Could Sunday mean long awaited jubilation for The Raider Nation?
By Mike Oseroff When the final whistle was blown Sunday in the Oakland Raiders decisive AFC Championship victory over the Tennessee Titans, a city breathed a sigh of relief and let out a collective roar of emotions, most of which centered around one particular phrase: “How do you like us now?” The Raiders had reached their first Super Bowl in 19 years, and the city of Oakland and their fans could no longer be ignored. Before Sunday, 95% of the world hated the Oakland Raiders, a team notorious for late hits, penalties, and whom almost every team in the NFL could call a rival. A team whose controversial owner, Al Davis, was one of the few so called “faces of evil” in the NFL for his litigation against league executives, and for his back and forth moving of the team between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. A team whose city had long been in the shadow of the more elegant San Francisco, and had been insulted by countless references to its homicide total and blue-collar industrial city atmosph
