Monday, January 31, 2022

On to the Super Bowl

Just like the week before, the NFL championship games yesterday were epic.  And both of the teams I was rooting for won.  Thrilled for the Bengals because their radio announcer, Dan Hoard was my broadcast partner in Syracuse.  We’ve stayed close friends and now he gets to call a Super Bowl.  Oh, and the team is exciting with a star young quarterback in Joe Burrow.  For them to win it all would be a terrific Cinderella story.  Two years ago they were the worst team in the NFL. 

As for the Rams, as a kid growing up in LA they were always my team.  I suffered through some bad years and finally they got good with the Fearsome Foursome and Roman Gabriel leading the offense.  But every year for the playoffs they would go to Minnesota or Green Bay or Washington where it was frigid and get blown out.  One year they hosted a playoff game but it was during a monsoon and they lost to Minnesota anyway.  By the fourth quarter you couldn’t see any of the yard lines.  I still don’t know how Vin Scully called that game for CBS (but it was sure entertaining to watch).  

My point is: Rams fans were used to losing.  At the end of the day it would be the Packers, or Colts, or Giants who always seemed to ride to victory.  The Rams were in one Super Bowl and got blown out by the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Then they left for St. Louis and even though they won a Super Bowl there, they were no longer my Rams.  Now they’re back in Los Angeles and after losing another Super Bowl to New England (same old LA Rams) they’re returning to the big stage once again.

I also have a personal attachment to the Rams.  In 1969 and 1970 I was a sports intern at KMPC radio, which was the station that carried the Rams.  I got selected to work the Rams home games.  I would sit in the radio booth behind the great team of Dick Enberg and Dave Niehaus and provide scores and stats.   Dick would tell me which player he wanted for the postgame interview and in the 4th quarter I would go down to the field and stand alongside the Rams bench.  How cool is that? There were times I was hoping they'd let me play but they never did.

When the game was over I would flag the player coming off the field and escort him to our broadcast set up in the locker room.  There was a microphone and headphones.  I would call up that I had Roman Gabriel or Merlin Olson or whoever, they would put on the headphones and Dick would interview them from the booth.  Usually they held the mic.  I remember once with Merlin Olson that I held the mic and he put his hand around mine.  His hand was like a catcher’s mitt for a knuckleball pitcher.  It swallowed my hand.  

So I’m excited for Super Bowl XXLIVVXXIILXVI, or whatever it is.  My two favorite teams and my favorite announcers — Al Michaels (calling his final game for NBC) and Dan Hoard (on WLW and the Bengals radio network).  It’s also nice to be hosting the game.  That said, you couldn’t get me into that stadium for the Super Bowl if you paid me $5,000.  60,000 screaming maniacs, very few wearing masks).  It’s Super Bowl Spreader.  Yes, I say I’m a Rams fan… but not enough to get COVID .  I’ve suffered enough for them. 

35 comments :

MikeKPa. said...

I loved watching the Rams-Vikings playoff games, both had similar helmets, with Roman Gabriel and Joe Kapp going head to head in snow-covered Municipal Stadium.
I wonder who the LA Tourism Board was rooting for? The Rams winning knocked out thousands of hotel room and restaurant reservations.

J.W. Booth said...

I see Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Dan Marnio,Kurt Warner, Romo, Trakenton etc. all over the place but Rams quaterbacks seem to disappear after they retire. Where are Gabriel, Vince Farigamo, Chris Everett, Mark Bulger, Pat Haden, James Harris? Nobody ever talks about these guys.

PB said...

Great line. His hand was like a catcher’s mitt for a knuckleball pitcher.

PB said...

His hand was like a catcher’s mitt for a knuckleball pitcher. Great, great line.

. said...

Sofi Stadium’s screaming cheer-rally man with the microphone, the Rams unfortunate PA announcer setup, is my second reason to skip attending the game…right up there with avoiding Covid aerosol. Both exposures are contraindicated.

I don’t know which of the two are worse for one’s health. I had to mute the TV sound for most of yesterday’s 4th quarter. Is that constant tortured-prisoner-like shrieking at high volume really what NFL/NBA fans want? Not me, even with quality ear plugs. I’ve tried.

Mike Barer said...

LA, at one time was going to get the Raiders again. Wouldn't that be funny if they got both back after both skipped town in the 90s?
Teams returning to the town that they had left never happened in sports until the Raiders went back to Oakland. We see how that worked out.

Mike Barer said...

After saying that, I am glad the Rams are back in LA and hope they stay for more reasons than the fact that they play in a billion-dollar stadium that they share with the Chargers, who also left LA (in the AFL days) then returned.

tavm said...

