It was July, 1962. I was 11 years old and sitting in my Northern California home at the kitchen table pleading with my Mom to pack the family up and move to Los Angeles. I guess I figured if I could convince my Mom that my Dad and brothers and sister would quickly fall in line.
Why did I want to move to Los Angeles? Because I was a San Francisco Giants fan and was sick and tired of losing to the Dodgers every baseball season. I figured at the time that where you lived was what team you aligned with. In 1962, there were not sports shops that had hats and jerseys from every team. In the Bay Area in those days shops only sold Giants products.
To my benefit, I didn’t convince my mom to move and on October 3, 1962, I spent the most glorious day of my sports watching life when the Giants completed a late regular season comeback and beat the Dodgers in the third game of a three-game playoff. Down 4-2 going to the ninth at newly opened Chavez Ravine Stadium, the Giants scored four runs to win the game and when my dad drove all six of us to the nearby San Francisco Airport, we were there for their triumphant trip home from LA.
I suspect that in the Bay Area there are kids ready to abandon their hometown teams and align with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Rams. I think this because their baseball team just apparently clinched the baseball world with the acquisition of two-time reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. The best team in baseball just got a lot better.
Same in football. While the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl last February, many pundits thought the best team in the league was the Los Angeles Rams. This off-season they got the prize in the trading world when they acquired Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns. For years, the Rams had the best defensive lineman in the game with Arron Donald, who has since retired after leading the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl LVI. Now, they arguably have the best defensive lineman in the game again.
While the Dodgers become a prohibitive favorite to win it all with the talent they have and the addition of Skubal, the Rams Super Bowl odds dropped when they acquired the services of Garrett. Before they made the trade with Cleveland the Seattle Seahawks were even on the odds to Win Super Bowl LXI, now the Rams have had their chances according to Vegas reduced to five to one while the Seahawks, who play out of the same division as the Rams, have jumped to 11 to 1. Wedged between those two teams are the Buffalo Bills, at 10 to 1.
This week, the NFL will kick off their 107th season when the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers tangle in the annual contest staged in Canton, Ohio. While on one hand we are discussing the class of the league with the Rams, Bills and Seahawks, with the Cardinals and Panthers we are going to watch on Thursday night likely two also-rans in 2026.
The Cardinals are a mess, and while the Panthers advanced to the playoffs last season, they already have key injuries crippling their chances of returning to the postseason this year. Their quarterback, Bryce Young, was acquired while sending way too much for the rights to pick him with the first pick in the 2022 draft.
For the better part of his first two seasons he appeared to be a bust, while the Bears benefited from the draft choices acquired in the trade to build a legitimate postseason threat. Then, late in his sophomore season, Young showed promise. Last year was not a step back, but I still question whether he is truly a top franchise quarterback with a Super Bowl victory in his future.
So, let's get this 2026 season going. We start with two bad teams in the Hall of Fame Game and will conclude with two of the best teams in the league next February when the league hosts Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.