Lenny DeShurley, left, attracted lots of attention for his flamboyant, Rams-inspired hairstyle. Here, he compares notes with Titans fan Ken Miller. (Jeff Mitchell - Reuters)

By Sue Anne Pressley and Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday Jan. 31, 2000; Page A1

ATLANTA, Jan. 30 – They braved slick sidewalks, fender-benders, canceled flights, travel delays, forbidding forecasts, numbed hands and chapped cheeks. But for the thousands who thronged to this winter-wracked southern city today, every bit of inconvenience was worth it – especially for fans of the St. Louis Rams, who defeated the Tennessee Titans, 23-16, in a heart-stopping Super Bowl XXXIV that was one of the most exciting in National Football League history.

"What a great game – I feel wonderful. We were Rams fans when they were in Los Angeles, and we will always love them," said a beaming Howard Sellz, a car dealer from Van Nuys, Calif., as his wife, Rikki, nodded emphatically.

The intrepid fans got what they came for – a game that started slow, but provided a dramatic finish. Although St. Louis led by 16-0 at one point, Tennessee almost generated the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, falling a mere one yard short on the last play.

The game lacked established NFL superstars, but it anointed several new ones. St. Louis quarterback Kurt Warner, who only a few years ago was stocking grocery-store shelves in Iowa, capped a Cinderella season by throwing for a Super Bowl-record 414 yards – including the game-winning 73-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute 54 seconds remaining – and being named the game's most valuable player. Titans quarterback Steve McNair nearly stole Warner's thunder, engineering a late drive that nearly won the game.

The Rams had watched their 16-0 lead evaporate as Tennessee gave up on its sputtering passing game and put the ball in the hands of running back Eddie George, who rumbled for touchdowns of one and three yards. Tennessee place kicker Al Del Greco tied the score at 16 with 2:16 remaining.

On the Rams' next series, Warner found his veteran wide receiver Isaac Bruce with the touchdown strike. The Titans charged back and had one last chance to win it from the 10-yard line with six seconds remaining. Wide receiver Kevin Dyson grabbed the pass and went flailing for the end zone, but his left hand, which clutched the ball, was a yard short of the goal line.

The game had been described as the Battle of the Heartland, although some had derisively dubbed it the "Hee-Haw Bowl." The Tennessee Titans had never played in a Super Bowl, and the Rams belonged to Los Angeles when they lost to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XIV 20 years ago.

For Titans fans, who had hoped for a miracle and almost got one, the ending was a bitter break.

"I'm disappointed, but it's been great fun watching them this year," said Joe Williams, 48, a private investor from Nashville. "There's no quitting with that team."

As the game got underway, fans from both teams were just glad to be here – given the initial dreadful weather forecast.

"It would take a lot more than this to keep us away – we would've come if we had to get a dogsled," said Eddie Patton, 36, a systems analyst from Nashville who, naturally, had been hoping for a Titans win.

In the end, the paralyzing storm that had been anticipated here did not quite materialize. After last Sunday's icy onslaught, which left a half-million area homes without electrical power and cost an estimated $55 million in damages, this was almost a trifle. Sheets of ice coated the main thoroughfares and overpasses Saturday and today, making for treacherous travel in town, and many flights into Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport were canceled or delayed, but many fans said they simply had adjusted their plans and gotten here early, on Friday, or even Thursday, just to play it safe.

"The scare they put out was ridiculous," said Dennis Amschler, 45, a St. Louis dentist who stood outside the Georgia Dome before the game, attracting a great deal of attention with his one-of-a-kind head covering – a royal-blue hard hat topped with a set of authentic ram's horns from Wyoming, spray-painted gold. The hat weighed about 20 pounds, he guessed, but figured any resulting neck injury was worth it.

As they contemplated the bitter chill, however, some fans could not help longing for Super Bowls past, usually held in warm-weather sites such as Miami, San Diego and New Orleans.

"It would've been nice to be in a warm place," said Steve Hoehn, 46, a self-employed businessman from St. Louis, who drove 7½ hours to be here. "But this is like home, so we're used to it."

At game time, the temperature here was 34 degrees, but inside the Georgia Dome, it was practically overheated for excited fans of both teams. The loyalties might not run deep – the Titans have been in Tennessee for three years, the Rams in St. Louis for five – but they run very strong.

"I admit I was a Cowboys fan all my life," said Kelly Sovine, of Nashville, who came with his son, Will, 10. "But now it's Titans all the way – forget the Cowboys." He added he was not tempted by offers of $2,500 apiece for his tickets.

Although social issues were far from many minds today, the Rev. Jesse Jackson held a news conference outside the stadium before the game, to call for a change in the Georgia state flag, which has incorporated the Confederate battle flag since 1956. The controversy over the Confederate battle flag has spread here from South Carolina, where the NAACP has called for a boycott of tourism in the state after lawmakers refused to remove the banner from atop the state Capitol dome in Columbia.

"Our position is, "One America, One Flag,'‚" Jackson said in an interview. "The Confederate battle flag represents secession and sedition and supremacy, a treasonous attempt to overthrow the United States government."

Jackson said he was "disappointed" that National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had refused his request to have Super Bowl players wear the American flag on their uniforms today.

The sight of Lenny DeShurley outside the Georgia Dome today seemed to attract a little more attention – and many amateur photographers begged him to pose with girlfriends and buddies. DeShurley, 34, a 6-foot-1, 300-pounder who is a fixture at every Rams home game, was decked out in a Rams uniform. But the big draw was his flamboyant hairstyle – shaved and cut so that big brown ram's horns curled over each ear. With the win, he said, he was going to keep it all year.

"It's a helmet without a helmet," explained DeShurley, who works at a trucking company and drove down with nine friends in a blue-and-gold bus. Suddenly seized with some deep-running emotions, DeShurley began yelling into the crowd: "Welcome to the House of the Rams, baby! This is the House of the Rams!"

And in the end, it was.