So Joe Burrow-who previously led an undefeated LSU Tigers season and won the Heisman Trophy and National Championship against Clemson that same season-now has a chance to also win the Super Bowl. Geaux Joe!

Gary said...

For years the NFL owners were desperate to get a team back into Los Angeles, because of the size of the market. Now their dream has come true with TWO teams in the city, plus the Super Bowl and one of the home teams playing. It all worked out so well.

I'm not suggesting any conspiracy theories, but it is amazing how billionaires always seem to get whatever they want.

Matthew said...

That explains the comment on Married With Children - "Son, this game is important. The Bears are playing the Rams and if you lose to the Rams you get thrown outta the league"

Jeff Boice said...

Yeah, the Rams. In the old B&W TV set days, the NFL afternoon game on the West Coast featured either the Rams from the Coliseum or the 49ers from Kezar Stadium, where the players had to share the field with hundreds of seagulls. Most of us kids were Ram fans, a few liked the Niners, and a couple of juvenile delinquents followed the Oakland Raiders.

Yes, usually the Rams would win the West, go into the playoffs and disappoint. By 1979 I had given up on the Rams so of course they made it to the Super Bowl. I don't remember that game as a blowout- I recall the Rams were actually leading early in the 4th quarter but then the Steelers scored 2 TD's to put the game away.

Cool that you're close friends with the Bengals play-by-play announcer. Ask him what they did to the KC offense at halftime.







tb said...

Was reading about how they're charging, like, 300 bucks just to PARK at So Fi for the super bowl. That's robbery

Michael said...

One time, there was a story about Vin and George Allen doing a game--a day in the booth, as it were. And when the Rams fumbled at a key moment, Vin shut off his microphone and said, "The Rams are ready for the playoffs."

My dad had season tickets in the late 1950s before I came along, so he got to see a LOT of lousy football.

As for your pleasure of working with Dick and Dave--and what a marvelous radio football announcer Enberg was--was Steve Bailey around, too?

As for the hand story, when T.J. Simers interviewed Sandy Koufax and Joe Torre at a fund-raiser, he had Clayton Kershaw come out of the audience and hold his hand up against Koufax's. Sandy's enveloped his, and I think Clayton is taller and heavier.

James Prichard said...

Glad to hear that you were rooting for my Bengals. It's been a rough 30-some years, let me say. They lost two Super Bowls to the 49ers in the 1980s, so it would have been nice for this team to face them this time around instead of the Rams (1. revenge 2. the Rams are tougher), but we'll take it. Also, I love that you're a fan of Al Michaels. I grew up in southwestern Ohio and was a devoted Reds fan growing up. I listened to all of their games on WLW and worshipped Al Michaels when he was the team's play-by-play announcer in the early 1970s. It broke my heart when he left in 1974 to do play-by-play in ... San Francisco, for the Giants. So, yeah, I kind of hate the CIty by the Bay.

Jeff Weimer said...

Wait, you were Dave Niehaus' intern and later called games with him? Did he remember you when you sat alongside him?

Mike Chimeri said...

I love every name you dropped in this post. I'm going to miss Al as a viewer and I know my acquaintance Fred Gaudelli will miss him more as his producer and friend.

Of the three Super Bowls the Bengals have appeared in, two were/are carried by NBC and both with one of the announcers retiring. Merlin retired after calling XXIII with Dick. It's also the second Super Bowl for the Rams called by Al.

You said "at the end of the day," but at least it was in context. ;) (I added the wink so you know I'm not offended or mad.)

Cap'n Bob said...

Aound the Pacific Northwest we call that team the Pittsburg Stealers.

Ficta said...

Friday Question (prompted by the passing of Howard Hesseman): What movie or TV show got DJ-ing the most "right"? I always assumed WKRP was largely fantasy. The wonderfully quirky Christmas movie "Comfort and Joy" (1984) seemed realistic to me, but what do I know.

David G. said...

I thought that, starting with the 50th Superbowl, they would've permanentlly gotten rid of that goofy Roman numeral thing. The "V", "X", and "I" sort of looked a little cool, but things have gotten really convoluted and difficult to figure out once that weak-looking letter "L" came into the mix. Go with regular English language numbers ... or just start using the year of the event instead of those time-has-come-and-gone Roman numerals.

YEKIMI said...

Meanwhile Brown's fans in Cleveland & NE Ohio are facing south and giving Cincy both middle fingers. The Browns are like a Ford Pinto, eventually you know they're gonna explode and burn.

Darwin's Ghost said...

Sad news about Howard Hesseman, aka DJ Dr Johnny Fever.

BGVA said...

@Ficta From what I've read, WKRP was actually one of the most realistic. If I'm not mistaken Howard Hesseman actually worked as a DJ, but I do know that several characters and episodes were based on real-life incidents from Hugh Wilson's radio days.

