FanSpeak

There are four regular-season games left and plenty can still happen, but the Rams -- despite all their so-called ugly wins this year -- are looking more and more like Super Bowl contenders every week.

Sure, some people might snicker and say the Rams have barely beaten some of football's worst teams recently, so how can they be considered one of the NFL's elite units?

Well, let's first consider a tangible fact. At 9-3, St. Louis is tied with Philadelphia for the NFC's best record. There's no denying that point.

Then, let's throw in a few less tangible yet important points:

Marshall Faulk, who appeared old and slow early in the season, again looks young and quick now that he's finally healthy. That balky knee must have been bothering him a lot more than he led people to believe.

Marc Bulger, despite looking pretty inept for much of some recent narrow escapes, has been able to come up big when it counted the most -- at the end of games with wins and losses riding on his passes, most of which proved to be pinpoint at crunch time.

With Leonard Little -- perhaps the NFL's best pure pass-rusher -- also now back and healthy, the Rams' up-and-down defense figures to become a lot more up than down.

Perhaps more importantly, with four very winnable games remaining -- Monday night at Cleveland, at home against Seattle and Cincinnati, and at Detroit in the finale -- the Rams have a solid chance to finish with the NFC's best record and earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

And that would be quite a boost for a team that has won 12 straight home games, has the NFL's best home record since 1999 and rode the home-field edge to both of its Super Bowl appearances.

Attending Wednesday's basketball game between Southeast Missouri State University and host Southern Illinois, I couldn't help but notice how much more the fans got into the action than Southeast supporters who follow the Indians at the Show Me Center -- and how much louder things were.

Sure, it's easy to say that the fans are really into the Salukis because of all their success the last few years. But I remember making similar comments about the Show Me Center crowds even during the Indians' NCAA Tournament season in 1999-2000.

For whatever reason, fans at Southeast games spend a lot of time sitting back in their seats politely watching the action instead of getting up and making a lot of consistent noise, which is what a home-court advantage should be all about.

I mean, the fans in Carbondale were REALLY loud Wednesday -- especially every time the Salukis needed a basket to fend off Southeast runs. And it wasn't even a truly big game by SIU standards.

Hopefully, one of these years I'll be able to write how Southeast fans were really into the action on a consistent basis.

The next time Southeast coach Gary Garner tries to convince me how good an athlete he was -- I always kid him about playing basketball in the "ancient" 1960s -- I'll believe him.

Garner was recently named one of the top 100 athletes of the last century in the Ozarks region -- covering a radius of about 115 miles -- by radio station KWTO in Springfield, checking in at No. 81. And that area has turned out more than its share of big-time athletes who have excelled at the top of the professional ranks, including Payne Stewart and Grant Wistrom, just to mention two.

Garner was a three-year basketball letterman at the University of Missouri, earning second-team all-Big 8 Conference honors as a senior guard in 1965 as he averaged 15 points per game. He was a first-team all-state player at West Plains High School.

According to a KWTO official I spoke with, the list was comprised of individuals from the Ozarks deemed to have had the most influence in athletics, so Garner was selected not only for his skills as a basketball player but also for his coaching accomplishments.

But that same person assured me that Garner was indeed quite an athlete -- which means I guess I'll have to stop getting on his case about playing hoops before the jump shot even became a major part of the game.

Let me be the latest to offer my sincere condolences to the family and countless friends of Jack "Pug" Russell, who recently passed away.

Russell was an All-American basketball player at Southeast as he helped lead the Indians to the 1943 NAIA national championship. He later had a long teaching and coaching career at Central High School.

I never knew "Coach," as I fondly referred to him, during his actual coaching days, but for years he would attend just about every Central sporting event -- particularly basketball and football -- and it was during these games that I became well acquainted with him.

His bright smile and cheerful disposition were staples and I used to love talking sports with him. He will be sorely missed by too many people to count.

The move of former Sikeston High School standout Brandon Barnes to linebacker at the University of Missouri paid major dividends.

Barnes found a home at linebacker this season after playing two other positions during his college career -- and he recently made honorable mention on the All-Big 12 Conference team. In a league filled with some of the nation's premier linebackers, that is no small accomplishment.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.