Rams and Chargers fans still debating over the ‘alphas’ of L.A.
Shades of tangled blue flooded the Hall of the Sofi stadium. The blue powder jerseys passed in front of the royal blue horns in hamburger lines. Bet painted faces have mixed fans in Rams Rams Gold.
“What house? Blayd the stadium advertiser.
“Rams House!” A large part of the crowd responded.
Although in pockets of powdered blue, the answer came with an upride of shoulders, or with nothing at all.
This question – whose team really has the professional football market in Los Angeles – persists almost a decade after the Rams and the chargeers settled in the city’s football landscape.
The Rams, which won a Super Bowl title in 2022, sport a varnish that no argument on the bases of fans can rub. Meanwhile, the growing base of the charges insists that it is as much their city.
During the Rams 23-22 victory on Saturday, the score felt secondary to fans who exercise the territory.
Jerry Quinones, 59, holds a four -year season subscription. First retirement worker, a home game rarely misses. But even from his usual seat in section 330, he recognized the nuance between the teams.
“The Rams have obtained more a family base,” said Quinons. “I wish the charges [would] Have it, but they don’t do it. They have cheerlers, we don’t do it.
Three levels below, on the patio in the field behind the goal area, the Rams Gill Marquez fan, 25, proudly pulled to his Cooper Kupp jersey and repeated: “We direct the”
“It means a lot to be a fan of rams,” said Marquez. “I feel it at the bottom of my soul. We brought a championship to Los Angeles and it made a big point that we are the real team here. ”
The Rams fan, Gill Marquez, on the left, and the fan of the loaders Eric Robles show their support for their respective teams during a pre-season match at the Sofi stadium on Saturday.
(Ira Gorawara / Los Angeles Times)
Not all Rams fans have put it so heavy. Bob Gerard said that he had moved to Los Angeles de Chicago and had a team of Rams on his return in 2016. The 58 -year -old man, who put on a Puka Nacua jersey, joked that he was well letting the charge crash to Sofi – as long as the arrangement was not wrong.
“It’s actually the house of the rams,” said Gerard, “we just have a kind of Airbnb [the Chargers] Both weekends. »»
Chase Hay, equipped with a Hawaiian shirt with a flagship palm of ram logos, cuts a more loose figure while chatting with chargers and rams fans at the bar of the field. For Hay, 36, Rams are a family tradition more than rivalry – a team with which he stuck because of his grandfather, and he believes that this can share the city without losing its roots.
“As NFC and AFC, there is a lot of room to coexist with both of us – until we played,” said Hay, a marketing professional. “But I don’t see the charge as a threat.”
Eric Robles, 22, said his response to “What house?” comes from two hours to the south. The native of San Diego, wearing a jersey by Justin Herbert, stood while Rams fans made jokes around him, his allegiance for life rooted in the past of the loaders – and Herbert, who, according to him, is the future of the team.
Herbert, the star quarter of the loaders, is a resounding reason for fans of charge to trust the trajectory of their club.
Ed Kim had a blue powdered flag rolled around his shoulders, the lightning of the chargers extending on his back.
“We are the biggest organization in Los Angeles at the moment,” he said. “The Rams are the mowers of Los Angeles – they are the second violin for us. Because we have the largest quarter of Justin Herbert. So, basically, we are the Alphas.”
If Kim brought the condemnation, Angel Herrera brought theater: he was dressed in a Luchador blue and shiny gold mask, a cape of fluid chargers and a thick chain of metal pearls in the colors of the chargers. A heavy WWE championship belt was suspended on his n ° 97 jersey.
At halftime, he had posed nearly 30 photos with fans of young charges.
The fan of the charges Angel Herrera says that the is a city of Rams, but hopes that Justin Herbert can lead the loaders to greatness.
(Ira Gorawara / Los Angeles Times)
“Honest truth, the is more a city of Rams – only because they have recently won,” said Herrera. “It will be a long route before more fans of loaders arrive, but it will happen. We had Herbert, so it will not be so long.”
While fans spread out of the stadium, the debate continued. Some could indicate the banners of the Super Bowl and shout: “Rams House!” Others could shake their heads, trusting the roots of San Diego and the promise of Herbert.
For the moment, it is a divided house, but one with space for all.
