CAPE GIRARDEANS CAUGHT UP IN RAMS FOOTBALL AS TEAM ENTERS PLAYOFF GAME

Tom Waller figures he will be speechless after Sunday's Rams game. That's because Waller plans to do a lot of yelling.

Waller, an enthusiastic season-ticket holder, finds it hard to stay in his seat at the St. Louis TWA Dome.

"I am pretty radical around our section," he said. "I am not able to talk until Tuesday or Wednesday. My voice gets pretty weak."

The Cape Girardeau man has been a Rams football fan since the team moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995. Waller said his wife, Kay, and their three sons are big Rams fans too.

A former high school football coach, Waller was a loyal Big Red fan when the Cardinals football team was in St. Louis.

He hasn't missed a game since the Rams arrived in St. Louis, and he won't miss Sunday's .playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings.

In past years the Rams have seldom won. "I can't say I enjoyed losing, but I live and die with them," said Waller.

This year, of course, there has been plenty of winning. The Rams enter the contest at 13-3, the best record in the National Football Conference.

Waller said he probably won't get much sleep Saturday night. He's ready for the tailgate party.

He and his family are veteran tailgaters. They get up early on Sunday mornings to make the trip to St. Louis. They arrive at the riverfront around 9 a.m. ready for their pre-game party.

Like other tailgaters, they bring along their grill. "We have cooked everything from bratwurst to steak to chili."

Waller has a Rams flag, which he plans to display on a homemade flagpole.

The Waller home is full of Rams memorabilia, including a football that signifies they are charter season-ticket holders and a Rams jersey signed by some of the players.

Johnnie Sepulvado of Cape Girardeau also plans to attend Sunday's game.

He and fellow employees at the Spartech plant in Cape Girardeau and the company's corporate office in St. Louis regularly attend the games. They take a cooker along for the tailgate party.

"We will have 25 to 30 people at every game," he said.

Sepulvado said this season has been fun. "It's a lot more fun when they are winning."

Rams jerseys bearing the names of quarterback Kurt Warner and running back Marshall Faulk are hot items at retail stores.

JCPenney's store manager Don Fisher said there has been a huge demand for the jerseys at his West Park Mall store. He said Rams jerseys and other memorabilia will be in even bigger demand if the team goes to the Super Bowl.

At Champ's Sports, the jerseys, Rams sideline caps and souvenir footballs have been big sellers. "Everything has been picked off," said sales clerk Kelly Haubold, adding that Rams memorabilia sold well over the Christmas season.

Trent Green jerseys are about the only items that aren't selling. "Nobody wants him," said Haubold, referring to the Rams quarterback who missed the entire regular season because of an injury.

As for Rams fan Doug Richards, he won't be watching Sunday's game from seats high up in the TWA Dome. The Cape Girardeau man plans to stay home and watch the game on television.

Said Richards, "I just don't want to fight the crowd."