/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5269202/137251940.jpg)
Today, Friday, July 13, is a historic one in the history of the Rams franchise. It was on this day in 1972 that Carroll Rosenbloom and Robert Irsay swapped teams. That's right, they just switched the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams outright.
Irsay bought the Rams for about $19 million, with the intent of swapping teams with Rosenbloom. The Rams had been for sale for a year, following the death of majority owner Daniel Reeves. A move like that is no less than amazing when you think about the complexities and the process of for buying teams in today's NFL. Of course, it was not as simple as swapping a Roman Gabriel rookie card for a Johnny Unitas, but you get the idea.
Rosenbloom died in 1979, and Georgia Frontiere took over the team, followed through on a move to Anaheim then finally to St. Louis.
Now, the Rams are entering a new ownership period with Stan Kroenke at the helm. This will only be his second season as the full owner, and, really, the first one in which the team carries his imprint. The 2012 St. Louis Rams have Kroenke's choice for head coach and general manager.
There's also the little matter of the Dome, which is going to get resolved one way or another. There's no point rehashing that here. It is, however, interesting to note on this anniversary of the Rosenbloom era that issues over the inadequacies of Memorial Stadium in Baltimore ultimately led the historic move.
So, now that we're almost two years into the Kroenke era, what do you think so far? How would you grade it?