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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/04/29/nfl-draft-laremy-tunsil-twitter-instagram-ole-miss
The Rams, Rediscovered
LOS ANGELES — This meant something different for everybody, but it was unquestionably big. The Rams kicked off their public bid for the hearts and wallets of Los Angelenos with a free event where fans could learn which quarterback the team would take in its first draft since moving back to SoCal this offseason.
About 3,600 people gathered in the shadow of the Staples Center to hear the name everyone already knew was coming: Jared Goff, the Bay Area blond who led Cal from 1-11 as a freshman to eight wins and a bowl appearance as a junior. Current Rams players who never paid much attention to the draft in prior years showed up to participate in on-stage interviews with emcees Andrew Siciliano and Kara Henderson Snead, the wife of Rams general manager Les Snead.
Photo: Robert Klemko/The MMQB
New Rams fans and old—and maybe even a few former players—turned up for the outdoor viewing party at L.A. Live.
Cornerback Coty Sensabaugh reflected, between efforts to clear his sinuses, on the history being made.
“I’m sorry, my allergies are acting up a little bit out here,” he said. “I didn’t even watch the draft last year, not since I was drafted, but I wanted to see the fans for the first time. It’s all exciting—they’re going to do a 30 for 30 on us one day.”
And did he prefer Jared Goff or Carson Wentz?
“I don’t really know much about them,” Sensabaugh said. “I know one of them is from Cal and one of them is from … North Dakota State?”
The identity of the quarterback didn’t matter so much today. But it will in a few months, when the Rams meet for training camp and the vital question of when Goff will be named the starter comes closer to resolution. For some of the elders in attendance, Thursday was more about loyalty. Rams fans wearing sweaters and jerseys purchased in the early 1990s stood alongside legends such as Jackie Slater, Eric Dickerson and … Marshall Faulk?
“I’m here because I played for the Rams, and they happened to be in St. Louis,” said Faulk, who never played in L.A. Faulk watched the draft party from the patio section at Wolfgang Puck’s. “When I was in St. Louis, guys like Dickerson, Slater—greats who played in L.A. and not St. Louis—were there to support us. That’s what you do. You come and support the organization regardless of where they are.”
Photo: Robert Klemko/The MMQB
License to party: Fans celebrate the first L.A. Rams draft in more than two decades.
The man hoisting two weathered vanity license plates reading MYRAMS and RAMSBBY would agree. Joey Martinez, 48, is a second-generation Rams fan who attended games in Anaheim and at the Coliseum, and kept watching from afar when they departed for St. Louis, never thinking they might actually return.
“Never could turn away from them,” said Martinez, who wore a number 22 jersey with a custom-embroidered Truuu on the back for the Rams’ Trumaine Johnson. “There were some friends who gave up on them, and I was upset, but I couldn’t turn away. There’s nothing better than having them back.”
A quarter-mile away, at the Courtyard Marriott on the other side of West Olympic Boulevard, Les Snead and coach Jeff Fisher emerged from their makeshift war room to talk about their No. 1 pick. Snead grinning, Fisher looking dour behind a greying mustache, both said the things you might expect two men who are getting a second chance at developing a No. 1 overall pick to say. They inherited Sam Bradford in 2012, and now they get to start fresh with their guy.
Fisher, characteristically, downplayed any suggestion of grandiosity: “I don’t know if it’s historic or monumental, but it’s a big deal for our franchise.”
Snead, playing to the home crowd, busted out a prepared line to kick off the very carefully planned rebirth of a franchise.
“We’ll do what’s right to develop him, so he’s ready when he goes on the field on Sunday,” the GM said. “I don’t know how you go about giving the guys the stars on that sidewalk, but I have a feeling that they did something to earn it—and I think in sports, you earn that star, that billboard, whatever it is in our league, on Sundays, on Monday nights, Thursday nights. Our goal is to get him ready to be successful on those days.” —Robert Klemko
The Rams, Rediscovered
LOS ANGELES — This meant something different for everybody, but it was unquestionably big. The Rams kicked off their public bid for the hearts and wallets of Los Angelenos with a free event where fans could learn which quarterback the team would take in its first draft since moving back to SoCal this offseason.
About 3,600 people gathered in the shadow of the Staples Center to hear the name everyone already knew was coming: Jared Goff, the Bay Area blond who led Cal from 1-11 as a freshman to eight wins and a bowl appearance as a junior. Current Rams players who never paid much attention to the draft in prior years showed up to participate in on-stage interviews with emcees Andrew Siciliano and Kara Henderson Snead, the wife of Rams general manager Les Snead.
Photo: Robert Klemko/The MMQB
New Rams fans and old—and maybe even a few former players—turned up for the outdoor viewing party at L.A. Live.
Cornerback Coty Sensabaugh reflected, between efforts to clear his sinuses, on the history being made.
“I’m sorry, my allergies are acting up a little bit out here,” he said. “I didn’t even watch the draft last year, not since I was drafted, but I wanted to see the fans for the first time. It’s all exciting—they’re going to do a 30 for 30 on us one day.”
And did he prefer Jared Goff or Carson Wentz?
“I don’t really know much about them,” Sensabaugh said. “I know one of them is from Cal and one of them is from … North Dakota State?”
The identity of the quarterback didn’t matter so much today. But it will in a few months, when the Rams meet for training camp and the vital question of when Goff will be named the starter comes closer to resolution. For some of the elders in attendance, Thursday was more about loyalty. Rams fans wearing sweaters and jerseys purchased in the early 1990s stood alongside legends such as Jackie Slater, Eric Dickerson and … Marshall Faulk?
“I’m here because I played for the Rams, and they happened to be in St. Louis,” said Faulk, who never played in L.A. Faulk watched the draft party from the patio section at Wolfgang Puck’s. “When I was in St. Louis, guys like Dickerson, Slater—greats who played in L.A. and not St. Louis—were there to support us. That’s what you do. You come and support the organization regardless of where they are.”
Photo: Robert Klemko/The MMQB
License to party: Fans celebrate the first L.A. Rams draft in more than two decades.
The man hoisting two weathered vanity license plates reading MYRAMS and RAMSBBY would agree. Joey Martinez, 48, is a second-generation Rams fan who attended games in Anaheim and at the Coliseum, and kept watching from afar when they departed for St. Louis, never thinking they might actually return.
“Never could turn away from them,” said Martinez, who wore a number 22 jersey with a custom-embroidered Truuu on the back for the Rams’ Trumaine Johnson. “There were some friends who gave up on them, and I was upset, but I couldn’t turn away. There’s nothing better than having them back.”
A quarter-mile away, at the Courtyard Marriott on the other side of West Olympic Boulevard, Les Snead and coach Jeff Fisher emerged from their makeshift war room to talk about their No. 1 pick. Snead grinning, Fisher looking dour behind a greying mustache, both said the things you might expect two men who are getting a second chance at developing a No. 1 overall pick to say. They inherited Sam Bradford in 2012, and now they get to start fresh with their guy.
Fisher, characteristically, downplayed any suggestion of grandiosity: “I don’t know if it’s historic or monumental, but it’s a big deal for our franchise.”
Snead, playing to the home crowd, busted out a prepared line to kick off the very carefully planned rebirth of a franchise.
“We’ll do what’s right to develop him, so he’s ready when he goes on the field on Sunday,” the GM said. “I don’t know how you go about giving the guys the stars on that sidewalk, but I have a feeling that they did something to earn it—and I think in sports, you earn that star, that billboard, whatever it is in our league, on Sundays, on Monday nights, Thursday nights. Our goal is to get him ready to be successful on those days.” —Robert Klemko
