LA story: in the Rams’ blockbuster victory it was their stars who shone

The Super Bowl champions made aggressive moves to acquire big-time players. They combined with homegrown talent to secure the franchise's second title

As the confetti fell at SoFi Stadium, Odell Beckham stood alone amid the revelry, eyes welling, hands on his head in disbelief. No sooner than the dazed receiver appeared on the stadium's massive video screen did the Los Angeles Rams partisans, in slight majority among the 70,048 attendees, loose a deafening roar. To find their common emotional trigger, one needn't have looked further than the message writ large on Beckham's matching hat and T-shirt: Super Bowl Champions.

Nothing gets LA in a froth like a big sparkly prize. On Sunday the Rams' 23-20 dismissal of the upstart Cincinnati Bengals was recognized with a Lombardi trophy, the second Super Bowl crown in the franchise's 86-year history. It was a capstone achievement that was realised in Los Angeles, on the Rams' home turf, with more A-listers in attendance than at most recent award shows. There was the Rock, Cardi B, Bennifer - and those sightings all came before the Grammy-grade halftime show.