He stood out, not just because he was proudly showing off the blue and sort of flaky brown colors of the St. Louis Rams, but primarily because of a giant plastic Rams mask on his head.

"Third on the Bird," taunted Mike Weaver, a construction worker from Portland and a huge Rams fan. He flew up to Seattle yesterday morning with his buddy, Steve Barr, to watch the Rams beat the Seahawks for the third time this season. He wasn't shy about telling Seahawks fans what the outcome would be.

"We're here to watch history," he said. "It's the first time one team has been beaten by another three times in a season."

Actually, the Rams became the 11th playoff team to sweep a division rival since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

So the two Rams fans got a little abuse from the vast number of Seahawks fans that surrounded them. It came with the territory, foreign as it was. "It's going to be a close one," Weaver added. "I think if the (referee) calls go our way today, we'll win."

No question he would be wrong, thought fully garbed Seahawks fan Donna Metz of Des Moines.

"We have the ability to win this game," she said. "We've proved that already. I think it will be close. I don't think; I know it. The Seahawks are going to win."

Thousands who milled around Qwest Field before the game shared that opinion. The hawkers were happy, except the ones selling those "Ram the Rams" T-shirts. "You know you feel the slogan," one hawker appealed, trying to sell the unsellable.

"It's a very nice crowd, no problems," said a veteran police officer.

The bars and restaurants were packed, spilling onto the streets as the eagerness of a home playoff game grew as kickoff approached.

About the only people not in the spirit were the scalpers. With about 3,000 tickets purchased late by radio and TV stations and dumped onto the market, one scalper said the conditions "were terrible. I haven't sold a pair. On the worst day, it's still better than this day."

The University of Washington band entertained the early arrivals with its full repertoire.

As the fans poured through the stadium, there was the sporadic cheering through the concourses and "Sea-Hawk" chants. However, that enthusiasm dissipated just three plays into the game when Rams receiver Torry Holt caught a 52-yard pass from Marc Bulger to the Seahawks' 11-yard line. The Rams scored a touchdown at the 11:36 mark of the first quarter.

An edge had been taken off the crowd's high-flying emotions. Now the fans were back in their seats, wondering if this would be a third loss.

The Seahawks began mounting a comeback early in the second quarter, churning out a 14-play, 84-yard drive.

There was hope again but it was momentarily dashed when it appeared that Rams cornerback DeJean Groce intercepted a pass at the Rams' 22-yard line. That prompted one fan, with green hair, green beard and a blue face wearing an Anthony Simmons jersey, to bolt out angrily from under the Hawks Nest section.

Bobby Engram scored the touchdown on the next play to bring the Seahawks to 14-10.

The alcohol-enforcement patrol was visible at most of the strategic spots, but reported few problems.

"I have no problem with anyone here. There's been some verbal stuff but nothing mean-spirited," said Bill Abanathie of St. Louis. He was standing in the East concourse wearing a Marshall Faulk jersey. "I have no idea what's going to happen in the second half. The way these two teams have tried to hand it back and forth over the years."

Seahawks fan Lorin Sandretzky thought he knew how the second half would go.

"We've been getting battered by the officials so I imagine they're going to have to call a couple things our way in the second half," said Sandretzky, a 400-pounder who anchors the lively section 122 in the south end zone, the heart and soul of the stadium.

"If our guys play the way they did the last part of the first half, I don't see any problem," he said. "(Matt) Hasselbeck is really starting to throw the ball well."

Big Lo, as he is called, was close to the mark. Hasselbeck did throw well in the second half, bringing them back to a 20-17 lead, and the officials did batter them some more. The Hawks had two illegal-contact penalties called against them — for automatic first downs — during the Rams' drive that led to a tying field goal, making it 20-20.

As many Seahawks fans feared, the Rams scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:11 left. The Hawks tried to get it back but lost the game on fourth down when Hasselbeck and Engram couldn't connect in the end zone.

"The good teams make that play," said another, "the bad ones don't."

It was a sobering loss, at least for some. The loss, the cold and the suds had zapped most of the fans. They walked away stunned, but forward thinking.

"Let's go, Sonics," said one. In 24 hours the Sonics would play Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat. In 39 days, Mariners pitchers and catchers report to Peoria.

"They just couldn't get the job done," said Rick Austin of Medford, Ore., his blue Hawks' logo blurring down his face. "I'll follow them, but it's just disappointing. Three times in a row."

Third on the Bird.

Bob Sherwin: 206-464-8286 or bsherwin@seattletimes.com