My husband is from St. Louis, and we have relatives there who were left in financial limbo. They are now devastated and angry. Where will the Rams go next? Where’s the money?

I will never support the Rams. Actually, I see their presence at the Super Bowl as illegitimate. The New Orleans Saints should be on the field, but they are not because of a blown call that sent the Rams to Atlanta.

The Rams are, in my playbook, not legitimate both in our city and on the Super Bowl field.

Judy Zimring Pomerantz, Marina del Rey

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To the editor: The Rams playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl in just their third year back in Los Angeles is cause for local celebration, but it is also worth noting that this team of ours ended the National Football League’s ban on African American players.

In 1946, a year before Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Rams signed and played two black players, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, the latter going on to become a Hollywood film star. This happened because the Rams had just moved from Cleveland to L.A. and needed to play their home games at the publicly owned Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The local officials who controlled the Coliseum made desegregating a condition of the Rams’ use of the stadium, and the team signed Washington and Strode, who had been, like Robinson, star athletes at UCLA.

Professional athletes since the 1940s owe a debt of gratitude to Strode, Washington and Robinson for breaking the color barrier, leading to the integration of all professional sports teams.

Doug Weiskopf, Burbank

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