Rams Leave Fans Grasping, Gasping--Then Euphoric

GARDEN GROVE — As the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants took their struggle into overtime Sunday, the executive director of the Rams’ booster club became a self-described “basket case.” The fans around her didn’t look much better.

Keith Farber of Buena Park was pacing frantically between tables at Peppers, the Garden Grove restaurant where booster club members and other Rams fans had gathered.

Marc Goldberg, a lifelong fan and ticket broker, was transfixed by the big-screen television, fretting for his team and for the airplane ticket to San Francisco that he had already bought, convinced that the Rams would win Sunday and advance to play the 49ers next week.

Even the boisterous crew of Rams fans who chanted for more champagne as often as for their team quieted to a muted roar when the Rams marched downfield in their final drive of the game.

Then, one pass later, all worries were forgotten in the burst of pandemonium that accompanied the Rams’ winning touchdown.

“Awesome,” gushed Mary Jane Stratman, the booster club director, taking a deep breath practically for the first time since the game began. “Was this not awesome? This was awesome.”

Even Rams fans who have grown accustomed to a season of heart-stopping finishes were held on the edge of their seats by Sunday’s 19-13 victory, the first time a National Football Conference playoff game had ever been decided in overtime.

“C’mon Rams,” one fan exclaimed after the team’s offense sputtered early in the game. “Let’s get it together.”

A late first-half touchdown eased the crowd, but still the fans were restless, uneasy about the fact that the team had failed to put together a strong defense against the Giants. The offense also looked unsteady to some fans such as Farber, who complained that everything seemed “just a fraction of a second out of synch” on the team he has rooted for since he was 5 years old.

With the game drawing to a close, the score stood tied at 13, and only the most secure fans remained unconcerned.

“I think the Rams are the most underrated team in football,” said Gordon Wilson, a Buena Park man sporting a Rams sweater. “They’ve got a reputation for losing the big games, but I think they’re going to win them this year.”

Such confidence was not easily come by--not at Peppers, nor in the comfortable surroundings of Fortune 500 businessman John Crean’s partially built house in posh Santa Ana Heights, where guests watched the game in a motion picture theater.

As the game clock wound down to 24 seconds remaining in regulation play, Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, one of about 15 guests glued to the 5-by-7-foot screen, leaped from his padded swivel chair.

“I hate this game!” he exclaimed. “Seriously, I have so much pressure during the week that I shouldn’t do this on a Sunday.”

At Peppers, fans were equally distraught. When Ram quarterback Jim Everett miscued with time running out, Agostino Cangeini, a Brooklyn native and one of perhaps five Giants fans in the restaurant, mocked Everett.

“What’s your IQ?” Cangeini howled, drawing evil looks from many of the 70 or so people gathered around the television sets. “Your number?”

Everett wears number 11.

Still, when the final gun sounded, it was Rams fans who laughed last and loudest, and Cangeini hurriedly made his exit. Another Giants fan dutifully doled out the $100 he lost in a bet with a friend.

“We had it together, and we didn’t get down,” said Stratman, as she nursed a bourbon to calm her nerves. “At least, the team didn’t get down. I got down, but the team didn’t. This was by far the best game of the playoffs.”

For the Rams and their fans, one more stop sits along the road to the Super Bowl. Next week, the team travels to San Francisco, where the Rams won earlier in the year, only to then be beaten by the 49ers in Anaheim.

Farber, whose hat brims with Rams trinkets, sees few problems with the Northern California rivals. “We match up well against them,” he said as he milled through the jubilant crowd, desperately trying to secure a ticket for next week’s game.

Wilson agreed. “The 49ers don’t want to play us,” he said. “We’re a better ball club.”

But across the room, in a corner far from the celebrating Ram fans, two Anaheim Hills men defiantly weathered the proceedings in their 49er jackets, and they were unshaken by what they saw Sunday.

“We came down here today to see who we were going to play next week,” said Jerry Gray, “and I’d rather play the Rams anyway.”

Times staff writer Ann Conway contributed to this article.