After 22 years away from the Southland, the Los Angeles Rams returned to the cheers of more than 90,000 fans at the LA Coliseum for an Aug. 13 preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys. Though the Rams no longer play at the Big A, they had already re-established their Orange County fan base by maintaining UC Irvine as their preseason training headquarters. But the exhibition opener started ugly when Cowboys returner Bucky Whitehead took the opening kickoff 101 yards for a score. The Rams went on to trail 14-7 after the first quarter, 24-7 at halftime and 24-14 after three. But third-string quarterback Sean Mannion threw three touchdown passes that led to a 28-24 win. A preseason-opener victory and home-opener win do not a season make, but they were a good re-introduction to our NFL-starved market.
