California Champs, St. Louis Blues

The glorious sunshine did come out for a little while on Sunday, reminding all who may have forgotten what California is ordinarily like. And the championship victories of the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers did that for us too--ladling down some sunshine on the local professional football scene, and temporarily overshadowing our sudden case of St. Louis blues. For the first time in the history of professional football, it is to be noted (and it is very notable indeed), there will be two California teams in the Super Bowl. How about that!

Of course the departure of the Los Angeles Rams was scarcely unexpected. It had been rumored for months that the ownership and management of the team were so deeply unhappy with their deal in Anaheim that they had been trolling for action in putatively richer waters. Good luck to them, but the realization is still a shock. A fact is never a fact until it is an absolute reality, and it wasn’t until the weekend that Ram owner Georgia Frontiere confirmed the sad truth to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s business,” she admitted, explaining the amazing St. Louis offer to staff writer T.J. Simers, “It has to be business.” Ah yes, a business.

The Rams, it is true, had not exactly been doing socko business in Anaheim. Then again, the team hadn’t exactly been playing socko football. The Rams played in only one Super Bowl--in 1980--and had last won a division championship in 1989. They sputtered out to an exhausting and indifferent end to this season, losing their last seven games. Maybe the business would have been better if the team had performed better. We doubt St. Louis’ standards are any less than ours.

But the loss of the Rams scarcely diminishes California’s stature in the business and sport of professional football. The Los Angeles Raiders had a strong, though inconclusive season, and under redoubtable owner Al Davis are likely to be a factor for years to come.

And Sunday in San Francisco, under parting of clouds and unexpected streams of sunshine, the 49ers took the measure of the talented (but not, in this game at least, talented enough) Dallas Cowboys and head for Miami in quest of the Super Bowl--their fifth.

Delightfully, the only force that can stop them is another California team--the San Diego Chargers. This is that organization’s very first Super Bowl appearance. What an exquisite victory yesterday’s was over the Pittsburgh Steelers--in Pittsburgh, in the rain, as the gritty underdogs, against one of the league’s premier defensive teams. Few had thought they would win.

Who says Californians can’t thrive under adversity?