National Football League

How the Rams found their place in the L.A. sports scene

Updated Jan. 17, 2023 2:05 p.m. ET

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By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

It’s not often that LeBron James wants to party but doesn’t make it onto the guest list, which is perhaps the ultimate proof that these are unusual times when it comes to the Los Angeles sports scene.

The Los Angeles Rams got to have a parade to celebrate their Super Bowl triumph on Wednesday, something James’ Lakers and Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t able to enjoy when they clinched titles in 2020.

'LeBron is better than this' — Skip Bayless on LBJ's suggestion of a Rams, Lakers and Dodgers joint parade I UNDISPUTED

The Los Angeles Rams had their Super Bowl LVI victory parade Wednesday, but if Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has his way, the Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers should be part of it as well. Skip Bayless discusses if the joint parade is a good idea.

And even with James and Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner publicly calling — only half-jokingly — for a three-pronged celebration to laud all the city’s recent sporting triumphs, the event that spanned from the Shrine Auditorium near the 110 Freeway and stretched to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum was all about the Rams and only about the Rams.

Matthew Stafford smoked a cigar and enjoyed some adult beverages along with his teammates while getting a Twitter warning from veteran Super Bowl celebrator Tom Brady to mix in a water with the booze consumption. There wasn’t a mass collection of humanity in attendance, but it was still the most fun the Rams have had since coming back to L.A., and they deserved it.

Teams that won championships in the early part of the pandemic got somewhat shortchanged. The Lakers did their thing in an Orlando bubble, with no crowd and a slightly eerie air about it all, overshadowing what was a spectacular display of postseason dominance by James and Anthony Davis.

The Dodgers won the World Series on a quiet field in Texas at the end of a revamped season and expanded postseason. No parades for either of them, for obvious reasons.

The first line of this column was offered in jest; James is close friends with several members of the Rams squad and can hang with them anytime he likes. He danced in celebration when Odell Beckham Jr. scored the first touchdown of the Super Bowl and greeted Aaron Donald with a warm hug as the defensive superstar watched the Lakers’ victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

But there's a reason the Rams weren’t inclined to share their moment in the sun with their L.A. neighbors. It has been difficult sledding for the team since its move from St. Louis and return to California. Getting to this point, with fans in the streets on a midweek lunchtime, was no small feat.

"It is very unfortunate that LeBron and the Dodgers were not able to have the fans celebrate this moment along with them," FS1’s Shannon Sharpe said on "Undisputed." "I get it. But it is too late. It is 16 months removed from when they won their championships. This is the Rams' moment. They deserve to have a moment."

The takeaway from the Rams’ season and the Super Bowl victory was that it had been built upon star power. That narrative wasn’t wrong, as Stafford, Beckham, Jalen Ramsey and Von Miller were brought in at great expense. And Donald and Cooper Kupp are among the very best players in the league, regardless of position.

However, it hasn’t all been glittering times hanging out in the dazzling surroundings of SoFi Stadium. It was six years ago now that the franchise left St. Louis, and for the Rams, getting their new (old) home to pay attention has not been easy. Whatever happened last week, the city’s love for the Lakers and Dodgers is far more ingrained. Things are shifting now, but not at a rapid pace.

"Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers were part of the Rams’ torturous six-year climb to the top," Bill Plaschke wrote in the L.A. Times. "Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers ever had to endure the national criticism like the Rams when they couldn’t fill the Coliseum. Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers had to work so hard to develop a fan base that initially was numb to the returning Rams."

Los Angeles is a tough city to crack, and the reality is that across its history, L.A. has very rarely been a football-first town. The Dodgers are big spenders and serial winners. Generations have grown up with the Lakers' success, and the glitz and glamour of how they do business fits nicely with the Hollywood vibe. The Clippers have done a better job in recent times, gaining more traction when they went star-heavy as well, following Blake Griffin and Chris Paul with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

The Rams are trying, seriously trying, but what they are attempting to accomplish is a really big ask. Even with the superb run through the season, home fans were outmatched in the Week 17 defeat to the 49ers, in the NFC Championship game against the same opponent and by Cincinnati Bengals supporters on Sunday.

The best way to keep making an impact is to keep winning — and keep swinging. Stafford is 34 but isn’t going anywhere for a while, Kupp is 28 and possibly still improving, Donald indicated that he’s likely to return after rumors of retirement, and Sean McVay is the youngest Super Bowl-winning coach in history. There’s room to grow, even after this.

There is always a battle for attention in L.A., not just among sports teams but also against the entertainment industry and the sunny skies and all the other things competing for the public’s notice.

Right now, though, the Rams have gotten their city to sit up and applaud. All it took was winning the biggest game in sports.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

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National Football League

Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles Dodgers

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Major League Baseball

Los Angeles Dodgers

Matthew Stafford

LeBron James

Anthony Davis

Los Angeles Dodgers

Aaron Donald

Los Angeles Dodgers

Jalen Ramsey

Cooper Kupp

Von Miller

National Basketball Association

Martin Rogers

Skip Bayless

Shannon Sharpe

Skip and Shannon: Undisputed