It wasn't very long ago that Los Angeles had two competitive NFL teams and was a choice location for the leagues' marquee game—the Super Bowl.
Games could be played in the bright sunshine of the left coast, and people would come from all over Southern California to see two of the best teams the NFL had to offer.
It was one of the guilty pleasures about this country and this league: To sit in the LA Coliseum or the Rose Bowl and watch great football in great weather.
That all seems like ancient history now. The Rams, who had played their home games at the antiquated LA Coliseum from 1946-1979, and then in Anaheim from 1980 onward, moved to St. Louis in 1995.
The Raiders trudged back to Oakland the same year, after a dozen seasons at the Coliseum.
Since then, there has not been one NFL game played in the LA vicinity. Plans for a new team and stadium have emerged and evaporated several times since 1995, and although the league maintains that they are committed to putting a team in LA, it doesn't appear as if it will happen anytime soon.
After six of the first 26 Super Bowls were played in LA, only one of the next 15 was played anywhere near the city (Pasadena). The NFL has passed over the City of Angels preferring San Diego as the site for Super Bowls XXXII and XXXVII.
This year's game is in Arizona. The next three SB sites are Tampa, Miami and Dallas respectively. The league won't look west again until perhaps 2012
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