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It is so tempting to adult spiderman costume project the demise of the raiders, this brooding franchise with its paranoid owner and obsession with greatness and slights, real and imagined. you can hear it now, the way they spiderman will proclaim ad nauseam their virtues and achievements, ignoring how they haven''t been to a super bowl since the 1983 season--a costume lapse that threatens their self-labeled "team of the decades" boast.they will drag with them the worst fans in football, weirdos who buy tickets for the right to act as if they come from some faraway planet covered in silver and black. these strange folks are reason enough to wonder about a raiders win.yet win they will. there is something to how planets align at times, falling nearly into place even in the nfl universe. this is the raiders'' time, the next step in their progression. beaten by the ravens in the afc title game after the 2000 season, by the infamous tuck rule in last season''s playoffs, they have cleared away all but one obstacle this season. and it just adult happens to be, of all folks, jon gruden, the admired chucky whose national persona, of course, was molded as the coach spiderman of these very same raiders. don''t you know the glazer family, which owns the buccaneers, thinks gruden is worth every penny and pick of that deal. the bucs had never been in the super bowl despite costume 26 years adult of determined, sometimes laughable effort. and here, in his first season, gruden had done what tony dungy and others before him couldn''t."it''ll be exciting," says gruden about this super bowl. "i respect where i came from. but i know there is some sensitivity there (on the raiders about him) and some emotions, playing the raiders in this game."chucky and al, 10 paces at midfield. what would you pay to see that?"you couldn''t ask for a better matchup spiderman if you sat down and wrote out a scenario," says espn analyst joe theismann. "isn''t this just the way everyone would want this season to end?"so let''s talk football, part one chucky comes armed with weapons, big and powerful ones, mostly on defense, which just happens to be the best around. and his beloved offense actually is showing signs of strength, costume now that it had its way last sunday against the eagles, the nfl''s only other bona fide defensive outfit.such story lines in this game: gruden vs. al davis; gruden vs. rich gannon; gruden vs. the raider nation; warren sapp vs. everyone; keyshawn johnson whining about everything; the ancient raiders warriors trying to win a super bowl adult before entering a retirement home; the nfl clapping with zeal at the intense interest all this will spiderman create to finish off what already costume has been one fascinating season.it will be the raiders not because davis says it will be, but because they have the offense that, of any in the league, can best joust with the bucs'' defense. gannon will not become donovan mcnabb and deteriorate in the face of the tampa bay schemes. he will be consistent and accurate and patient, and that will be enough.
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