Leuzer
Daniel Leu
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2014
- Messages
- 2,166
My parents and grandparents are the ones I look up to the most as well. Thanks for the wonderful story, A55VA6.
Tell Us The Story Of How You Became A Ram Fan
- Thread starter rams24/7
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Moostache
Rookie
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2014
- Messages
- 290
I have always had two "favorite" teams since I was 6 years old.
The first iteration was the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys from 1977 to 1989.
This was because I grew up outside of Chicago during a period of time when the Cowboys were national darlings and very successful and my father was as die-hard a Bears fan as you can imagine...he was a literal "Superfan", had the stocking cap, the 70's style jackets and sweaters (BEFORE Ditka's version and then later the replica of the one Ditka wore on the sidelines for SBXX).
My earliest memories of the NFL are "Payton left, Payton right, incomplete pass, punt".... which essentially was the weekly game plan. During those early years, I watched both games every Sunday...we would have breakfast at 9 AM, catch the coach's Chicago TV show at 10 AM, get dressed for church at 10:30 AM, attend Mass at 11 AM and get back in time for kick-off at 12PM. Then, usually after another Bears' loss, the late game was almost always the Dallas game. Add to the mix the fact that the Cowboys played in SB X, XII, XIII and then 3 straight NFC Title Games (losing all 3 - Philly, SF, Wash) and I was a Cowboys fan during the playoffs mainly because the Bears made the playoffs only once - as a Wild Card after a FG to win in week 14 against the Giants in a snow storm before promptly being curb stomped by Dallas in the playoffs.
I dropped the Cowboys the day Tom Landry was fired - partly because it was heresy to fire that man, but mainly because as a Hard-core Notre Dame fan I loathe Pig-faced Satan Jimmy Johnson. Once Jones bought the Cowboys and hired Johnson, I stopped being a Cowboys fan and have never gone back. Back in '81, when Montana threw that pass to Clark to beat Dallas in the NFC title game I sobbed uncontrollably for a while...but I never could root for them again since '89...
That left me as a stand-alone Bears fan from 1990 through 1993...before life and my career landed me in St. Louis out of college. I followed the expansion talk and while I hated the name "Stallions" (always thought it was a roller derby or porn film gang name personally). The lease issues with Clinton, the fact that Walter Payton was part of the efforts, the drama about the Patriots possibly moving here before it turned out to be the Rams...when the news first broke that they were coming to St. Louis I was actually disappointed. I thought the Los Angeles Rams should have stayed put and St. Louis should have looked for someone else to move here, but it was a done deal and they were here.
In '95, I did not really embrace the Rams. The 5-1 start did nothing for me, the trick plays from Brooks that seemed to go well at first but were also wildly lucky, the idiot Kinchen punching the goal posts in the first half of the first SF massacre of the Same Old Sorry Ass Rams....all of it left me mostly unimpressed. When Brooks was fired and Vermeil was hired I was shocked, but I also started really following the Rams and embracing them. I was convinced that training camp '99 was going to be a huge turn around...the signings of Timmerman and Green, the trade for Faulk, the drafting of Holt....it all looked great in camp. The Green injury (Trent was the QB at Indiana the same time I was a student there) was gut wrenching....then everyone knows what happened next.
I have remained a Bears fan at heart through it all. Even though they are almost certain to never win another Super Bowl in my lifetime. As long as the Rams franchise calls St. Louis home, I will remain a fan of the team. If/when the Rams leave St. Louis, I will shrug them off like a worn out coat and never look back. They will easily fit in that space that is currently occupied by the Cowboys - a team that I once gave a shit about, followed closely, even wept over their defeat; but due to the actions of its piece of shit greedy owner had to be kicked to the curb forever. There is no second chance in my eyes. An owner stabbing the fans in the heart is the equivalent of walking in to find your wife blowing some pool boy - there is no coming back from that, ever.
The first iteration was the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys from 1977 to 1989.
This was because I grew up outside of Chicago during a period of time when the Cowboys were national darlings and very successful and my father was as die-hard a Bears fan as you can imagine...he was a literal "Superfan", had the stocking cap, the 70's style jackets and sweaters (BEFORE Ditka's version and then later the replica of the one Ditka wore on the sidelines for SBXX).
