Greatest Show on Grass Greatest Show on Grass

Is it time to panic? Joshua Neuman in joined by Bryan Kalbrosky, managing editor of USA Today’s TheRamsWire, to dissect the Los Angeles Rams 2017 draft class, one that has been widely maligned by the draft community. Will the Rams regret not passing on Forrest Lamp and failing to address their offensive line? What is the future of Tavon Austin with the addition of third round slot receiver, Cooper Kupp? Is John Johnson the new Rodney McLeod? How good can Josh Reynolds be in year one? And, can the Rams expect any of their undrafted free agents to make this year’s 53-man squad? These questions and others on this anxiety-inducing special bonus segment of the Greatest Show on Grass.

You may not have heard of guard John Hock, who joined the Los Angles Rams prior to the 1953 season. You’re likely more familiar with the names of his teammates: Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, Norm Van Brocklin, Tom Fears, Tank Younger, and Dick “Night Train” Lane. They were the most star-studded team of their era and one that would forever leave an imprint on pro football. Joshua Neuman is joined by the late John Hock’s son, Jim Hock, to discuss his recent book, “Hollywood’s Team: Grit, Glamour and the 1950s Los Angeles Rams.” The book explores the Rams during this, their most glamorous era, through the eyes of John Hock, who often found himself on the outside looking in. Neuman and Jim Hock discuss his father’s experiences, how the city of Los Angeles embraced the team, and how the team managed to embody the burgeoning aesthetics and values of Hollywood. Plus, we explore the fantastic world of Brock “The Rock” Callahan, a fictional Rams guard who was the protagonist of a crime series by author William Campbell Gault as well as of an unaired television pilot in 1959 for CBS.

Los Angeles in the 1980s was rife with wild contradictions: serial killers and valley girls, hair metal and gangsta rap, cocaine and gourmet pizza. Just an hour south on Interstate-5 in anodyne Anaheim, Rams games often felt like a quiet oasis, but in 1989 all that changed. The Rams emerged as dangerous and awe-inspiring thanks to a dazzling aerial attack, menacing offensive line, and pounding ground game. The featured back in that ground game was Greg Bell who resurrected his career and helped restore a sense of glamour to the Rams—however briefly. Bell joins Joshua Neuman to discuss a Rams team that reached the NFC Championship Game and served as a reminder of a franchise that Southern California first fell in love with in 1946.

Hired at age 30, Sean McVay is the youngest head coach of the NFL’s modern era. But 79 years ago, before the Rams moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles, the team hired 26 (or some say, 27) year old Art “Pappy” Lewis who, like McVay, also hailing from Ohio and also charged with bringing back a sense of razzle-dazzle to a moribund Rams roster. Joshua Neuman speaks to James C. Sulecki whose recent book The Cleveland Rams: The NFL Champs Who Left Too Soon about “Pappy” Lewis and other early icons of Rams history like Damon “Buzz” Wetzel, Hugo Bezdek, and Earl “Dutch” Clark. Neuman and Sulecki discuss the early struggles of the team and their eventual success, which culminated in their 1945 NFL Championship, the Rams first of three championships in three different cities.

Despite being led by a man who is only 31-years old, the 2017 Los Angeles Rams will enter the 2017 season boasting more NFL coaching experience on its sidelines than they have since Dick Vermeil brought Jim Hanifan, Mike White, and Bud Carson with him to St. Louis 20 years ago. What are we to make of football prodigy Sean McVay, his offensive and defensive coordinators, and their veteran team of assistant coaches who collectively own eight Super Bowl rings? How might the new staff shift the culture of the organization? How might it influence the direction the Rams take in free agency and the draft? Bryan Kalbrosky, the managing editor of USA Today’s TheRamsWire, joins Joshua Neuman, to discuss these questions as we enter the Sean McVay Era on The Greatest Show on Grass.

Between 1959 and 1970 Eddie Meador preyed on wide receivers with the brutality of Jack the Ripper—all the while resembling an innocent choirboy. Meador recovered 18 fumbles, blocked 10 kicks and intercepted 46 passes during his Rams career—all team records. Though playing during the tumultuous 1960s and on the most integrated team of the era, the former ROTC cadet managed to fit right in with rabble-rousing teammates—some of whom he led in a famous revolt against management following the firing of Head Coach George Allen. Joshua Neuman speaks with Meador about his storybook career and whether the Rams of his era were too Hollywood for their own good.