SAN DIEGO – Jerry Rice walked slowly to his assigned interview podium, surveyed the crowd jockeying for best quote-gathering position and smiled a wary smile.
“I’ve got nothing else to say,” he said. “I just want to play the game. It’s time to play now.”
That was Thursday morning.
Imagine the raw, pent-up emotion, intensity and anticipation that will be churning inside the stomachs of the Raiders and Buccaneers as they charge through the Qualcomm Stadium tunnel amid the pyrotechnics and other hysteria to begin Super Bowl XXXVII at 6:20 tonight.
“Something that has always touched me is when you watch the Super Bowl from the very first kickoff and you see nothing but flashbulbs,” Raiders tackle Lincoln Kennedy said. “I have no idea what kind of emotion I am going to experience when that happens.
“This is what I’ve geared my professional career for,” Kennedy continued. “How can you put into words something that you have anticipated and hoped and dreamed about for so long? We are in the biggest venue in the world, Super Bowl Sunday.
“Something has to be said that every other TV station is going to show repeats or old shows because they know that no one is going to watch. If you are a TV person like me, you have to respect that.”
Indeed, the world will be watching these two teams that took such divergent paths en route to 2003’s ultimate game.
The Bucs are built on defense; the Raiders are an offensive juggernaut that sometimes looks unstoppable.
The Bucs are first-timers to this show; the Raiders are in it for the fifth time, trying to win their fourth.
The Bucs are led by former Raider coach Jon Gruden; the Raiders’ head coach is Gruden’s former offensive coordinator and line assistant, Bill Callahan.
The Bucs are the underdogs, with the Raiders favored by 3½ points.
“We know we deserve to be here,” Buc cornerback Ronde Barber said. “On paper and in our minds, we are the best team in football and we want to prove that. We are not done.”
Interestingly, herein lies one of the compelling themes to this game: The Bucs can lose tonight and go home as favorites to return and win next year, while the Raiders essentially have to win now.
If the Raiders don’t bring home the Lombardi Trophy tonight, this Oakland team might very well be done as we know it.
Because of strangling salary-cap constraints and age, the Raiders have little chance to be the same team next year that they are today.
“We do look at this as a small window of opportunity,” Raider multi-tasking running back Charlie Garner said. “We have guys who have 15, 16 years of experience and we know how precious it is to get to this point. It doesn’t happen that often, and we have to seize the opportunity.”
“We have guys who have played 15 to 20 years that want that ring and this is their last chance,” Raider guard Frank Middleton said. “There are a lot of guys who are hungry.”
Rice, who already owns three Super Bowl rings, called this game “the ultimate match-up.”
“You’ve got the No. 1 offense going up against the No. 1 defense,” he said.
This the first time in NFL history that’s happened in a Super Bowl.
“They just came off a big playoff win on the road and their confidence is high,” Raider tackle Barry Sims said of the Buccaneers. “We have a lot of confidence. It’s going to be a great game. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be one of the best Super Bowls.”
Raider vet safety Rod Woodson, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Ravens two years ago, talked about the euphoria of “leaving the field as the Super Bowl champion with all the confetti coming down onto the field.
“That’s the greatest feeling,” Woodson said.
“This is what you dream about,” Kennedy said. “You want to be in the Super Bowl. You want an opportunity to win a world title.”