My earliest memories of the NFL are "Payton left, Payton right, incomplete pass, punt".... which essentially was the weekly game plan. During those early years, I watched both games every Sunday...we would have breakfast at 9 AM, catch the coach's Chicago TV show at 10 AM, get dressed for church at 10:30 AM, attend Mass at 11 AM and get back in time for kick-off at 12PM. Then, usually after another Bears' loss, the late game was almost always the Dallas game. Add to the mix the fact that the Cowboys played in SB X, XII, XIII and then 3 straight NFC Title Games (losing all 3 - Philly, SF, Wash) and I was a Cowboys fan during the playoffs mainly because the Bears made the playoffs only once - as a Wild Card after a FG to win in week 14 against the Giants in a snow storm before promptly being curb stomped by Dallas in the playoffs.
I dropped the Cowboys the day Tom Landry was fired - partly because it was heresy to fire that man, but mainly because as a Hard-core Notre Dame fan I loathe Pig-faced Satan Jimmy Johnson. Once Jones bought the Cowboys and hired Johnson, I stopped being a Cowboys fan and have never gone back. Back in '81, when Montana threw that pass to Clark to beat Dallas in the NFC title game I sobbed uncontrollably for a while...but I never could root for them again since '89...
That left me as a stand-alone Bears fan from 1990 through 1993...before life and my career landed me in St. Louis out of college. I followed the expansion talk and while I hated the name "Stallions" (always thought it was a roller derby or porn film gang name personally). The lease issues with Clinton, the fact that Walter Payton was part of the efforts, the drama about the Patriots possibly moving here before it turned out to be the Rams...when the news first broke that they were coming to St. Louis I was actually disappointed. I thought the Los Angeles Rams should have stayed put and St. Louis should have looked for someone else to move here, but it was a done deal and they were here.
In '95, I did not really embrace the Rams. The 5-1 start did nothing for me, the trick plays from Brooks that seemed to go well at first but were also wildly lucky, the idiot Kinchen punching the goal posts in the first half of the first SF massacre of the Same Old Sorry Ass Rams....all of it left me mostly unimpressed. When Brooks was fired and Vermeil was hired I was shocked, but I also started really following the Rams and embracing them. I was convinced that training camp '99 was going to be a huge turn around...the signings of Timmerman and Green, the trade for Faulk, the drafting of Holt....it all looked great in camp. The Green injury (Trent was the QB at Indiana the same time I was a student there) was gut wrenching....then everyone knows what happened next.
I have remained a Bears fan at heart through it all. Even though they are almost certain to never win another Super Bowl in my lifetime. As long as the Rams franchise calls St. Louis home, I will remain a fan of the team. If/when the Rams leave St. Louis, I will shrug them off like a worn out coat and never look back. They will easily fit in that space that is currently occupied by the Cowboys - a team that I once gave a shit about, followed closely, even wept over their defeat; but due to the actions of its piece of shit greedy owner had to be kicked to the curb forever. There is no second chance in my eyes. An owner stabbing the fans in the heart is the equivalent of walking in to find your wife blowing some pool boy - there is no coming back from that, ever.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,940
I love telling this story, even if it is a bit unremarkable. The first football game I remember watching on TV was the Broncos-Falcons Super Bowl. I was eight years old, and this was must-see-TV. You see, every idiot at my school was a Broncos fan. All the kids I didn't like, the vice-principal, it was John Elway this, John Elway that, Broncos, Broncos Broncos. So, Go Falcons. Well, didn't go so well. I'm not a Falcons fan to this day because they lost that Super Bowl. Sweet.
And another great thing happened that day. I fell in love with the sport of football. The action, the hits, the passes, even the drama of Elway's last game. I started playing the video games and learned the rules. I played the sport with friends. But I was still boy without team.
Fast forward to the fall season the following year where I'm currently enrolled in the 4th grade at EG Ross Elementary whose mascot happens to be the RAMS. One day, I walk up to my father, who is kind of.. a cranky guy, and mention that we have an upcoming 'spirit day' at our school, and they'll be asking us to wear attire adorned in our school colors blue and yellow. My father didn't seem to acknowledge what I had said, and instead pointed out a small paragraph in the newspaper he was reading. It was an article noting the surprise Rams. I thought it was very cool the underdog Rams were so good. On top of that, they had the same name and team colors as my school! (To a nine year old, this is big.)
A week later, my grumpy old man had a gift for me. A blue and yellow Marshall Faulk 28 jersey. I'm a fan ever since. Rams win the Super Bowl that season. Two of those idiot Broncos fans ended up in the 5th grade class the next year... And they're still my friends to this day. But the stage was set for a Monday Night Football matchup... And I still love reminding them of what happened.
