Moving on

They loved L.A., but leaving was best for Rams

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Sure, the Rams know winning Super Bowls is what pro football is all about.

Then again, no matter how successful these L.A. transplants become, there are some things they'll just never experience in St. Louis.

"One game, I ran an out route, I got pushed out of bounds and I knocked Telly Savalas on his butt," former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Jack Snow said. "I got up. I said, 'Oh God, I just killed Kojak.'"

Only in L.A.

Now a radio broadcaster for the team, Snow played well before the Rams became Super Bowl regulars. He was there when owner Georgia Frontiere shared her team with Hollywood, and the Rams were a shimmering collection of big-name players who entertained the stars, and mingled with them, too.

St. Louis? L.A.? Maybe location isn't everything, after all.

As fate would have it, the Rams didn't become "The Greatest Show on Turf" until after they left the Left Coast and relocated to the Great Midwest in 1995. It turned out to be a great move, but when they made it, skeptics said it was like trading in a huge scoop of double fudge for a small spoonful of vanilla.

"I was pretty bitter at first, because I didn't think there was any need for it," said all-time leading Rams receiver Henry Ellard, now a receivers coach for St. Louis. "But then I came back, and I realized how caring the front office is about this organization. I don't think you could ask for a better situation than the way it is now."

The Rams are seeking their second Super Bowl title in their six seasons in the city with the arch. They made one Super Bowl appearance - a 31-19 loss to Pittsburgh -- between 1966-94 in Los Angeles. Before that, the L.A. Rams won one NFL title, in 1951.

Receiver Issac Bruce is the only player left on the Rams' roster who was with the team in Los Angeles. It's yet another sign of how much has changed since Frontiere packed up her team and headed East.

By then, the colorful owner had been burned by her decision to move the team from L.A. to Anaheim in 1980. Wins became scarce. The Raiders moved in across town. Crowds dwindled.

"It was about what you see in here right now," Bruce said, as he pointed to the near-empty stands at the Superdome on Super Bowl media day.

"L.A. is just on a different level," Bruce said. "It's come late, leave early. It's always been like that, for everything. It was a whole different experience. It's something I miss, but I'm glad to be in St. Louis now."

The vintage Rams played at the Coliseum from 1946-79.

The names and images are indelible: The Fearsome Foursome. Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch. Roman Gabriel. Jack Youngblood playing the Super Bowl on a broken leg. Those playoff mud bowls against the Vikings, almost all of them losses. A hobbling Joe Namath finishing out his career on the Rams sideline.

Defensive lineman Deacon Jones was an entertainer in the most-versatile sense. He sacked quarterbacks in the daytime, then took his act to the Coconut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel at night.

"Deacon would be up there singing on stage with Sammy Davis Jr., and we'd be sitting there watching him, eating dinner with our wives," Snow said. "Where else can you get that?"

There were parties at Rock Hudson's house, sideline kibitzes with Kirk Douglas and Jim Nabors. Sometimes, Hollywood wanted to actually be the Rams.

The classic movie Heaven Can Wait starred Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton, the dead quarterback who is brought back to life in another man's body to play for the Rams in the Super Bowl.

Snow played receiver Jack Cassidy in the Super Bowl scene at the end. It was filmed during halftime of a Rams exhibition game. A stand-in was supposed to play the scene for Beatty, but the lure of the crowd, of playing quarterback for the Rams -- even in make-believe -- was too much to resist.

"The understudy was complaining, saying it was his scene," Snow said. "Beatty pulled him off and said, 'To hell with that. I'm the producer.' He just wanted to be in that scene."

He wasn't alone.

Well before the Lakers took over the mantle of the coolest team in La-La land, the Rams were the center of the city's three-ring circus.

But times change.

Now, even those one-of-a-kind jerseys and helmets have been toned down a bit -- from bright blue and yellow to a more muted metallic navy and gold.

The shine has been replaced by a cool, efficient look -- more St. Louis practicality than L.A. glitz.

The strangest twist of all is that it took a move to make the Rams great, and now they have a high-flying offense that seems better suited to the fast lanes of Southern California than the slow crawl of the Muddy Mississippi.

"It was tough on me when it happened," Ellard said, recalling the move. "But sometimes change is good. It's not the same anymore, but things worked out for the best for the Rams."

 

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