The Rams beat the Seahawks 9-3 yesterday in their first regular-season game in L.A. in more than 20 years, and for the more than 90,000 fans who turned out, it "looked and felt marvelous," according to Rich Hammond of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Local sports stars "ringed the sideline" at the L.A. Coliseum, and Anthony Kiedis, lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "yelled out player introductions." Rams HOFers "ceremoniously 'lit' the iconic Olympic torch." Even fireworks "went off" before the game (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 9/19). In N.Y., Mike Tierney notes demand for seats for yesterday’s game was "so intense that an additional 11,000 less-than-desirable ones were sold on top of the Coliseum’s usual cap of 80,000." But by game’s end, the "throng had thinned as Hollywood types headed to the Emmy Awards and others carried out a tradition that remained intact throughout the Rams’ absence: beating traffic" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/19).
LONG-AWAITED RETURN: In L.A., Bill Plaschke writes, "This is what happens when you wait two decades for the return of your football team. You don’t leave early. You stay to the sweltering end. You raise your sweaty souls above creaky Coliseum seats in the final moments of their homecoming game and you roar with hope and rage and history." Pro Football HOFer Jack Youngblood said, "It was a rush. Just a rush." Plaschke: "It was cheesy Hollywood, but it was also history." No one "knew exactly how Sunday would work, what with the team coming off a bad loss and nobody quite sure how to act at a Coliseum football game that wasn’t USC." But the stadium "rocked pretty good" (L.A. TIMES, 9/19). USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell notes the "roaring crowd, more than 91,000 strong at the old haunt that is the L.A. Coliseum, loved it." Bell: "For it not to turn out with a movie-script ending would have been so un-Hollywood-like" (USA TODAY, 9/19). CBSSPORTS.com's Bill Reiter wrote the whole scene "felt star-studded -- fixed under the unique and bright lights of both the" NFL and, "after two decades, those of L.A. and all that entails." There are "signs of problems and questions that will very much matter if this L.A. love affair is to continue," but "those things are for another day" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/18). The AP's Beth Harris noted the Rams were a "certifiable hit in their return to" L.A. (AP, 9/18).
STARS COME OUT: In California, Jack Wang notes the "stars came out to welcome the Rams back." The Red Hot Chili Peppers "wore Rams jerseys and performed two songs: 'Can’t Stop' and 'Dark Necessities.'" “The Late Late Show” host James Corden also "danced in the end zone with the Rams’ cheerleaders." Other "big names in the audience" included Cavaliers F LeBron James, Basketball HOFer Magic Johnson, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and actress Elizabeth Banks. Shortly after the game, the Emmys "began less than four miles away at L.A. Live" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 9/19). In L.A., Gary Klein writes, "Hollywood-style entertainment abounded Sunday at the Coliseum" (L.A. TIMES, 9/19). In DC, Candace Buckner writes the NFL has "once again become the show" in L.A. Buckner: "Historic, maybe. Grand, definitely. And victorious, certainly" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/19).
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN? In San Diego, Bryce Miller notes yesterday was a "glimpse of what might have been ... and what still could be" for the Chargers. Had the NFL "shuffled the relocation deck differently, half the helmets Sunday ... would be streaked with lightning bolts, not horns." Miller: "There’s no way, though, it would have felt anything close to this." The Rams "inhaled the nostalgia from the parking lot to the playing surface." It "felt like a regular-season NFL game in the way that St. Peter’s Basilica feels like a church." That "constitutes the Chargers’ challenge if they ever decide to share an Inglewood future with these Rams, clawing for entertainment dollars in a jam-packed market without a drip of hometown history" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/19).
