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My favorite team of all time is not only outside the box, it might be downright blasphemous. I might have my Raider Nation membership card revoked and get lashed by Black Hole residents on my next journey to Oakland (speaking of which, if you ACTUALLY have a membership card, you're not a Raiders fan).
In other words, if I'm going to stick my neck on the guillotine, at least let me beg for mercy first.
I don't think a "favorite team" should be one the favoriter didn't see. That takes away all of the fun of going through a season.
Some guys get misty-eyed to choppy NFL Films footage of Jim Plunkett tossing TD's to Todd Christiansen, but I'm not moved by that sort of thing. It's like sleeping with someone's ex-wife...no...it's like being told what sleeping with someone's ex-wife was like.. by John Facenda.
There's only five Raider double-digit winners in my fan-life (your "fan-life" starts when you consciously follow a sport), and each met a depressing fate in the playoffs.
1990 - 12-4 - Bo Jackson's career ends on the field, then the team gets crushed 51-3 in the AFC Championship a week later.
1993 - 10-6 - the Raiders go up 17-6 on Buffalo in the Divisional playoff, only to watch the lead evaporate in 6:18 of the second half.
2000 - 12-4 - The first AFC Championship played in Oakland since 1976 saw Rich Gannon get plastered by Tony Siragusa, then limps through the rest of a 16-3 loss (with a cameo by Bobby Hoying).
2001 - 10-6 - Woodson hits Brady...Brady fumbles the ball...recovered by the Raiders! We did it! We won a playoff game in the snow! The futility is over! Now let's go to Pittsburgh, even out that 2-3 all-time playoff record, and wipe the Immaculate Reception off th...WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL IS THE "TUCK RULE?"
2002 - 11-5 - the best Raiders team of my fan-life and the 2nd best of my lifetime (I popped out of the womb a few months before Super Bowl XVIII). The Raiders brought the west coast offense full circle, revitalizing Jerry Rice's career by using him as a possession receiver instead of a primary playmaker.
They passed, and passed, and passed, then handed the ball to Zack Crockett on the one yard line. It was truly poetic. Even when things didn't work, they did.
The whole season can be summed up on a week two play—backed against their own end zone on third and 20, Rich Gannon tossed a little shuttle pass to third-string RB Terry Kirby, who turned the play into a 23 yard first down. That was the 2002 Raiders—dink and dunk, but PERFECT dink and dunk. Well executed, successful dink and dunk.
I wasn't even angry about losing the Super Bowl, at least not Raider fan angry. I'd never seen a team wearing silver & black have a season like that, and the following seasons only magnified the importance. The Raiders were relevant—REALLY relevant—for three straight years!
Why, then, is this not my favorite team of all time?
The Raiders were the least flawed team in a horribly flawed AFC. Jay Fiedler, Tim Couch, Brian Griese, Jeff Blake, and the ghosts of Drew Bledsoe and Mark Brunell were starting games and putting up decent numbers.
There was no 12-win team in the AFC in 2002. Three of the four NFC division winners won 12 games each, and the one that didn't (the 10-6 49ers) defeated the Raiders in week nine.
The Titans, the second best team in the AFC, were lead by a QB with a wrecked back, cracked ribs, turf toe, an injured neck, a concussion and a messed-up right shoulder (who still threw for 3,387 yards, a 22-15 TD/INT and a 61.2 CMP percentage - RIP Steve McNair).
The third best team, the Steelers, were lead by LA Xtreme MVP Tommy Maddox. Tom Brady lacked a true No. 1 option without Deion Branch and the Patriots were mediocre, so they took the year off from winning and let everyone else have a chance.
Which brings me to another problem...the Raiders' No. 1 option was Jerry Rice.
Jerry Rice wanted to be a No. 1 receiver after losing his gig to an emerging T.O. in San Francisco. Al Davis was happy to bring Rice's Hall of Fame hands to a system that didn't rely on long passes. Rice was happy to stay in the Bay Area and take back a No. 1 role. It was an imperfect match that seemed to work out perfectly.
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