Box Office Review: American Teens Are Morons
They Might Be Giants @ Royce Hall 11/14/09
Gossip, Men @ the Henry Fonda Theater 10/26/09
Silversun Pickups @ Gibson Amphitheatre 11/03/09
Will This Go to Trial and Move to L.A., too? BART Cop Smashes Drunk Guy's Head through Window
Oakland Raiders quarterback Jamarcus Russell being sacked during the Raider's 44-7 loss against the New York Giants. AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
The NFL and Los Angeles has been a topic ever since the Rams and Raiders up and left town in 1995. Plans to turn the Coliseum and Rose Bowl into NFL stadiums came and fell through. Building a new Downtown LA stadium was laughable. A stadium by Dodger Stadium was counted out. A site on top of a landfill in Carson had the most legs, but in the end proved to be too costly to be practical.
It hasn’t been until Ed Roski’s plan for the Los Angeles Stadium out in the City of Industry that the NFL making a return to LA has been the most tangible. And that’s the worst thing to happen to NFL fans in LA.
NFL fans without access to NFL Sunday Ticket are able to watch the marquee matchups week in and week out without fear of the dreaded blackout. When the Raiders and Rams were in town, if the game wasn’t blacked out then we were forced to watch it since we were the local market. That meant the sexy games were blocked out in favor of those putrid Raiders-Seahawks games.
But perhaps the worst thing about having an NFL team in town is that there will be an NFL team in town.
Let’s take the gossip that came out today from Chris Myers of Fox Sports Radio saying that the Oakland Raiders are the front runners of coming to LA.
If this were to somehow come to fruition LA would be getting the biggest joke of the NFL. Now that the Detroit Lions have transcended the ignominy of being the winless team, the Raiders are now the lowest of the low.
They have an owner in Al Davis who drafts receivers in the first round who is most known for dropping passes (Darius Hayward-Bay).
Their head coach Tom Cable is under investigation by the Napa County district attorney for allegedly blindsiding one of his assistant coaches, throwing him off a chair causing his head to bounce off a table and break his jaw.
Since losing the Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2002 season, the Raiders have gone 25-76.
And this is the front running team coming to Los Angeles.
But fret not, there are other teams in the mix.
There are the St. Louis Rams that can’t seem to get out of their own way. The Jacksonville Jaguars who just got blasted by the Seattle Seahawks 41-0. And the San Diego Chargers who seem to be waning as an elite team back into the mediocrity pool.
Yes Los Angeles this is the pool of teams that are likely to make their home here.
And I say keep them out of LA. NFL teams are like children. They’re so much better when they’re not your own.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Good points Jimmy. Especially about blackedout games.
My biggest problem with the Raiders or Al Davis coming back, is big Al's propensity for irrational behavior. Does this mean we would have an NFL football team until big Al throws another temper tantrum because we didn't install solid gold shitters in his team's bathrooms?
Al had his shot, but apparently his ego is more important than the city that bears his football team's name.
And I'm speaking as a former L.A. Raiders fan.
One of my favorite things about watching football at a bar in LA is that, for the most part, it's a mock UN of the NFL; being a city of transplants you get five or so representatives of every team. It's a lot of fun.
Amen, brother. Especially when the stadium is going to be put in industry. So we'll get blackouts and an hour and a half drive to go to the game. A monday night football matchup could mean a 2 and a half hour drive from the westside.
A remodeled Coliseum or a new stadium next to Dodger stadium make way more sense than industry. If they go forward with the industry stadium, our only hope as football fans in LA will be to:
1: persuade the league that Industry isn't really LA so they can't black out the games (which doesn't solve the "local game only" tv problem).
2: Go full hog and get a second team in the Chavez ravine, coliseum, hollywood park or even squeezed in downtown somewhere.
Yeah. The Coliseum and Dodger Stadium plans will never happen. The only option is the Industry plan. And with that, the NFL will never think LA is not a part of the local market so all of this badness will happen.
I remember back in the early 90s when Kevin & Bean called the NFL headquarters to try and get whatever shitty Raiders game to be bumped from the big National game (I don't remember the specifics). Couldn't be done.
So there you have it.
hahaha!
Bull crap, Jimmy. I want to see my NFL live. We have the second biggest city in the USA and no football team? It's disgraceful.
Molly, we've lived through it for the last 15 years. The ratings for the NFL here in LA haven't tapered off. And if we really want to see live NFL we can make that short drive/train ride to San Diego. We've survived.
Plus, do you think you'll start rooting for the LA Raiders/Chargers/Jaguars/Vikings? I know as a Bears fan for the last 15 years I won't.
We've "survived" yes. But enjoyed it? I think not. I want to see professional football live. College football isn't freaking good enough.
LA doesn't need the NFL. I don't at least.
You think the traffic on the 10, 60, 605, and 210 is bad now? Wait till they build the stadium there in Industry. It's going to be a nightmare! Bad idea for a stadium there. PS no Raiders.
Not wanting an NFL team at all because of blackout games is like men and women not wanting to have sex at all because one of them will have a period every month: totally ridiculous.
Not wanting two teams (Rams/Raiders) that practically begged to leave: totally with you. But give me some Vikings or Chargers (or expansion) and I'm in. But get it out of Industry!
PS- You also forgot to mention the Titans are in the runners up category and they are 0-5 as well.
I don't want to have sex with women.
I meant if that were the only reason an individual had, it would be ridiculous. There are plenty of valid reasons a person would not want to.
But are you really telling us you'd rather root for the Chicago Bears instead of something like the Los Angeles Vikings? I mean another team I could understand, but the bears?
You can pry the Titans from our cold, dead, winless hands. Take the Jaguars, at least they don't give a crap about their team.
- love, a Titans fan
LA needs a NFL team.
WHY?
Because I don't want to go out of town to watch the Super Bowl.
I don't want to pay for a plane ticket, hotels and all of the other traveling charges.
Only way to bring the Super Bowl back to LA is to have a NFL team here.
Do I care which one... NO.
I grew up in NY and the GIANTS will always be my team.
GO BIG BLUE & F U.
UGH....
For those of us who are excited at the prospect of the NFL returning to LA, there's nothing more annoying than buzz kills like this.
I can't believe the argument against having an NFL team here is being able to watch various games on TV. Forget that noise, I want a team! You say we "survived", well, we have, but I'm pretty sure you'll survive too if you're only goal is to watch the "marquee games" on tv. Get the ticket, or hit up the bar.
Like others, I'm not thrilled about a stadium out in Industry, but whatever. Beggars can't be choosers. As far as a team, I don't want the Chargers, and sure as hell don't want the Jaguars. Forget the haters, I want the Raiders back! No fair weather fan here. That team has so many fans in the area around industry(LA, San Berdoo, even SD), fans with a lot of heart. If not them, I wouldn't mind the Vikings.