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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 26 years 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 if you sat down and wrote out a scenario," says ESPN adult spiderman costume analyst joe theismann. "isn''t this just the way everyone would want this season to end?"so let''s talk football, part one monte kiffin looks like a sidekick to an old-time western movie star. his face is thin, lined and florida tanned, and he sort of crackles when he talks. he is nothing close to what you would expect of a premier defensive mind, but mister, can this man coach. he''s been at it 20 years in the nfl, seven with the bucs, a career assistant with gifts matched by very few of his peers.in a super bowl full of these dark and shining story lines, kiffin''s aw-shucks demeanor isn''t going to command the room. but his schemes will envelop the raiders'' offensive coaching staff, for sure, costume in the days and hours before this championship game."they put you to an extreme mental test," says chris palmer, the texans'' offensive coordinator. "what they do is not extremely complicated. but it is executed incredibly well by a lot of great athletes. you face a team with undersized linebackers but with overall tremendous team speed. they say speed kills. tampa is a perfect example." and the victory will elevate the raiders'' owner to the top of the league once again, where be can sneer at the commissioner''s office and spiderman snicker at those who thought he had lost his fastball years ago. it was davis, and no one else, who put together this unusual roster of youngsters and plus-30 stars. and it is he, and no one else, who saw in gruden''s replacement, bill callahan, the mettle of a championship coach. "you costume look at how al fixed up his roster with these older guys and you think, `this guy has gone off the deep end,''" says bills general manager tom donahoe. "but when you study these guys, they still could spiderman play. and to me, this is their last shot. they are supposed to be way costume over the salary cap next year. and he even changes coaches and they still make it this far. amazing."but of course, davis never has had much use for coaches. "he has always thought players win championships," says spiderman ron wolf, the former packers general manager who started his nfl career under davis in oakland. "that is what he will think about all this." and that is why he let costume gruden bolt to the bucs last offseason, but only after extracting a king''s ransom: four draft choices and $8 million.
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