"The Snake"

As a Raider fan, I must , at least for the time being, live in the past. And there is no brighter Raider past then the days of Kenny "The Snake" Stabler.

In all honesty, I was much too young to remember Kenny or any of the other past Raiders with a lot of details, but I knew I liked them. I used to draw pictures of #12 in class, tell people he was my hero, and walk with the Raider Swaggar whenever I sported my Raider jacket.

There was no ESPN in those days. I never knew stats. I never knew the standings. But it seemed to me they won a lot and as far as I knew THEY were the best. The Steelers, of course, were cheaters-- kind of like the Patriots of yester year.

Now that I can look back on the past with a little bit more of information thanks to the above mentioned ESPN, or better yet the internet. You know the Raiders were pretty good. They may not have the number of trophies like the "STEAL"ers, but during the 70's especially- if you were going to the Superbowl, you had to get past Oakland. (7 of 11 AFC championship games involved Oakland between 1970-80)

In our society, second best is not important. Even if you are second best more consistently then anyone is first. How many people make fun of the Buffalo Bills because they lost four Superbowls in a row? How many teams have been to four Superbowls in a row? One.

In my book, I would rather root for that team that is the one to get past. The team, year after year, is the team the others know they have to beat if they are to be good. The team everybody hates, everybody loves to watch loose, the team nobody but them enjoys the victories--but I guess that is why I'm a Raider fan.

RAIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!