And another great thing happened that day. I fell in love with the sport of football. The action, the hits, the passes, even the drama of Elway's last game. I started playing the video games and learned the rules. I played the sport with friends. But I was still boy without team.
Fast forward to the fall season the following year where I'm currently enrolled in the 4th grade at EG Ross Elementary whose mascot happens to be the RAMS. One day, I walk up to my father, who is kind of.. a cranky guy, and mention that we have an upcoming 'spirit day' at our school, and they'll be asking us to wear attire adorned in our school colors blue and yellow. My father didn't seem to acknowledge what I had said, and instead pointed out a small paragraph in the newspaper he was reading. It was an article noting the surprise Rams. I thought it was very cool the underdog Rams were so good. On top of that, they had the same name and team colors as my school! (To a nine year old, this is big.)
A week later, my grumpy old man had a gift for me. A blue and yellow Marshall Faulk 28 jersey. I'm a fan ever since. Rams win the Super Bowl that season. Two of those idiot Broncos fans ended up in the 5th grade class the next year... And they're still my friends to this day. But the stage was set for a Monday Night Football matchup... And I still love reminding them of what happened.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2014
- Messages
- 4,014
OMG
that is amazing. Just 116 miles north of you (NJ) the Christmas of 1969 my younger brother (8) and I (9) got the Tudor Electronic Football game that came with the Giants and Jets. The game also came with a pamphlet that allowed you to send away for other teams. Looking through the pamphlet as soon as I laid eyes on the RAMS helmet I was (as the saying goes) hocked on the horns. My brother chose the Raiders and the rest is history. One of my biggest regrets was in 2002 when after the RAMS beat the Eagles in the NFC CC the ref’s made the infamous “tuck rule” call allowing the Patriots to beat the Raiders. It was heart breaking to think that it could have been and should have been the RAMS and Raiders in SB XXXVI. That would have been special.
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2010
- Messages
- 36,773
- Name
- Stu
I was born to a second generation Rams fan. I remember as a real small toddler watching football in my Grampa's living room on a black and white TV with rabbit ears but really didn't know what all the commotion was about. My Grandpa's wife would be walking around and every time she would pass by the TV, the screen would get all snowy, eliciting a few grumpy comments from my Grandpa.
When I was 5 my dad bought me a full blue and white Rams uniform with the cheesy lint pad shoulder pads and slip in knee and hip pads. I promptly went out and started banging the helmet on our stucko wall out front so it would look like those of Deacon, Lundy, and Grier. I was so geeked up by getting that uniform. It was the best present I had ever gotten before and even better than the 22 rifle my dad bought me a few years later. I was completely hooked on the Rams.
Later that year, my dad took me to a game. I don't even remember anything about the game. Just that I was at a RAMS GAME with my dad. It didn't get any better. Over the years, my dad and I went to other games. Every Christmas we would buy each other Rams gear of some sort - beach towels, helmets, signed footballs, etc... Being a Rams fan was more than just cheering for a team. It was me and my dad. Still is but now I can add my two sons.
Fast forward several years after the Rams moved from LA and I moved from CA and I had the opportunity to invite my dad up to go to a game up in Seattle. I had been going to the games since before the shitchickens had invaded our division. Anyway - this was the game in 2004 when we came back from 17 down with less than 6 minutes left. My dad thought I was going to get in a fight because two particular shecock fans were getting just plain stupid with us. They were shouting "bandwagoners" at us and making a big deal out of every two yard gain "their" team was making. I lifted my autographed Grant Wistrom jersey to show my all too small LA Rams T-shirt underneath and then pointed to my Superbowl Champion hat. We actually had a guy in an old Brian Bozworth jersey right in front of us stand up, put his finger in the chest of one of the frothing shecock fan's chest and say, "You spit on me again and you are going down!" He then turned to me and apologized for the idiot's behavior. So there are a few decent Seattle fans out there.
Once Manu caught that pass for a TD, there started to be a hush over the stadium and the two dorks started to hunker down. By the time the game was over and we had won, those guys slithered out of there without a word and you could hear a pin drop in Qworst field.
Now, my dad is going to meet us down at the airport in SF and fly into Saint Louis with me and my two boys to watch the season opener and pay tribute to our dear friend Rich and his family.
To me it's more than how I became a Rams fan but how it is so much a part of my history and family. I have met people - great people - from this site, fans at games, friends I never knew were Rams fans, child hood memories of my Grandpa, a life time of talk and game watching with my Dad, watching the Rams in the sunny confines of the Coliseum man handle OJ Simpson back in the day, even watching the Rams come out to play an alumni basketball game at my sister's high school and lining up to get autographs of Jack Snow, Rosey Grier, Roman Gabriel, and many others.
