In the NFL before Cable

[Loyal]

I say cable, because before that most tv markets just had a handful of channels..The Big towns had the three networks, PBS,UHF, and VHF channels..In the big towns, there were two newspapers.

I lwas born and lived in LA for quite a few years, but then I lived in Houston, and then Sacramento...NOTHING about the Rams, unless they played the Oilers or the 49ers, which was once or twice a year. The papers had box scores, and thats it...No smartphones..Don't remember ESPN back then...and of course, no internet. The only thing I had was instantly out of date, often obsolete when printed, Football Magazines....I was thinking of this when some said that they were set, having NFL Sunday Ticket, and living far away from St Louis.

It was a lot harder being an out of area fan back in those days...and then when I did watch football (Sacramento)..I see things like when I was shopping at the Tower of Records in Sacramento, watching a TV tuned to Joe Montana's pass to Dwight Clark vs the Cowboys...What a bad day that was..lol

 

[SierraRam]

"I was thinking of this when some said that they were set, having NFL Sunday Ticket, and living far away from St Louis."

Yes sir - It sure is easier now being an out of town fan. At least the Rams we're in the playoffs almost every year in the 70's. Plus, they got a lot of Game of the Week broadcasts because of their appeal. "Tower Records" Ha!! Pickin' up some cassettes? I was with a long suffering Niner fan when watching "The Catch." At the time, I much preferred watching the Cowboys get beat...

 

[Gandalf]

The good old days when you only got 2 games a week until Monday Night Football game around. Living in Colorado, I got to see 1 or 2 Rams games a year. I would be stuck watching the bronco games and looking for the little ticker on the bottom of the screen. On Monday you got a box score and a very small write up of the game. I remember watching the draft in the start up years of ESPN. It lasted 1 day and started at like 8 am on a Tuesday morning.

 

[PowayRamFan]

The good old days when you only got 2 games a week until Monday Night Football game around. Living in Colorado, I got to see 1 or 2 Rams games a year. I would be stuck watching the bronco games and looking for the little ticker on the bottom of the screen. On Monday you got a box score and a very small write up of the game. I remember watching the draft in the start up years of ESPN. It lasted 1 day and started at like 8 am on a Tuesday morning.

No Sunday night or Thursdays back in the day, but at least you could count on two early and two late games to be televised every week. Doesn't happen much anymore. When I was a kid, the Rams were always televised here in San Diego on Sundays. This past year, not once....

 

[CGI_Ram]

Back in the early 90's, I used to get up every morning and drive to get a newspaper (didn't have home delivery on my street)... just to stay up on my sports teams.

Crazy. Doesn't seem that long ago.

I've had NFL Sunday ticket every year since it started.

 

[den-the-coach]

Well, The Sporting News to me was like a Bible because they always had something about the Rams albeit if it was just a snippet during the off season. Living in upstate New York getting any information on the Rams, Dodgers, Lakers & Kings was not easy, but that is why I spent many days in the library to read out of town newspapers.

To this day I have an affection for public libraries although I do still love the bookstores as well. Funny how you had to go the extra mile for information in some ways I miss it and in other ways I don't.

 

[SanAnRam]

USA Today and Sporting News were the mainstays.
Grew up in NC and folks back around '82' bought a home with one of those NASA size satellites. I'd search off 7-8 different feeds for two hours and would be able to find the Rams playing about half the time.
Later in life Hooters was a good fallback on Sundays afternoons.
Found Sunday Ticket in '99' and haven't missed too many since.

 

[Tailback]

Growing up, my best friend would call me once his dad was done reading The Sporting News. We'd talk for awhile about the Rams and Seahawks. When I got out of the Army and moved to Portland, I'd hit the sportsbar for a breakfast buffet and the Rams game on the big dish. I kinda miss the breakfasts at the sportsbar. It's amazing how far we've come information wise.

 

[SierraRam]

Well, The Sporting News to me was like a Bible because they always had something about the Rams albeit if it was just a snippet during the off season. Living in upstate New York getting any information on the Rams, Dodgers, Lakers & Kings was not easy, but that is why I spent many days in the library to read out of town newspapers.

