It’s been 37 years, but finally the Los Angeles Rams will be back in the Coliseum for a home game Sunday for the first time since 1979.
They may get clobbered by Pete Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks, but they’ll be doing it at home before an expected crowd of 80,000 happy to see the Rams and happy, too, for entertainment by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The hapless Rams lost to San Francisco in last week’s season opener in the Bay Area 28-0.
The first regular-season NFL game in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1994 will be played Sunday with the Los Angeles Rams conducting what they’ve dubbed their Homecoming Game, wearing throwback jerseys for the game against the Seattle Seahawks and honoring their members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“This is special because this is the first one that counts at the Coliseum,” said Rams coach Jeff Fisher, whose team will attempt to bounce back from a 28-0 season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday. “We couldn’t think of a better opponent to open against.”
The Rams will wear the royal blue and gold jerseys they began wearing in 1973, then switched to a different shade of blue in 2000 when they were based in St. Louis.
This is one of two times the Rams will wear throwback jerseys at the Coliseum this season. The other has not been disclosed. They will wear white for their other five regular-season games at the Coliseum.
The Rams will begin a new tradition of having former players help light the torch in the Coliseum’s Peristyle end. Pro Football Hall of Fame members Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Tom Mack, Orlando Pace, Jackie Slater and Jack Youngblood will help light the torch following the coin toss before the game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Family members of the late Hall of Famers George Allen, Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen will be in attendance.
Pace will receive his Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence at halftime from Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker.
The funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers will perform before the game. Fans should be in their seats by 12:30 p.m. to see the performance.
Grammy winner CeeLo Green will sing the national anthem.
The game will also be a homecoming for Seattle coach Pete Carroll, USC’s coach from 2001-2009, who guided the Trojans to the Bowl Championship Series national championship for the 2004 season and The Associated Press’ version of the national championship for 2003.
“I’ve looked forward to it ever since the switch took place,” Carroll said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “It’ll be fun to be back.”
Carroll said he was looking forward to “being able to reconnect” with some of the people he met as part of his involvement with the anti-gang organization he founded, A Better LA.
Carroll was an opposing coach at the Coliseum in 1979 as an Ohio State assistant coach for a game against UCLA and as the New York Jets defensive coordinator in 1993 for a game against the Los Angeles Raiders he recalled as “one of the scariest football days we ever had.”
“Nobody wanted to get off the bus at the time because of all the guys on the motorcycles and stuff waiting outside our bus,” Carroll said. “Nobody wanted to go in the stadium.”
Seattle’s roster includes former UCLA defensive end Cassius Marsh, former USC linebacker Mike Morgan and three players who played for high schools in Los Angeles County — receiver Paul Richardson (Serra), defensive back DeShawn Shead (Highland) and cornerback Richard Sherman (Dominguez).
The last regular-season NFL game at the Coliseum was on Dec. 24, 1994, when the Los Angeles Raiders lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 19-9, before a crowd announced at 67,642. The Raiders returned to Oakland in 1995 after playing in Los Angeles for 13 seasons.
Today’s game will be the first time the Rams will be the home team at the Coliseum for a regular-season game since Dec. 16, 1979, when they lost to the New Orleans Saints, 29-14, before a crowd announced at 53,879.
The Rams played their home games at what is now Angel Stadium from 1980- 94 before moving to St. Louis.
A crowd of more than 80,000 is expected, a team official said. A limited number of tickets remained available as of Saturday afternoon, the official said.
The crowd is expected to include several Olympic athletes, including four-time gold-medal winning sprinter Michael Johnson and four-time gold-medal winning diver Greg Louganis, who are part of the effort to have Los Angeles selected to host the 2024 Olympics.
Mayor Eric Garcetti is also expected to be part of the crowd.
“I can’t wait to be at the Coliseum on Sunday,” Garcetti told City News Service on Friday.
“I grew up cheering for the Rams. The team is such a big part of L.A.’s sports heritage, and their return means that a new generation of fans finally have a home team and can experience the excitement of having an NFL franchise in town. There’s nothing quite like it.”
Garcetti said “one of my most vivid childhood memories” was attending the Rams’ lone Super Bowl appearance during their initial time in Southern California, Super Bowl XIV, at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 20, 1980, when he was 8 years old.
— City News Service