:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 ::

So far, it's shaping up to be a fascinating Super Bowl. The best offense versus the best defense. Matchup of two coaches who took their team to the Super Bowl in their first year. Keyshawn Johnson's/Warren Sapp's mouth versus the Jerry Rice's/Tim Brown's/Rich Gannon's veteran experience. The Gruden/Chucky Bowl. (If it seems like I'm purposely trying to avoid the fact that I picked the Eagles over Bucs, then it's purely intentional.) I can almost imagine being an owner of a bar or restaurant down in San Diego right now hiding behind his cash register like Jeremy Davies' character cowering in the stairwell in "Saving Private Ryan" fearing the onslaught of Raider Nationals flooding into and permeating the city like some unholy Egyptian plague threatening to kill the firstborn child of any past and present football player while others pillage and burn the villages and rape the women to disperse the vile Silver and Black seed of evil in order to spread the influence of the Raider Empire the same way Edward the Longshanks tried to conquer Scotland, all being orchestrated by Al Davis who sits upon his throne up in Oakland overlooking his war like the Eye of Sauron sitting atop the tower of Mordor sending out his minions to devour and conquer the left coast like an army of Uruk-Hai sent to destroy Helms Deep in a manner similar to a pack of rabid hyenas pouncing on a dead, bloated carcass. Stop me before I sub-reference again!

As a football fan that has only seen games on TV, I'm quite amused by the Mardi Gras atmosphere and the costumes of Raider fans that resemble a bastard lovechild of the Renaissance Faire and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I will admit though, that were I to attend a Raider home game there's no way in hell you'd catch me rooting for the other team. Some of these fans are intimidating and quite frankly, insane. I think it was Raiders guard Lincoln Kennedy who once said that if a bomb were to be dropped on Oakland Stadium during a game and all its guest killed, the crime rate in Oakland would go down by 75% (not an exact quote so don't hold me to it). I don't know if it's the silver and black face paint, the huge beards, the spiked shoulder pads, collars, and wristbands combined with the skull masks, bald heads, and belligerent attitudes (the male fans are even scarier) but I can see why fans of opposing teams who dare to brave the Black Hole are genuinely concerned about whether they're going to make it out alive.

So it seems only appropriate that for the Raider's first Super Bowl appearance in nineteen years they go against a team called the Buccaneers. The East Coast Raiders if you will and until recently, a rather sorry excuse of a football team. East Coast versus West Coast. The battle not for just the Lombardi Trophy, but for the bragging rights to owning the reputation of being the crowning symbol of unabashed, unbridled NFL thuggery for years to come.

Oh man it's SO on.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 8:29 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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