St. Louis Rams: Would STL Fans Root for the Rams in L.A.? - Bleacher Report

The topic of "will the Rams move back to Los Angeles" has been beat to death. With the Minnesota Vikings finalizing their deal for a new stadium this week, the "which team is moving to Los Angeles" watch is officially back on in four NFL cities.

So get ready, Buffalo, San Diego, Oakland and St. Louis. You are now the front-runners in this news cycle.

Jacksonville was rumored to be a franchise on the move, simply because they can't sell enough season tickets, but they are locked into their lease until 2030. That is a virtual "deal killer" for the Jags thinking of moving anytime soon.

The Chargers would just need to pay a $22 million installment on outstanding bonds to move next year. Since they are already in Southern California, they would already have a local following. So on paper, the Chargers are clearly in play for a move to Los Angeles.

The Rams can opt out of their lease in St. Louis by 2015 if certain improvements aren't made to the Edward Jones Dome. While the team is currently in negotiations with the Convention and Visitors Commission, the outlook isn't good according to the prognosticators outside of St. Louis.

This recent NBC Sports article says with the Vikings' new stadium deal, the Rams are now the most likely team to move to L.A.

This report by Time Magazine lists the Edward Jones Dome as the seventh-worst stadium in America. So it looks like St. Louis will have a long way to go to get the stadium into the top 25 percent of NFL stadiums.

If the Rams move to Los Angeles, what would you do?

If the Rams move to Los Angeles, what would you do?

• Keep rooting for the Rams

• Pick a new NFL team to root for

• I'd stop watching NFL games

• Total votes: 2

So as I was reading all of this and preparing this article, this question popped in my mind: "Would Rams fans continue to root for this team in Los Angeles?"

This question was born out of two realizations. One, when the St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1987, a lot of St. Louis football fans continued to support the team. I mean, as a lifelong Cardinals baseball fan, there is just something about rooting against a team that used to be called "the St. Louis Cardinals," right?

Second, there are a lot of fans of the Los Angeles Rams that root for these St. Louis Rams. As a matter of fact, I've read a lot of comments from L.A. Rams fans on this board. Since the Rams kept the same uniforms, same franchise records and came to St. Louis with a lot of players they saw drafted and developed in L.A., it was natural to follow that team.

Now, I know some of you get mad when I write an article like this, and I know I'll get a few nasty commentsâ€""I don't understand the point of this article," or, "Why even ask this question?"â€"but I would like to get some feedback from the fans.

If the Rams moved to L.A., would you root for them, or would you follow another team? With so many games on television now, and the Internet making following a team easier, you could literally pick a new favorite team overnight.

For example, in basketball, there is no "local team" for St. Louis fans to follow. So as a young fan, I followed the Chicago Bulls, mostly because I loved Michael Jordan. Today, I really like Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. I can follow that team daily by reading the Internet or watching SportsCenter. I get to see a lot of their games on the dish.

Would you continue to follow the Rams, or would you pick a new team to root for? Personally, I don't know if I could root against Sam Bradford. It's an interesting question. I'd love to hear some feedback.