Heartbreak at the Coliseum: That Was Not The Best Rams Game To Witness In Person

After a dominant Los Angeles Rams season — and talk of the Super Bowl — we finally got to enjoy our first game at the Coliseum this season on Sunday night. Oops. In front of a packed house, the Rams fell way behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the third quarter — only to rally back in the fourth. A few costly mistakes, and what could have been a great comeback failed to materialize.

The crowd was pumped for the Sunday Night Football game (alas, the second in a row lost by the Rams) — and although the Eagles fans were out in full force, the Rams were well represented inside the packed Coliseum. What a difference a winning team and a championship contender brings — the L.A. fans are back. The "WHOSE HOUSE? RAMS HOUSE!" chant is real.

Unfortunately, as much as I love the history of the Coliseum, the stadium, built in 1923, is ill-equipped to handle modern crowds. USC, which operates the stadium, is currently renovating the Coliseum, but that has made it tough to get inside and get around. The Coliseum once sat more than 100,000 people — but the crowd has now been capped at 70,000. That helps — but it's still a lengthy process to just get inside. And especially tough when you have kids in the crowd of people pushing to get in. (And then there was that woman who decided to light up a joint in front of our kids before quickly moving away when she saw us. Good times.)

Despite the unfortunate loss, it was still a great experience, especially for the Franklin Avenue blogger kids. They particularly got a kick out of the passionate fans, including while waiting to get in — as Eagles fans would chant, followed by Rams fans' response. 

Meanwhile, the LA Stadium at Hollywood Park is well underway, and projected to open in 2020. A few more pics from the Coliseum on Sunday night:

View from the Sky: The Future Rams/Chargers Stadium

As seen while recently flying into LAX, the site of the future NFL stadium in Inglewood. Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park is expected to open in August 2019.

More, per Wikipedia: "The stadium and surrounding development around the site includes a new entertainment complex with 8.5 million square feet (790,000 m2) of office tower space, including a 6,000-seat music and theatre venue, ballrooms, indoor and outdoor room, a multiplex movie theater, a lake, luxury hotels, high-scale dining and an NFL Flagship Campus,including the new NFL Network studio and headquarters for the league's digital properties. In addition to Rams and Chargers games, the stadium will host Super Bowl LV in 2021."

Super Bowl Sunday: A Reminder

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! A sad reminder, above, from Target: The first year return of NFL pro football to Los Angeles didn't turn out, well, all that great. Better luck next year?

Watch: As the Rams Return to LA, Rowdy Fan Drops the 'F' Bomb Live on Local TV Post-Game Show

Is this why we can't have nice things, like an NFL team? Thankfully, the guy in question is a Cowboys fan... and the big return of NFL football to Los Angeles was a tremendous success on Saturday night. A win for the L.A. Rams, and 89,000 fans in a jam-packed Memorial Coliseum -- it was nice to see football in Los Angeles for the first time since 1994. (A first for me here, and I've been living in Los Angeles for 20 years!)

Live TV being live TV... we learned on Saturday that KABC/7 wasn't on a delay when a rowdy Cowboys fan grabbed a reporter's mic and shouted, "F--K THE RAMS!" (Only... he wasn't censored.) Watch above.

MIKE ON KCRW: Bantering About Fall TV, FX and NFL on "The Business"

On this week's episode of KCRW's The Business, host Kim Masters and I tackle in the showbiz banter:

- Fall TV is in full swing this week. Networks are hoping advertisers will pay attention to not just how many people tune in live, but also to viewers catching up a few days later on their DVRs.

- FX CEO John Landgraf says they’re probably doing away with the 10-90 plan.

- Rihanna’s version of “Run This Town” will no longer be a part of CBS’s Thursday Night Football.

Listen below!

THE SPIN-OFF: Listen to the February Edition of KCRW's Monthly TV Podcast

For the February edition of KCRW's The Spin-Off, the monthly podcast all about the TV business, Joe Adalian, AJ Marechal and I tackle three hot topics:

Big Changes in Late Night: As Jay Leno leaves The Tonight Show the whole chess board in late night is shifting. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers will take on new shows, but these days with competition from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report -- not to mention, competition from your DVR -- do the broadcast late night shows matter as much as they once did?

The Olympics and NFL: Once again the Super Bowl did huge ratings numbers. Not surprising as the NFL seems to be the only sure thing on TV these days. Now CBS has lined up a deal to share the broadcast of the NFL Thursday night games with CBS, hoping to get a piece of the live sports pie. This month we'll see if the big dollars NBC spent to get the Olympics will prove worth it.

Bubble Shows: Traditionally, this is the time of years when shows with middling ratings will be considered teetering on the bubble between cancellation and renewal. But these days the definition of the bubble show has changed. It's the era when ratings are influenced by DVR delayed viewing and networks are willing to hold onto shows that may get few viewers but hit a key demo.

We also go around the room to discuss one more hot topic that's on the top of our minds this month. Listen below!

Retro Friday: The Birth of Monday Night Football

It was 1970... the NFL and the AFL had just merged... and ABC introduced the revolutionary "Monday Night Football" franchise. (ESPN has aired it since 2005.) Check out this groovy, oh-so-70s promo to help promote it.

SoCal Connected Explores L.A.'s 15-Year NFL Drought

L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez talks to the players behind L.A.'s latest bid for an NFL team -- and asks whether it's worth it -- in this week's edition of KCET's SoCal Connected. The episode airs on Friday at 8:30 p.m.

Mayor Villaraigosa's NFL in LA Pitch

"Are you ready for some FOOTBALL, Los Angeles?"

"Huh? Oh, I guess."

"ALL RIGHT! LET'S BRING FOOTBALL TO L.A.!"

"Uh, sure."

Above, Mayor Villaraigosa's video pitch to the NFL.

(via LA Observed)

Wednesday Poll: Will the NFL Ever Return to L.A.?

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, we ask: Are you optimistic that an NFL team might finally be coming back to Los Angeles? Or do you even care at this point?

15 Years Later, The NFL Still Teases L.A.

The L.A. Times notes that talk continues to heat up over making L.A. the host city for Super Bowl L in 2016 -- 50 years after Los Angeles hosted the first Super Bowl -- even though the city still doesn't have a pro football team. What's more, talk of a team moving into L.A. continues to center on the San Diego Chargers, which recently hired Wasserman Media Group to market the franchise in L.A. and Orange County.

Writes the paper:

Possible motivations aside, this much is clear: The Chargers, who have been working on a San Diego stadium solution for seven years and so far have been unsuccessful, are better positioned to move than any other NFL team.

Beginning on Super Bowl Sunday -- of all days -- the Chargers will have a three-month window in which to relocate. And, under the team's current lease terms with the city of San Diego, that window will reopen every year from this point forward. The city cannot sue the Chargers or the NFL to block a move, provided it is paid a $56-million lease-termination fee that will decrease over time.

"We're definitely a lot closer to the end of this process than the beginning," said Fabiani, adding that the club has spent $10 million to fully explore stadium options around San Diego County, most recently two sites in Chula Vista. "This is not a process that can go on forever."

At stake for the Chargers is the head start they have over other NFL franchises that also are likely to be mulling relocation. The Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Vikings, for instance, are bound to their cities through the 2011 season.

The issue in L.A. has always been, where would a relocated team play?

The latest option is Ed Roski's proposed stadium in Industry, which should have all of its approvals in place by this spring and then will receive the go-ahead from the NFL to formally approach potential tenants.

Fifteen years after the Raiders and the Rams both left the market, Angelenos have heard this sort of talk too many times now to pay much attention just yet.Sup