Los Angeles exploded into citydom in the thirties, and became an industrial powerhouse in the forties, drawing people from all over the country — and drawing the Rams from Cleveland in 1946. With three full generations of fans and pre-merger glory years, the Rams became the darlings of the older generation. Then the Raiders came to town and crashed the party in the cocaine-fueled eighties, dividing hearts between the righteous and the wicked.
It’s been sixteen long years since football left the City of Angels, but those years haven’t dulled the love for the So Cal faithful… love that has been ill returned in the last six years. Neither the Rams nor Raiders have given their fans much in the way of bragging rights, but that doesn’t take the edge off the still ongoing battle for hearts in the city they left behind.
Seldom have the Rams and Raiders have actually met on the field, though — only eleven times total, and only three times since they migrated east and north. The Raiders have a 7-4 edge overall, but the Rams have won the last two rather convincingly: 28-13 in 2002, and 20-0 in 2006.
Before we go to the film and break down the matchups, I wanted to reach out to my Rams familia on the West Coast, who’ve been filling the RamsHerd Twitter feed with pre-game excitement for this matchup since before opening day’s kickoff.
I want to know, just what does this matchup mean to you?
Delilah_13 Celly will B blowinUp callsNtxts from alot of SPIT talkin raiders, but I LUV IT Becuz #RAMSDIEHARD so @RamsHerd I’ll eithr B collectin $ or…
Still a lot of Raiders & Rams fans in the area, right? City gonna be fired up?
TheRealOreo1 @RamsHerd o yeah! Ima make sure I watch it with raider fans so that when we win I can see their sad lil faces… lol
ciscokid626_69 Me too! RT @TheRealOreo1 @RamsHerd o yeah! Ima make sure I watch it with raider fans so dat when we win I can see their sad lil faces…lol
CLoS_11 @RamsHerd rams raiders in Cali is pretty big… There’s a bunch of raider fans here… Well atleast where u live, I live in LA county
CLoS_11 @RamsHerd my older bro is a raider fan but he hasn’t been a able to talk much since they’ve had losing seasons the past 7 years
Brother vs brother huh? So this is like a civil war 🙂
CLoS_11 @RamsHerd haha yeah man I love it when the raiders play them rams.. Everytime the Rams have won it.. Well as far as I remember
Delilah_13 @RamsHerd I wld hv 2 say mre Traiders, but u’d B Surpirsed how mny RAMs! I wear my hardhat an they ask U a rams fan Me:DieHard ppl:YA me too!
Delilah_13 @RamsHerd or @ the JOB They aldy kno me an ask ur the RAMSfan w/the BIG RAMS Logo on the back of ur SUV, must admit it luks Good #DAMNRITE!!
Haha, I like the “traitor” + “Raider” = “Traider” fan. Hadn’t heard that.
ramsfan76 @RamsHerd @delilah_13 @sergecervantes @dodgercaplow @therealoreo1 the game of the year!
DodgerCapLow @RamsHerd as a CA native this game is huge! CA is littered with Oak and SF fans. My GF is a Raider fan!! We Cali Ram Fans gotta Represent!!!
Wow, that puts some serious heat on a relationship…
Yeah, I can’t think of any better way to end this fun little post. Thanks all those who tweeted, and chime in more in the comments. Let’s go get us a win, Rams!
