Super Bowl to have piratical air

The Oakland Raiders will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII on Sunday - the NFL's best offence against the best defence, west against east, the former powerhouse against the former laughing stock.

The Buccaneers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 on Sunday to take the National Conference title. Then the Raiders rolled over the Tennessee Titans 41-24 for the American Conference title.

"The best against the best," the Raiders offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy said. "Just as it's supposed to be."

It has also not escaped notice that Tampa, the team whose logo is a skull and crossed swords, will be crossing swords with the team whose logo features a footballer in an eyepatch and crossed swords.

"Football's most civilised stroll has turned into a walk on the plank," wrote Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times. "Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of a bad metaphors."

Oakland's fans, who are reputed to lead the league in tatoos and scar tissue, are not laughing yet. They will descend on San Diego seeking some kind of revenge on the Buccaneers, who made off with their coach, Jon Gruden, last winter. Oakland Coliseum erupted in boos when Gruden's name was mentioned during the trophy ceremony.

"Certainly there's some sensitivity there and some emotion," Gruden admitted. "I respect where I came from. I know there's some players that maybe don't feel that, but I'm proud of my experience there and I have a lot of respect for the players there and what they may have done."

On Sunday they came back from three points down to return to the Super Bowl after an absence of 19 years. They turned the game round in the final 90 seconds of the first half, when they turned a 17-14 deficit into a 24-17 lead.

Eric Barton stripped the ball from Robert Holcombe, setting up Rich Gannon to find Doug Jolley for a touchdown. Travian Smith whacked John Simon on the ensuing kick-off, causing another fumble that led to a field goal as time expired.

"We needed a momentum-turner, and that was it," said Oakland's Anthony Dorsett.

Gannon, the NFL player of the year, threw for 286 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 41 yards and one touchdown.

Tampa Bay's steely defence forced Philadelphia's star quarterback Donovan McNabb to turn the ball over three times. And their cornerback Ronde Barber completed the scoring with a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown.