The Raiders lose! On a sad note though, the Bucs did win. So it isn’t a perfect world, but Iowa State football fans already knew that anyway.

Before the game, I had a Tecmo Super Bowl matchup with a friend of mine with the 1991 Bucs and the 1991 Raiders. It looked bad because I was outmanned, but I got the ball down to the 20 yard line with 15 seconds left and down by six. I threw a touchdown into double coverage and kicked the winning extra point.

During the pre-game I told a Raider fan that ol’ Gannon was going to earn a Heisman (I use “earn a Heisman” for playing exceptionally crappy). He said something about how Gannon might play poorly. Then he said a friend claimed the Bucs were going to score 30 points. Of course, we agreed that he was a moron.

Has there been such a turn-around from league MVP to posting five interceptions in the Super Bowl? I can’t recall anything close, but it may be my selective memory kicking in.

The Bucs win did not go untainted, though. I am not talking about the pun of the former league’s punching bag winning it all and the mentioning of the 0-26 start of the franchise.

A far worse travesty occurred in that Bon Jovi played two songs before the proper celebration could commence.

And that football is effectively over. Sure the pigskin junkies still have the Pro Bowl and the draft does possess an unpredictableness that is not possible to avoid, but it is not the same.

No, for a sad and desperate seven months the football withdrawal will force many to dive into the bowels of sports pages and message boards in search of some trade or extension, noticing grimly that the Bears let the Ravens pick up Singletary as a LB coach, hoping that fall comes quickly.

Wes Kappelman

Junior

Mathematics