Been hooked on the Rams since I was 5 and can't see that ever ending.
When I was 5 my dad bought me a full blue and white Rams uniform with the cheesy lint pad shoulder pads and slip in knee and hip pads. I promptly went out and started banging the helmet on our stucko wall out front so it would look like those of Deacon, Lundy, and Grier. I was so geeked up by getting that uniform. It was the best present I had ever gotten before and even better than the 22 rifle my dad bought me a few years later. I was completely hooked on the Rams.
Later that year, my dad took me to a game. I don't even remember anything about the game. Just that I was at a RAMS GAME with my dad. It didn't get any better. Over the years, my dad and I went to other games. Every Christmas we would buy each other Rams gear of some sort - beach towels, helmets, signed footballs, etc... Being a Rams fan was more than just cheering for a team. It was me and my dad. Still is but now I can add my two sons.
Fast forward several years after the Rams moved from LA and I moved from CA and I had the opportunity to invite my dad up to go to a game up in Seattle. I had been going to the games since before the shitchickens had invaded our division. Anyway - this was the game in 2004 when we came back from 17 down with less than 6 minutes left. My dad thought I was going to get in a fight because two particular shecock fans were getting just plain stupid with us. They were shouting "bandwagoners" at us and making a big deal out of every two yard gain "their" team was making. I lifted my autographed Grant Wistrom jersey to show my all too small LA Rams T-shirt underneath and then pointed to my Superbowl Champion hat. We actually had a guy in an old Brian Bozworth jersey right in front of us stand up, put his finger in the chest of one of the frothing shecock fan's chest and say, "You spit on me again and you are going down!" He then turned to me and apologized for the idiot's behavior. So there are a few decent Seattle fans out there.
Once Manu caught that pass for a TD, there started to be a hush over the stadium and the two dorks started to hunker down. By the time the game was over and we had won, those guys slithered out of there without a word and you could hear a pin drop in Qworst field.
Now, my dad is going to meet us down at the airport in SF and fly into Saint Louis with me and my two boys to watch the season opener and pay tribute to our dear friend Rich and his family.
To me it's more than how I became a Rams fan but how it is so much a part of my history and family. I have met people - great people - from this site, fans at games, friends I never knew were Rams fans, child hood memories of my Grandpa, a life time of talk and game watching with my Dad, watching the Rams in the sunny confines of the Coliseum man handle OJ Simpson back in the day, even watching the Rams come out to play an alumni basketball game at my sister's high school and lining up to get autographs of Jack Snow, Rosey Grier, Roman Gabriel, and many others.
Been hooked on the Rams since I was 5 and can't see that ever ending.
- Joined
- May 1, 2015
- Messages
- 5,201
Back in my day with only two TV channels the Rams always seemed to be the late game in Pa. Plus Roman Gabriel was my favorite QB so 40 years later I'm still a huge fan .
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2013
- Messages
- 26,932
I've been posting on Rams websites for over 10 years. And I'd say at least 2-3 times a year a thread like this starts.
And you know what? I love the heck out of them. Will read and post in them every time.
Love the stories guys, keep em coming!!!!
And you know what? I love the heck out of them. Will read and post in them every time.
Love the stories guys, keep em coming!!!!
Zaphod
Hall of Fame
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2013
- Messages
- 2,217
Wow, I had completely forgotten about that game! I loved that game when I was a kid!
These days, I guess they just do it all on a game machine.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2012
- Messages
- 3,868
- Name
- Eddy
Shorts & tee shirts, maybe a sweater max!!!!! Maybe 1 pair of jeans to be safe. Trust me!
Mike
Rookie
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2014
- Messages
- 335
- Name
- Mike
I was 8 years old and went to knock on my friend Gerald's door. He and his father were watching the Rams on TV I was asked to come inside but to be quiet. The qb was Roman Gabriel I've been a Rams fan ever since. I will always be a Rams fan.
Shoman01
Rookie
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2014
- Messages
- 140
Shoman01
Rookie
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2014
- Messages
- 140
Shoman01
Rookie
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2014
- Messages
- 140
I was sitting on the floor watching a black and white tv. The Rams where playing the 49ers, my parents and brother where big 49er fans. I remember my dad looking down and asking me which team I liked. I said the Rams, because I liked their helmets. That was 1972.