Skip Bayless claimed ‘Worst fans in America are Los Angeles Rams fans’ before SB LVI

Ground Chuck days of yore

In typical Bayless fashion, he gave props to the team itself, a tactic of buttering the turkey before popping it into the oven and roasting it.  In this case, his ‘turkey’ was the fans of the LA Rams from 50 years ago, in the 1970s. His example was the lack of support shown to the Rams franchise by Los Angeles residents at the time.

Citing the Dodgers and the Lakers as more popular professional sports teams, he asserted that Los Angeles fans sat in the stands, distracted by birds flying by, or perhaps the updated scores of other teams that were also playing, or anything by what was taking place on the football field.

Oh sure, he pointed out how good those versions of the Rams were. He pointed out how loaded the roster was, naming a string of Pro Bowlers – quarterbacks such as Joe Namath, Pat Haden, and James Larnell Harris. James Harris was affectionately nicknamed Shack and was the first starting black QB in the history of the NFL, by the way.

He even slipped in the fact that the team under ‘Ground Chuck” Chuck Knox won their division for five consecutive years. Of course, that was done with the help of an age-old ground game offense and stymying defense. Bayless goes on to bemoan how ‘sleepy’ the fans were the entire time. He doesn’t mention the frustrations that build up in a team’s fan base when the team wins in the regular season but loses repeatedly in the NFL Playoffs.

He claimed that Los Angeles fans were sleepy. That they sat in their seats on their hands without cheering for the Rams, without the loud and raucous support of the team found in other stadiums. It was simply a cheap shot at a fanbase from 50 years ago. And he made the claim as though he, in his 20s mind you, was in attendance at many games and was the exception to the rule.