Another NC resident here, I'm just a few minutes north of Charlotte NC. Grew up in upstate NY. It was those Glorious Horns that sucked me in as a very young kid around 1970 or so.
The following is from a post I made in 2019 that kinda explains things. I'm too lazy to re-think and re-type the whole story out again, so I copied and pasted.
Hello everyone!
Long time lurker around here, joined a while back, but generally read more than I write....that, or someone always says what I'm thinking before I get around to it.
Anyways, I've been a Rams fan for over 45 years....it was those horns on the helmet that drew me in as a young boy in '69 or '70. I lived in upstate NY with no NFL cities close by, so no major influences to get in the way.
Moved to NC in the early '80's. The Panthers came to town in '95.
We all know about the Rams in the '90's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Rams would have been the worst team of the '90's if it weren't for the Bengals or the Browns...?
Anyways, I considered switching teams back then. The Rams were horrible, and the Panthers, led by the legendary Bill Polian as GM, were the hot new thing. In '96, they made the playoffs.
But I couldn't quite do it then. But I was sorta on the fence, so to speak. If I was gonna leave, that was the time. It was the first time in my life I actually lived in an NFL home city.
But then there was a Rams game on TV, played in St. Louis, against the Panthers....I sat down to watch, actually not knowing who I was going to pull for.... Then the Rams Roman Phifer scooped up a fumble and headed for the endzone...50 yards or so, I think he ended up getting tackled at the 1 or so and fumbled himself.............
But the thing is, I was on my feet, screaming for him...GO! GO! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
I will NEVER forget that moment.
I think the Rams lost that game, but it didn't matter.
Because that was the moment that I KNEW, for an undeniable fact, that the Rams would ALWAYS be my team, no matter what. What city, or what circumstance, or whatever. It was set in stone.
And I'm still here.
GO RAMS!