Bear with me. My late Brother, who lost ALL interest in the NFL after the 82 strike, was my main Gator game wingman. He LOVED NCAA ball but barely noticed the NFL. BUT....He knew what the Rams meant to me. He KNEW I hated the Niners. Well...The night before the 1999 game in St Louis, vs the Niners, I called him to see if he wanted to go to my favorite Sports Bar. I knew the next day could possibly be special. The Rams were rolling and had a great chance. He told me that he'd try to make it. Game day, I was at the Bar about 1 hour before kickoff. I was wound tight and wanted to eat BEFORE the game. I did. 5 minutes before kickoff...There he was! My Brother showed up! He was always the life of games. I was glad he was there. As soon as he sat down, he told me. " I feel it! Your Rams are going to win the Superbowl!" As he said that, he placed a cigar in a case on the table and said it will be a victory Cigar. I laughed it off and told him to keep it. It was only game #4. He said "Alright." and put it back in his pocket. Anyway, he had fun watching the Rams kill the Niners with me that day. It'd be the last game he'd watch with me till the Superbowl. He simply did not care much for the NFL. When he came over for the Superbowl, as he walked in the door, he said "What'd I tell ya????!" and handed me the cigar. I said "They have not won yet." He said "THEY WILL! I'm not taking the cigar back. Well, the Rams won and on the case, I wrote the date and score. I still have it.
At that SAME Superbowl party, my best friend showed up with an OLD Gatorade Cap that had the Rams helmet on it (Remember those????) In the mid 70s, I could never find one with the Rams on it. HE had one among ALL 28 teams at the time. I bugged the hell out of him for it but he never would give it to me. Then, like my Brother, he handed that to me as he walked in. A cool addition was a mini Rams helmet that he taped to the cap. We collected those too! My bud , Jack also knew I was a Rams freak. To this day, I still have the helmet and cap on my fridge and the cigar too.
Both became even more irreplaceable when my Brother passed in May 2011 and my best friend , Jack in June 2012.