Anonymous said...

I've been to three Rams games this year and have come out Covid-free. My mask only comes off for a sip of soda or to shovel a tater tot in my gullet, then right back on. The suffering comes with trying to get out of the stadium after the game.

Mike Bloodworth said...

When I was in college my broadcasting professor would always say, "This isn't WKRP." At least from a technical standpoint.

M.B.

Mike Bloodworth said...

I am a lifetime RAMS fan. Except for their digression to St. Louis. But then Georgia Frontiere died and all was forgiven.

I have a friend who grew up in L.A., but he had to move to Cincinnati to care for his ailing parents. He was happy that the BENGALS won. Yet I can't help but think that he's secretly rooting for the RAMS in the Superbowl.

GO RAMS!

M.B.

P.S. Off Topic: I know you don't want alternative captions to your cartoons. so I won't give it. But I have the perfect one. Even you would agree.

Charles H Bryan said...

As a Lions fan, who thought that Stafford got maligned here, I'm rooting for the Rams.

sanford said...

Michaels was on Back on the Record with Bob Costas. It is not clear at this point that Michaels is done on NBC. As for the games Sunday. Give credit to the Bengals, but what terrible play calling by KC. I don't know if 19 seconds was enough time with no time outs to try a running play, but they should have taken the field goal. Could the Bengals have come back from a 24-10 deficit? Always possible considering how terrible Maholmes was in the 2nd half. I am not feeling well and fell asleep during the last couple of minutes of the Rams-Niners. But I did hear what happened after I woke up. A poor two minute drill by the 49ers. Rams caught a break when the 49ers defender dropped an easy interception. After that Stafford hits for along pass to Beckham plus 15 yards for a helmet to helmet hit. Not getting the interception was probably the play of the game. If the Niners get a TD that is probably the game.

Andrew said...

Off the subject, but...
Bring back Ken Jennings.

JoeyH said...

I'm hoping any team owned by Stan Kroenke loses.

Brian Phillips said...

Charles Bryan: As a fellow who traveled to Detroit a lot for work years ago, I am glad that Matthew Stafford is in the Super Bowl, too. I had to stop listening to local sports radio because it became the "How much I hate the Lions" hour. I'm happy that he is able to play for a better team and his worth has even wider exposure than it did before.

As for the Super Bowl itself, get a load of these prices! Five thousand to eighty-three thousand dollars. I'd love to meet the person that pays this and then says, "$15 for pepperoni pizza??"

https://www.vividseats.com/super-bowl-tickets-sofi-stadium-2-13-2022/production/3565411

Jack said...

A great reminiscence, as always. I try not to be envious, as always. I don't quite succeed, as always.

But... off topic for a possible Friday Question, one perhaps better addressed to your wife or daughter. Your birthday is coming up. You share your birthday with Jack Benny, of course, and also with my older daughter.

Every year my wife will spend hours prowling through card racks looking for Valentines Day birthday cards. Increasingly, the search is fruitless. They now have Valentines Day cars that your dog can give you, but no birthday cards. Do your wife and daughter try and find Valentines Day birthday cards for you? If so, where do they find them?

Kevin B said...

Sorry, my post came as "anonymous." I know you don't like that. Not sure what happened there.

Roger Owen Green said...

Go, Bengals. (Can't root for the team with the home-field advantage for the Super Bowl. Didn't root for the team the previous time it happened which was... last year.)

And speaking of Tom Brady, if the Boston Globe reporting is a gauge, New England is ticked with his kiss-off.

"In his statements on social media, which included nine pages/posts on Instagram and Twitter, Brady never once thanked the Patriots.

"Not a single mention of Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, the Patriots, or their fans. It was like the first 20 years of his career never existed.

"It came across as shockingly petty. And bitter. Or, at best, hopelessly naïve. It was not what most of us expected from Brady on his retirement day."

DyHrdMET said...

You mention Vin Scully calling that playoff game in the rain. He's a pro's pro. There's a story about his first assignment for Red Barber in the late 40s calling a football game at frigid Fenway on the roof of the press box moving around to see the action and Red never knowing the conditions he was in. He could have called the "Fog Bowl" and never let you know he couldn't see the game.
You can watch this one against the Vikings for yourself on YouTube, because I'm sure that's entertaining when you remove the rooting interest.
https://youtu.be/FTm-Viq96vk

DyHrdMET said...

You mention interning games called by Dick Enberg and Dave Niehaus. If I remember, you and Dick had stints with the Padres calling games, and I know you and Dave worked together with the Mariners. When you joined the M's (or maybe seeing him in MLB before that), did Dave Niehaus (or even Dick Enberg) remember you from those football days?