Opinion: Rams' Super Bowl defeat continues sports near-misses for Los Angeles area
LOS ANGELES -- No one ever really feels badly for Los Angeles. There's too much good weather, too many good looking people and too much In-N-Out Burger deliciousness.
Yet after the Rams lost to the New England Patriots 13-3 in Sunday’s Super Bowl strangulation of Jared Goff and his lifeless offense, the City of Angels sports scene has a rather sorry look about it.
Not so much pity-worthy in terms of achievement, but in being able to get over the finishing line and claim a title.
In recent times, L.A. has become the “nearly” city of American sports, a title ugly enough to require the type of plastic surgery makeover that countless Beverly Hills scalpel-wielders revel in.
Maybe no one really has noticed because, you know, Rams Nation isn’t actually a thing and there’s always the beach and Disneyland to distract from such gloomy topics.
However, the facts are there, clear as the Hollywood sign, at least on days when those pesky pollution clouds decide to behave themselves.
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The Rams weren’t shams, they put together a superb season, and have a fun head coach who is young and cool enough to kick it on the Hollywood clubbing scene if he wanted. Still, no one remembers a Super Bowl loser, sadly, especially one that fails to score a touchdown, the first time any squad had managed that ignominious feat for 47 years.
It was just the latest in a growing collection of final hurdle stumbles for L.A. teams.
--The Dodgers have come within touching distance of baseball’s greatest prize for the past two seasons, reaching the World Series on both occasions before coming unstuck – narrowly to the Houston Astros, comfortably against the Boston Red Sox when Clayton Kershaw went 0-2 with an ERA of 7.36.
--The Chargers nearly made it all the way from San Diego, actually coming to a stop in Carson, Calif., a few miles south of the city, where they'll be until they can move into their co-shared and swanky new Inglewood stadium. And they nearly produced a special season. They nearly won the division to claim home field advantage but stayed as the fifth seed with a Week 16 defeat that ultimately would lead to a playoff showdown with the Patriots and the resulting “all she wrote.”
--In soccer, the established Los Angeles Galaxy nearly made the Major League Soccer playoffs only to contrive a spectacular screw-up, throwing away a two-goal home advantage on the final day of the season to miss out, despite having new World’s Most Interesting Man contender Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line.
--MLS newcomer LAFC did make the playoffs and nearly went deeper, suffering a cruel exit thanks to a series of missed chances and a sensational winning goal for Real Salt Lake.
--The Clippers were nearly a really good basketball team during the Lob City era, riding Blake Griffin and Chris Paul to the second round of the NBA playoffs twice but never further.
--Hockey’s L.A. Kings are the last team from the region to win a title, claiming the Stanley Cup in 2014, but for local rival the Anaheim Ducks, “nearly” has been a consistent companion. They have nine postseason trips in 11 years, including topping the Western Conference in the regular season twice and winning the Pacific Division five times. But they have failed to land a trip to see Lord Stanley in that span.
--The Angels nearly were a contender in 2014 but generally have made woeful use of being blessed with Mike Trout’s talents.
And that brings us to the Lakers and the soap opera involved with all that is purple and gold.
The franchise that gifted us Showtime hasn’t been anything, or nearly anything, for the past five years, going 126-284 over that stretch while never finishing higher than 11th in the West.
They nearly were assured of a playoff berth this time around until LeBron James got hurt on Christmas Day. Postseason action now is far from certain. Whatever it has lacked in recent titles the Lakers continue to make up for in terms of newsworthy drama, the latest revolving around the wooing of Anthony Davis, whose yearning for a move to Tinseltown is unrequited, but maybe not for much longer.
Some observers feel that landing Davis would instantly make the Lakers the second-best team in the NBA, capable of beating anyone except the rampant Golden State Warriors. Problem is, that’s the team they are most likely to meet in the first round.
So nearly, yet so far.
Follow Paste BN Sports columnist Martin Rogers on Twitter @RogersJourno