On to the Super Bowl

Just like the week before, the NFL championship games yesterday were epic.  And both of the teams I was rooting for won.  Thrilled for the Bengals because their radio announcer, Dan Hoard was my broadcast partner in Syracuse.  We’ve stayed close friends and now he gets to call a Super Bowl.  Oh, and the team is exciting with a star young quarterback in Joe Burrow.  For them to win it all would be a terrific Cinderella story.  Two years ago they were the worst team in the NFL. 

As for the Rams, as a kid growing up in LA they were always my team.  I suffered through some bad years and finally they got good with the Fearsome Foursome and Roman Gabriel leading the offense.  But every year for the playoffs they would go to Minnesota or Green Bay or Washington where it was frigid and get blown out.  One year they hosted a playoff game but it was during a monsoon and they lost to Minnesota anyway.  By the fourth quarter you couldn’t see any of the yard lines.  I still don’t know how Vin Scully called that game for CBS (but it was sure entertaining to watch).  

My point is: Rams fans were used to losing.  At the end of the day it would be the Packers, or Colts, or Giants who always seemed to ride to victory.  The Rams were in one Super Bowl and got blown out by the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Then they left for St. Louis and even though they won a Super Bowl there, they were no longer my Rams.  Now they’re back in Los Angeles and after losing another Super Bowl to New England (same old LA Rams) they’re returning to the big stage once again.

I also have a personal attachment to the Rams.  In 1969 and 1970 I was a sports intern at KMPC radio, which was the station that carried the Rams.  I got selected to work the Rams home games.  I would sit in the radio booth behind the great team of Dick Enberg and Dave Niehaus and provide scores and stats.   Dick would tell me which player he wanted for the postgame interview and in the 4th quarter I would go down to the field and stand alongside the Rams bench.  How cool is that? There were times I was hoping they'd let me play but they never did.

When the game was over I would flag the player coming off the field and escort him to our broadcast set up in the locker room.  There was a microphone and headphones.  I would call up that I had Roman Gabriel or Merlin Olson or whoever, they would put on the headphones and Dick would interview them from the booth.  Usually they held the mic.  I remember once with Merlin Olson that I held the mic and he put his hand around mine.  His hand was like a catcher’s mitt for a knuckleball pitcher.  It swallowed my hand.  

So I’m excited for Super Bowl XXLIVVXXIILXVI, or whatever it is.  My two favorite teams and my favorite announcers — Al Michaels (calling his final game for NBC) and Dan Hoard (on WLW and the Bengals radio network).  It’s also nice to be hosting the game.  That said, you couldn’t get me into that stadium for the Super Bowl if you paid me $5,000.  60,000 screaming maniacs, very few wearing masks).  It’s Super Bowl Spreader.  Yes, I say I’m a Rams fan… but not enough to get COVID .  I’ve suffered enough for them. 

from By Ken Levine