By Adam
Russell
Sunday, June 27th, 2004
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Nothing gets a sports fan's heart pumping and adrenaline flowing like rivalry games,
whether it be high school, college, or professional. And no rivalry is greater than that
which pits two teams from the same geographical area. Think of the great rivalries in
college sports: USC/UCLA, Alabama/Auburn, Duke/North Carolina, etc. But there
aren't very many pro rivalries that can claim to be a true geographic rivalry.
The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry is interstate, the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry is in two
separate regions, and the Lakers/Celtics rivalry is on opposite coasts. Most major
professional leagues have avoided placing two teams from the same state, or even the
same city, in the same conference, or league. For instance, the Reds and Indians play in
different leagues, and the Giants and Jets are in different conferences.
Possibly the best geographic rivalry exists in major league baseball with the Dodgers and
Giants, not only now with both teams being in California, but dating back to when they
were both in New York. However, arguably the greatest pro football rivalry existed when
those two baseball towns, Los Angeles and San Francisco, both had teams.
When the Rams folded up their tent and headed east to St. Louis 10 years ago, not only
did they leave the biggest city on the West Coast without a pro football team, they also
took with them the best intrastate rivalry in the NFL.
As a Rams fan growing up in the early 1970s, there was no bigger dream than to play
for the Los Angeles Rams in the Coliseum against the 49ers. Sure, the most hated teams
were the Cowboys and Vikings, but the Rams and 49ers squared off twice a year and the
games were usually good ones.
The Rams and 49ers began their rivalry in 1950 after San Francisco was transferred from
the defunct All-American Football Conference to the NFL and the rivalry itself started a
little slow. It wasn't until the 1951 season that the largest attendance for either team was
against the other. The 49ers set a Kezar Stadium attendance record when 49,538 fans
showed up to watch the home team pummel the eventual NFL champions, 44-17.
The next year, Rams fans would not be outdone by their neighbors to the north, counting a
record crowd of 77,698 at the Coliseum witness the Rams get their revenge, 35-9.
In fact, in the 45 years that the two played each other in California, attendance was the
highest for any regular season game on 30 occasions, including the biggest crowd ever to
watch an NFL game. Before the 1957 season, the Rams had pulled in more than 90,000
fans to the L.A. Coliseum three times, including a second-best 93,621 in the home-opener
against San Francisco in 1954; the game ended in a 24-all tie. But on Nov. 10, 1957, the
old record attendance of 93,751 was obliterated.
For whatever reason, fans flocked to the Coliseum to see the Rams take on the 49ers. San
Francisco sat atop the Western Conference with a 5-1 record while Los Angeles was 3-3
and in a three-way tie for second with Detroit and Baltimore. The 'Niners had squeaked
by the Rams 23-20 just four weeks earlier and rattled of four more closes wins after that.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, was coming off a disappointing loss to the Chicago Bears and
had lost three of their previous four games.
Although it seemed the two teams were heading in the opposite direction, still 102,368
fans packed the Coliseum to see the Rams pull off the upset, 37-24. While Los Angeles
would not make the playoffs that year, San Francisco would go on to lose the next game
to Detroit and eventually face the Lions for the Western Conference championship, a
game they would lose as well on Detroit's amazing comeback from 20 points down in the
third quarter.
There were many other pivotal and nailbiter games between the West Coast rivals. In
1967, San Francisco beat the Rams in Los Angeles, 27-24, to hand them their only loss of
the season. Back in 1953, the 49ers swept the Rams, which contributed to them not
winning the Western Conference championship; without those two losses, L.A. would
have been 10-1-1. The next year, the Rams would earn a late season 42-34 victory over a
4-1-1 49ers team that would also miss the conference title.
There was a stretch in the 1970s where the Rams dominated the 49ers, no matter how
good San Francisco was. The 'Niners won the NFC West title in both 1971 and 1972, but
the Rams would sweep them both years, costing San Francisco homefield advantage in
'72. Between 1970 and 1975, Los Angeles would beat the 49ers ten consecutive times. In
1976, the 49ers would get a measure of revenge for '72 when they beat the Rams 16-0 in
Los Angeles to give them one of three losses that would force the NFC West champs to
play in the wildcard round.
In the strike-shortened 1982 season, a possible playoff spot for San Francisco hung in the
balance when they hosted the Rams, who had won only one game all year. But Los
Angeles would dash the 49ers' playoff hopes with a 21-20 victory at Candlestick Park.
During the 1980s, the balance of power in the NFC West would shift north with San
Francisco winning the majority of division titles and Los Angeles having to settle for
wildcard berths, but the two would still have some legendary games.
For instance, in 1985, the 5-0 Rams would host the 3-4 'Niners in a game that would
propel San Francisco into the playoffs. They beat the home team 28-14 and when the
two met six weeks later, the 49ers trailed the Rams by just one game. With another
victory, San Francisco would be in the driver's seat for the division title and hold the
head-to-head tie breaker over Los Angeles.
With the season's largest crowd in Candlestick Park looking on, the Rams would hold on
for a 27-20 decision, helping them to the division crown and making the 49ers settle for a
wildcard spot.
The next year, the division would come down to the wire again as San Francisco's 24-14
win in mid-December would give them the NFC West title by a half-game margin over the
Rams. And, in 1990, the Rams weren't very good while the 49ers were, but their last-ever
victory over San Francisco while in Los Angeles (a 28-17 score at Candlestick Park)
tagged the 'Niners with one of only two losses that season.
In the '90s, the Rams struggled, attendance fell and fans wouldn't support a new stadium in
Anaheim, so they up and moved after the 1994 season. The rivalry continues, but not to
the magnitude it did when the Rams were in L.A. And, with the citizens of Los Angeles
seeming to not care one way or the other if their town has pro football, maybe the only
way to resurrect the intensity of the Rams/49ers rivalry is for the 'Niners to move to
Springfield. Any takers?
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