The Los Angeles Times columnist calls St. Louis a “dump” and defends Rams’ attendance problems
ST. LOUIS (KTVI) — The Los Angeles Rams host the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday’s NFC championship game with a Super Bowl berth at stake. But some of the biggest questions facing the game aren’t related to what might happen on the pitch at SoFi Stadium, but rather who will be in the crowd to watch the game.
In the final week of the regular season, the 49ers upset the Rams and secured a playoff berth on the same field in what felt like a significant viewership advantage over the home Rams. It was enough that Kelly Stafford, wife of Los Angeles QB Matt Stafford, begged Rams fans not to sell their tickets to Arizona Cardinals fans for the wild card round.
The “Don’t Sell Your Tickets” discussion continued this week.
Los Angeles Times columnist Dylan Hernandez wrote Tuesday that the Rams have done their part since moving to the West Coast, citing the new coaching staff, the trades made and the completed stadium, but that it will take longer will, until the Rams continue to grow fans in the area.
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“Get used to it. Children born when Los Angeles did not yet have a football team were of legal drinking age, and the city did not yet have a football team.
This is not damage that can be repaired in six years.”
But then Hernandez shot cheap at St. Louis.
“Something like that is going to develop every now and then until there’s a generation of Angelenos that sees the Rams as just a Los Angeles team and just a Los Angeles team, and not as an escapee from a Midwestern city’s dump.”
The words struck a chord here in St. Louis, where the team had a home, won a Super Bowl, and had community support.
He calls St. Louis “a dumping ground of a Midwestern city.” St. Louis never had to beg fans to buy tickets. We always showed up. Go 49ers. Destroy these arrogant idiots,” Deborah Johnson tweeted.
101 ESPN radio host Randy Karraker also took offense at the suggestion.
Post Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goodold offered this defense of the city on Twitter.
Here’s an open invitation to dinner at the South Grand, my treat, after a snack at Steve’s Hot Dogs. We can play ball in lively Tower Grove, buy a rare book or visit the famous GinWorld. Your description of this city doesn’t match my home. let me prove it
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