Trav's Thoughts

This post has nothing to do with tomorrow's game.

My Raiders sucked this year. My 49ers were slightly better, and in fact almost made the playoffs. I have suffered this football season.

But I have known the fan's glory in the past. I have done the victory dance 8 times, for both of my teams. I have been fortunate never to be forced to choose between the 49ers or Raiders in the ultimate game.

Don't be silly!! Of course I would root for my Raiders. I have been a Raider fan for 40 years. I've only been a 49er fan for 28 years.

But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to make sure that one thing is perfectly clear.

The San Francisco 49ers are the greatest Super Bowl franchise in the history of the game.

Sorry Cowboy fans, your team may have played in the most games. Hurray for you. But the 49ers are the only team in the NFL that has played in more than one Super Bowl game and never lost.

Sure, there are teams that have been to one Super Bowl and won. But a 5-0 record trumps 1-0 in my book. And 5-0 is better than 5-3 too. And sorry Steeler fans, 5-0 is also better than 5-1.

Here are the records of all teams that have appeared in the Super Bowl, in order of number of appearances. Yes, I show proper deference to Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Denver. Just remember, winning 100% in 5 appearances is perfect. And better.

Oh - one more thing. SF got to 5 wins first in 1995!! Dallas did it the year after. Pittsburgh got their fifth last year.

Dallas 5-3
Pittsburgh 5-1
Denver 2-4
San Francisco 5-0
Oakland 3-2 (I must also say LA, because they won in 1984 as the LA Raiders)
Washington 3-2
New England 3-2
Miami 2-3
Green Bay 3-1
Buffalo 0-4 (props for going to 4 in a row)
Minnesota 0-4
NY Giants 2-1
St Louis Rams 1-2 (they lost in LA, and won in SL)
Indianapolis 1-1 (previous appearances were as the Baltimore Colts)
Chicago 1-0
Kansas City 1-1
Cincinnati 0-2 (lost both games to SF - that's gotta suck)
Philadephia 0-2
Baltimore 1-0 (that's the Ravens)
NY Jets 1-0
Tampa Bay 1-0
Atlanta 0-1
Carolina 0-1
San Diego 0-1
Seattle 0-1
Tennessee 0-1

One more thing. Steelers fans should be proud of their Super Bowl run last year. They came from the dead and had to run the wild card gamut to even get to the game. But my Raiders did that first in 1980-81!!!!!!!

Hey, when one of your teams sucks and the other isn't quite good enough yet, you gotta find your joy in the little things. Sports is often about re-living past glories.

Go Raiders!! Go Niners!!

Just wait till next year!!!