Rams fans' high hopes dashed

As Leslie McCulloch watched the Patriots' final field goal pass through the uprights Sunday night, she sank back in her chair, placed her head in her hands and said, "Oh my God."

For the next several minutes she sat in disbelief, watching the picture on large-screen television at Willy Jaks in downtown Cape Girardeau become clouded with confetti.

"That is so sad," she said. "I can't believe they just lost on something like that."

About 100 people gathered at Willy Jaks to watch the biggest football game of the year.

With just under a minute to go in the fourth quarter, a rowdy group of Rams fans chanted, "Who dat, who dat, who dat gonna beat the Pats?"

But as the referee signaled the Patriots' field goal was good, the once-flamboyant crowd sat quietly as Patriots rushed the field for their victory party.

For a lot of St. Louis fans, Sunday night's game started out just like they had expected -- with the Rams on top.

When the Rams kicked their first field goal, Regan Kelley jumped up and threw her arms in the air.

Kelley watched the game with about 15 friends at her boyfriend Nick Laiben's apartment Sunday. Before the game Laiben and his roommate, Jeremiah Waters, transformed their normal living room into their own personal Rams dome, complete with reserved seating and a smoking section on the patio.

Kelley said she thought the Rams were sure to win. In fact, she couldn't believe some broadcasters had the audacity to say the Patriots would be the champions.

Being with friends

As Kelley watched the game from her reserved seat on the couch, she said she likes to watch the game each year with a small group of friends rather than downtown at a bar because it is more personal.

"You can enjoy it much more when you're with people you know," she said.

Keith Benton also watched the game at Laiben's apartment. He said he wouldn't have minded going to the bars for Rams to watch it, but he couldn't because he won't be 21 until Thursday.

"It doesn't really matter," Benton said. "I just wanted to go where I knew a bunch of my friends would be."

That's what a lot of people at the Drury Lodge said.

Marie and Gale Midyett drove from Columbia, Ill., just to watch the game with their friends at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau.

"We come here every year," Marie Midyett said. "We found it when we were down here on a weekend getaway four years ago, and we liked the group of people so much that we've been coming back ever since."

Midyett said they liked watching the game on the big-screen projector, but they liked the halftime activities too.

A lone Patriot fan

During halftime Beth Seabaugh, assistant manager of the Drury Lodge, refereed the pass and punt contest for the party-goers, and during the rest of the game she handed out door prizes like cups, shirts and glow-in-the-dark buttons.

While most fans in Southeast Missouri were rooting for the St. Louis Rams, one Cape Girardeau resident, Sam Bearman, was a minority of one.

He was the lone Patriot supporter at the Drury Lodge.

"I'm glad to still have my life," he said jokingly at halftime.

Sarah Masterson sat with Bearman as they watched the game.

"I'm so used to Sam being the oddball in the group that it really doesn't faze me that he's rooting for the other team," Masterson said. "It makes it kind of fun to have a little competition."

As Bearman successfully tossed a ball into a bucket during a halftime game, some Rams fans in the crowd yelled, "What do you expect? He's a Patriots fan."

As they laughed, Bearman just smiled.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128