To this day I have an affection for public libraries although I do still love the bookstores as well. Funny how you had to go the extra mile for information in some ways I miss it and in other ways I don't.

Couldn't have said it better, Den. If you read (and I'm sure you did) TSN cover to cover, you were as informed as any sports fan could be at the time. I wish they would have stuck with the newspaper format over the magazine style they use now...

 

[Memphis Ram]

Couldn't have said it better, Den. If you read (and I'm sure you did) TSN cover to cover, you were as informed as any sports fan could be at the time. I wish they would have stuck with the newspaper format over the magazine style they use now...

Yep. Anyone who read the pre-draft TSN piece on Ryan Leaf would have called him a bust in the making.

 

[DaveFan'51]

No Sunday night or Thursdays back in the day, but at least you could count on two early and two late games to be televised every week. Doesn't happen much anymore. When I was a kid, the Rams were always televised here in San Diego on Sundays. This past year, not once....

I have two brother-in-laws in Poway, I never under understood how they became Charger Fans after they moved their from L.A., now I think I understand! No Rams games to watch!!:eek:

 

[Loyal]

Well, The Sporting News to me was like a Bible because they always had something about the Rams albeit if it was just a snippet during the off season. Living in upstate New York getting any information on the Rams, Dodgers, Lakers & Kings was not easy, but that is why I spent many days in the library to read out of town newspapers.

To this day I have an affection for public libraries although I do still love the bookstores as well. Funny how you had to go the extra mile for information in some ways I miss it and in other ways I don't.

Yes...I have always had a special place in my heart for library's..I can still get lost in a Book Store for hours...However, I never read out of town newspapers at a library until I went back to university a few years back...I did enjoy reading the NY Times, USA Today, and then local newspapers around the state. Even so, jumping on the internet and coming to places like ROD, with posted content from RamsBill and others...and CoachO reports from training camp, gives much more information than I ever could glean before.

 

[den-the-coach]

Yes...I have always had a special place in my heart for library's..I can still get lost in a Book Store for hours...However, I never read out of town newspapers at a library until I went back to university a few years back...I did enjoy reading the NY Times, USA Today, and then local newspapers around the state. Even so, jumping on the internet and coming to places like ROD, with posted content from RamsBill and others...and CoachO reports from training camp, gives much more information than I ever could glean before.

Yes sir those reports from training camp are like gold to your and me. And I have so much respect for Coach O and others who post about TC because here in Albany, NY I went to many Giant training camps (hey wife is a huge Giant fan and we've been married for over 20 years) and I guess it would be different watching my own team, but sometimes there isn't really much to report about in some of the practices.

 

[Dodgersrf]

I dint have time to read back then.
I was busy being my Dad's remote control.

 

[Loyal]

I dint have time to read back then.
I was busy being my Dad's remote control.

ha!

 

[snackdaddy]

I grew up in 49er/Raider territory. All their games were televised. But Bakersfield was a couple hours to the south and they were in Rams territory. When the Rams played I used to adjust that 20 foot tall antennae and I could pick up the Rams games on the Bakersfield channels. It was a little snowy on that 19" black and white TV we had, but I could watch the games live. Me and my best friend growing up were the only Rams fans in that little town we grew up in. We had a blast watching the games every Sunday.

Edit: Before the 1:00 games we always rounded up some friends and played tackle football in the fig orchard by my house. If they were playing in the east we would play after the game. Ah, those were the days. Didn't have money, couldn't afford much, but we had a lot of good times back then. I used to practice my FG's kicking the ball through a fig tree I broke some branches off to make a goal post. And I got that ball from the school. I would throw it on the roof during recess and go back on Saturday, climb the roof and retrieve the ball. Couldn't afford one of my own.

 

[Selassie I]

Hahaha

I remember the days of buying multiple papers on Mondays just to find a few different takes on the Rams game. I seem to remember that the USA Today Sunday NFL report didn't come out until Tuesday... I'd buy that one too.

Listened to Fuck Nut Berman late Sunday night hoping for a Ram game report.

Monday Night Football was a MUST SEE just because the halftime report would show clips of all the Sunday games.


Me like things now (in my caveman voice of course)

 

[Memphis Ram]