APPAREL IN DEMAND

Otto Davis' parents put off buying a present until four days after their son's 13th birthday in hopes the family's favorite football team would do well in Super Bowl XXXIV.

The St. Louis Rams came through with a win Sunday night in Atlanta, so Tim and Stephanie Davis were at the Cape Girardeau JCPenny store Monday afternoon looking through the Super Bowl Champion Rams T-shirts.

"We almost bought him a conference championship shirt last week, but now we're glad we waited," said Tim Davis, who admitted he might also pick up a shirt for himself.

The Cape Girardeau JCPenney sent a truck to St. Louis Monday morning to pick up a shipment of T-shirts and sweatshirts proclaiming the Rams as Super Bowl Champions, said Don Fisher, the store manager. This was done so the Cape Girardeau store could have the merchandise in stock Monday afternoon rather than waiting several days for it to be shipped from St. Louis.

Fisher said the merchandise was selling quickly, and he expects another shipment of shirts and one of caps today.

Other stores carrying Rams merchandise at West Park Mall -- stores like Champs, The Finish Line and Lids -- said they expect to receive Super Bowl Champion Rams merchandise today or Wednesday.

Customers are very interested in those shipments, said Jessica Lacy, who was manning the Lids booth at the mall Monday afternoon. "We must have had a million people asking if we've got Super Bowl champion caps. In fact that's the only question they've been asking," Lacy said.

Fisher said JCPenney ordered the Super Bowl champion merchandise on a "what-if" basis last Thursday.

He said the manufacturer of the shirts had everything ready for screenprinting and embroidering Sunday night with interchangeable logos for the Rams and the Tennessee Titans. As soon as the game ended the Rams logo was inserted, and the factory worked through the night, Fisher said.

For those looking beyond wearable merchandise, Schnucks Food and Drug still has boxes of Warner's Crunch Time, a frosted cornflakes cereal with Rams quarterback Kurt Warner's picture on the label. A portion of the profits from the sale of each box of the cereal, distributed by PLB Sports, goes to Camp Barnabas in southwest Missouri.

"It's been selling pretty well," said Steve Hobbs, assistant grocery manager at Schnucks.

Wheaties will feature five players on a special-edition commemorative box honoring the Rams, which should be on store shelves next week. Kevin Groves, manager at Schapers IGA in Jackson, said he expects to get it in his store by Feb. 10. Players featured on the box, according to the General Mills Web site, are wide receiver Isaac Bruce, running back Marshall Faulk, defensive end Kevin Carter, cornerback Todd Lyght and tackle Orlando Pace.