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

Record ID: 1659368

  • 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: WESTMINSTER, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 9, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BARBER AND LIFE-LONG RAMS FAN, SAL MARTINEZ DOING A HAIRCUT AND TALKING TO CUSTOMER RAMS HELMET ON COUNTER VARIOUS OF BARBER AND LIFE-LONG RAMS FAN, SAL MARTINEZ DOING A HAIRCUT AND TALKING TO CUSTOMER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAL MARTINEZ, OWNER, GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP, SAYING: "You know, it's funny, people ask me, like, how did you, why did you pick the Rams and I tell people, I didn't pick the Rams, the Rams picked me. The first time I seen them on TV, I loved the horn on the helmet, so, the connection for that, it started then. And so, everything that had to do with the Rams, I started collecting, I started off with football cards." MEMORABILIA ON WALL AS SAL MARTINEZ DOES HAIRCUT VARIOUS OF SAL MARTINEZ DOING HAIRCUT "WHOSE HOUSE? RAMS HOUSE! BANNER HANGING AT GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP MIRROR SHOT OF SAL MARTINEZ DOING A HAIRCUT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAL MARTINEZ, OWNER, GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP, SAYING: "I wake up, I've been waking up like every couple of hours because, just the energy. I've never been. What's interesting is, I never, I didn't know how to feel because this never happened before. Fifty-one years and waiting for an L.A. Rams Super Bowl." RAMS HELMET, JERSEY AND RALLY TOWELS INSIDE GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP RAM HORN WITH BARBER SHOP ON THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS "WHOSE BARBER SHOP RAMS BARBERSHOP" SIGN INSIDE A GLASS FOOTBALL BOBBLEHEAD VARIOUS OF MEMORABILIA HANGING ON WALL INSIDE GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP VARIOUS OF PHOTO OF SAL MARTINEZ POSING AT EMPTY SOFI STADIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAL MARTINEZ, OWNER, GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP, SAYING: "In my shop, this is like 30 percent of my collection. In my shop I have about, almost 400, almost 400 pieces. But out of 400 pieces, this is my favorite and the reason why it is because when I opened my shop in 1994, I was able to start, you know, I would add all the different pieces to my shop, and when I finally got it looking like this, the Rams won the Super Bowl. So, this is from the '99, 2000 season." VARIOUS OF SAL MARTINEZ TALKING TO CUSTOMERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAL MARTINEZ, OWNER, GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP, SAYING: "I look back at it now, you know, we were just so excited to be there, but now this Super Bowl has a different feel. Now it's kind of like, we expect to win. The Rams have the better team and the veteran players, so the Rams are really, they're really poised and groomed to win it all." RAMS SUPER BOWL HAT PHOTO OF RAMS MASCOT GETTING A HAIRCUT AT GOLDEN RAM BARBER SHOP PHOTO OF SAL MARTINEZ WITH 8-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER WEARING A RAMS HELMET
  • 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: LVA001FY3F70F
  • 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)
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