Rams Grab Their Bits and Pieces of Rock

The Rams, a football team with an owner who has an insatiable quest for international adventure, arrived here Sunday morning to begin preparations for their third overseas exhibition game in four years.

Owner Georgia Frontiere did not accompany her team on its charter flight, but she is expected to arrive from New York in plenty of time to celebrate the events leading to Saturday’s game with the Kansas City Chiefs at Olympic Stadium.

Whereas previous trips to London in 1987 and Tokyo last year lacked for substance beyond promotional considerations, the Rams have arrived in Berlin amid quite an international backdrop.

The team hotels stand not far beyond the shadows of the Brandenburg Gate, which separated West from East Berlin until last Nov. 9, when The Wall came tumbling down.

Naturally, every trip abroad has its inconveniences. Last year in Tokyo, some Rams complained privately about having to double up in rooms while their opponent and chief rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, enjoyed separate accommodations in the same hotel.

Sunday, the Rams arrived in a city sweltering from an unusual summer heat wave. Temperatures are in the 90s. One of the two hotels housing the players is without air conditioning, and the single beds in some rooms appear no more than cloth draped over a balance beam.

The worn look on the sweaty face of nose tackle Alvin Wright, 6-foot-2 and 285 pounds, summed up the situation appropriately.

Most of the players who had hit the wall, so to speak, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, were in no condition to chip away at the rapidly-disappearing barrier that had divided Berlin since the early ‘60s.

Five bleary-eyed Rams, though, put aside sleep and took a quick tour of the site of one of the most celebrated and symbolic episodes in recent history: the destruction of a wall that started the process toward the reunification of Germany.

Tackle Irv Pankey, guard Duval Love, linebacker Larry Kelm, kicker Mike Lansford and fullback Robert Delpino were eager to help dismantle where they could.

The Berlin Wall that once adjoined the Brandenburg Gate has crumbled and become thousands of souvenirs. Really, there is scarce visible evidence that it ever existed, though pieces can be purchased--complete with certificates of authenticity--for five German deutschemarks (about $3 U.S. currency) from one of several hundred merchants that now compose a human wall of free enterprise.

Unsatisfied with just purchasing history, the players were driven past Potsdamer Platz, site of last week’s historic rock concert, to a section of secondary wall that still stands.

Pankey, 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, rented a chisel and hammer and began chipping away. He broke off two particular pieces, one for each of his 14 month old twin sons, Keith and Kevin. One day, Pankey said, he’ll explain to his sons the meaning of two ordinary-looking pieces of concrete and graffiti.

“In school, when they’re studying history, they can stand up in class and they can say, ‘I got a piece of that wall,’ ” Pankey said.

Kelm said it was difficult for him to understand the enormity of recent events here.

“It’s very interesting,” he said. “But it’s hard for me to realize exactly the situation. I was never here before, when there was all the tension. I probably take it for granted, like it’s always been like this.”

Ram Notes

Ram players who didn’t make the trip were unsigned veteran linebacker Kevin Greene, safety Michael Stewart, defensive end Doug Reed, and tight end Damone Johnson. Tackle Jackie Slater is signed but has not reported. Receiver Aaron Cox stayed home to nurse a hamstring injury that is expected to keep him out three to six weeks. . . . The Kansas City Chiefs, who also arrived Sunday morning, were greeted at the hotel by a Prussian Brass Band in full historical regalia. The Chiefs arrived without seven unsigned veterans of their own, one signed player who has not reported--corner Albert Lewis--and an unsigned first-round draft choice, linebacker Percy Snow. Kansas City practiced for about an hour after arriving. The Rams and Chiefs will scrimmage Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. . . . The same plane that dropped off the Rams in West Berlin is taking the Raiders back to Los Angeles from London. . . . The Rams are not flying back to Los Angeles right after Saturday’s game, as originally planned. The team will leave Sunday and arrive the same day in Los Angeles at 1:40 p.m. . . . Hard to believe, but Rams’ defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur is not German. He is of Polish, Irish and English descent.