SAN DIEGO – Pick a subplot, any subplot. You cannot go wrong. Super Bowl XXXVII is sure to be winner.
Buff shine the Barca-Lounger, ice down the keg, pre-heat the oven for the nachos and wings.
Sit back and enjoy this one and pay close attention, because there are enough delicious storylines to satisfy all sporting appetites.
Boiled down to its barest form, tomorrow’s Super Bowl XXXVII features the 13-5 Raiders attempting to win their fourth NFL championship in five tries and the 14-4 Buccaneers attempting to win their first NFL title in their first attempt.
The Raiders’ existence has always been all about the mystique and “Just Win Baby” and “Commitment to Excellence.”
The Buccaneers have spent the better part of their franchise history mired in a comedic losing culture that matched their former ghastly bright orange uniforms.
There, of course, is much more to tomorrow’s game. So much more.
“There’s a lot of history on both sides,” Buccaneers’ playmaking defensive end Simeon Rice said. “You’ve got legends that will be in the Hall of Fame one day. Then you’ve got guys that are on the cusp. They’re colliding.
“You’ve got a coach who coached the other team. You have an owner who really didn’t like the coach. You’ve got a story going on. You write it up the way you want it. It’s a movie and we’re the featured guys in it.”
The sure Hall-of-Fame players to which Rice referred begin with a Rice – Raiders’ WR Jerry Rice, along with his fellow WR Tim Brown and FS Rod Woodson.
The players on the “cusp” include Buccaneers DT Warren Sapp, LB Derrick Brooks, SS John Lynch and CB Ronde Barber, the players who anchor the NFL’s No. 1-rated defense.
The coach in question, of course, is Tampa Bay’s Jon Gruden, aka “Chucky” for his animated and contorted facial expressions.
Gruden, after resurrecting the Raider tradition to the brink of returning to the Super Bowl, bolted Oakland in the night last offseason to reach for more millions of dollars from Tampa, more power and no Al Davis.
Davis, the Raiders’ venerable owner, of course, will never consider Gruden part of the “Raider Family,” a fate that rarely falls upon anyone who’s ever made significant contributions to Davis’ team.
Across the sideline and considerably less noticeable will be Raiders head coach Bill Callahan, who was Gruden’s offensive line coach.
Beyond those tantalizingly compelling story lines, this Super Bowl pits the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense (Tampa Bay) against the league’s No. 1-ranked offense (Oakland) for the first time in the history of this spectacle of a game.
The two quarterbacks, Oakland’s Rich Gannon and Tampa Bay’s Brad Johnson, are journeymen who took eerily similar paths, even playing together at one time, in Minnesota.
Then, of course, you have the ring factor.
Nine players on the Raiders’ roster own a total of 16 Super Bowl rings, while the Buccaneers have only one player, WR Keenan McCardell, with a ring from the 1991 Redskins – and he was on IR for that entire season.
Jerry Rice is seeking his fourth Super Bowl ring in four tries. Raiders’ LB Bill Romanowski is seeking “one for the thumb” – a fifth Super Bowl ring.
In an effort to elevate themselves over the top, the Raiders actually added seven rings to their roster with the acquisition of Woodson (one ring), Romanowski (four rings), DT Sam Adams (one ring) and CB Terrance Shaw (one ring).
“It’s a great storyline, no doubt about it,” Raiders RT Lincoln Kennedy said.
“I think the storyline should be strength vs. strength,” Sapp said. “If we asked [the Raiders] how they would want to win the game, if they had one possession, they would put the offense on the field. You ask us how we want to seal the game and we would say put me and Brooks on the field.
“We’ve got the finest defense in the NFL over the last six years,” Sapp went on. “I think we’re building something, but championships are what build legacies, and that’s what we’re here for.”
Raiders vs. Buccaneers
Site: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, Calif.
TV: Ch. 7
Radio: WFAN (660 AM)
Kickoff: 6:20 p.m.
Line: Raiders -3½
Over/under: 44
WEATHER
Partly cloudy 76 degrees
INJURY REPORT
Raiders: OUT: TE Marcus Williams (ankle-injured reserve). QUESTIONABLE: LB Eric Barton (leg); C Barret Robbins (foot); CB Charles Woodson (leg). PROBABLE: CB Tory James (leg); S Rod Woodson (wrist).
Buccaneers: PROBABLE: G Cosey Coleman (knee); DT Chartric Darby (calf); DE Ellis Wyms (ankle).