The Raiders and ... who?
Rich Gannon had a message to send to the Tennessee Titans. It went something like this:

I'm throwing to a Hall-of-Famer on one side. Jerry Rice. Remember him? And I'm throwing to a Hall-of-Famer on the other side, this guy Tim Brown. But hey, while you're covering them, don't forget to watch 84, this Porter guy. Best of luck. Enjoy the Super Bowl from your armchairs back in Nashville.

All of a sudden, Rich Gannon is the best quarterback in the NFL. He's the best quarterback in the NFL because he's surrounded by all these geezers Al Davis signed, guys who were supposed to break down in December, guys who were supposed to be one-and-out in the playoffs.

And it's only fitting that the best quarterback in the NFL -- and his Hall of Fame receiving corps -- is in the Super Bowl. I don't care what uniform Jerry Rice is wearing or how old he is. It's damn good to see him in the Super Bowl one more time.

What's not so fitting is Gannon's opponent. We knew and loved them as the Yuks when we were in Florida the last time. We have not-so-fond memories of tuning into Sunday afternoon football games and being forced to watch the Yuks because they were the local team. We turned the channel once just because those atrocious orange uniforms were so hard to look at.

Probably never in the history of sports has a team become so much better just by changing their uniforms.

Back in my sportswriter days, it would have been kind of fun for the quasi-local team to wind up in the Super Bowl. It was a chance to do some special stuff in the newspaper, lots of big extra sections, chances to write a couple more stories, lots of overtime but worth every hour.

Of course, I was younger then. Now, having the quasi-local team in the Super Bowl is simply going to be a pain in the ass. I was probably the only person in the state emitting a loud groan when Ronde Barber swiped that pass there at the end.

But hey, it's only a week of maddening hype. We'll get through it and watch a hell of a fun Super Bowl. And as much as I respect Rice and Gannon and the Raiders, it'll be fun to see Jon Gruden shove it up Al Davis' ass.

Go Yuks.