"Whose barber shop? Rams barber shop!" Super fan Sal Martinez's LA store is a shrine to the Rams

Record ID: 1659367

  • Title: "Whose barber shop? Rams barber shop!" Super fan Sal Martinez's LA store is a shrine to the Rams
  • Date: 10th February 2022
  • Summary: MARTINEZ USING TRIMMER MEMORABILIA ON WALL WITH AN ELECTRONIC BOARD DISPLAYING COUNTDOWN TO SUPER BOWL SAL MARTINEZ TALKING TO CUSTOMERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAL MARTINEZ, OWNER, GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP, SAYING: "I can always celebrate at my shop the next day, yeah, so that's what I plan to do. So, it'll be nice to be able to, I'll be able to share with a lot of my custome
  • Embargoed: 24th February 2022 18:31
  • Keywords: Los Angeles Rams Rams memorabilia Super Bowl barber shop super fan
  • Location: WESTMINSTER, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: WESTMINSTER, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: American Football,Sport,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA002FY3F70F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Every day is Rams day at the Golden Ram Barber Shop in Westminster, California, but excitement is reaching fever pitch ahead of Sunday's (February 13) Super Bowl championship game, when the Los Angeles hometown team will face off against the Cincinnati Bengals.
    "I've been waking up like every couple of hours because, just the energy," said owner Sal Martinez, a life-long Rams fan. "I didn't know how to feel because this never happened before.
    Fifty-one years and waiting for an L.A. Rams Super Bowl."
    Surrounded by Ram's memorabilia, 59-year-old Martinez takes care of his clients, one haircut at a time, but the conversations always lead on how he became a passionate Rams fan.
    "The first time I seen them on TV, I loved the horn on the helmet, so, the connection for that started then. And so, everything that had to do with the Rams, I started collecting, I started off with football cards," said Martinez, who claims to own more than a thousand pieces of memorabilia, ranging from t-shirts, autographed items, newspaper clippings to photos with some players and NFL legends.
    When the Rams left Los Angeles and relocated to St. Louis after the 1994 season, Martinez said he traveled to different NFL stadiums to catch up with his beloved team, but never lost hope they would return home someday.
    "When the Rams came back, it was almost like an exhale of twenty-two years of being a passionate fan," said Martinez.
    On Sunday, Martinez says he will be watching the game from the comfort of his living room. Sky-high ticket prices to the Super Bowl are a disappointment, he said.
    "For the NFL, when you squeeze out people that have been passionate fans forever and waiting for their team to come home, their team comes home, they build a brand-new stadium and you attend their games. And yet, when it comes to the Super Bowl, the biggest game that people dream about attending and you can't afford it. I think it's just not a good direction the NFL wants to go in," said Martinez.
    According to ticket retailer StubHub, the average price of tickets sold on the site was around $6,500.
    On Monday (February 14), the day after the Super Bowl, Martinez is already planning on opening the doors of his business to hang the championship banner he had already made and continue celebrating the Rams with his customers.
    "No matter what, always a Rams fan, yeah. I've been there through the highs and lows, and the passion is always the same, but it's always better when they win," said Martinez.
    (Production: Sandra Stojanovic, Norma Galeana)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains photographs or artwork. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing this clip.
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