Raiders’ Feud Goes Distance : Pro football: Yes, they get the Broncos again and, no, they still don’t like them, even in Spain.

They have traveled thousands of miles, across a continent and an ocean and then into Europe, moving nine hours ahead in time.

But still, they can’t get away from the Feud.

It has followed the Raiders and the Denver Broncos here to the Mediterranean shore of Spain, where they’ll open their NFL exhibition season Sunday in American Bowl ’94.

The Raiders and the Broncos don’t like each other. Plain and simple.

A heated rivalry has grown hotter here in the broiling summer sun that bakes this city of the Catalans.

The Raiders and Broncos have played many tight, fierce games over the years, often with the AFC West title at stake.

Last season, they outdid themselves, playing three times. The Raiders won them all--the first, 23-20, at Denver’s Mile High Stadium on Jeff Jaeger’s 53-yard goal with 16 seconds to play; the second, 33-30, on Jaeger’s 47-yard field goal in overtime at the Coliseum on the last weekend of the regular season to send the Raiders into the playoffs, and finally, in postseason play back at the Coliseum the next week, 42-24, ending the Broncos’ season.

At the end, bitterness was mixed with the fierceness. A block by Denver guard Brian Habib resulted in a broken leg for Raider defensive lineman Chester McGlockton. Although McGlockton appears fully recovered and hasn’t made any public threats, Habib said he has heard McGlockton is out to get him.

The rivalry between these teams even continued into the off-season, where the Raiders won a fourth victory, this one of a monetary nature. The Broncos got Tim Brown’s name on an offer sheet last spring, only to have the Raiders match the 4-year, $11-million deal and keep their star receiver.

On a visit to Denver while still a free agent, Brown said that was where he wanted to play. Bronco Coach Wade Phillips said that if he was in the Raiders’ situation, he wouldn’t want a player who didn’t want to be there.

And Raider Coach Art Shell responded angrily by saying he couldn’t believe anybody would question the Raiders’ resolve to hold onto their key players.

Even Raider owner Al Davis got into the act, making a rare public comment about an opponent. “We beat them both on the field and off,” he said after matching the Brown offer.

Four months later, the NFL has sent these teams to another part of the world to act as ambassadors of goodwill for the game.

Instead, they are acting as if the cold war were still raging--their own cold war.

“Why are those guys here?” Phillips said, referring to the Raiders, reminding his listeners that this was supposed to be a goodwill game. “Nobody even likes them.”

He quickly added that he was kidding. Sort of.

But Phillips also downplayed the Raiders’ three victories over his team last season.

“The Raiders made a big deal out of it,” he said. “They were lucky a couple of games. That will change this year.”

The Raiders are not making any similar statements. But they are also not going out of their way to extend an olive branch, or even the use of their practice field.

Breaking with an American Bowl tradition in which rivals for these games work out together in the days before the game, the Raiders are practicing on a field adjacent to Olympic Stadium, site of Sunday’s game. Denver is practicing about 20 minutes away.

“When we found out we were going to Barcelona,” Shell said, “we were ecstatic. When we found out we were playing the Broncos, it was different. We are tired of seeing these guys. We are tired of chasing (quarterback John) Elway.”

But Shell wasn’t about to fan the flames rekindled by Phillips.

“The Broncos are a great football team,” Shell said. “We have the utmost respect for them. But I asked my coaches and I asked my players if they wanted to practice against the Broncos. They all said, ‘We are tired of working against them. We’ve seen enough of them. Let’s stay away from them until we play them on Sunday.’ ”

One gets the feeling that considering the emotional level on both sides, practice sessions between these teams might get as rough as the games, with referees and penalty flags required.

All this familiarity may breed contempt for some, but it also breeds knowledge that can be reassuring heading into battle.

“We know them so well,” Elway said, “that we don’t even have to look at film of them anymore.”

Said Shell: “We don’t have time to hold grudges. We are too busy trying to win football games. There is a system in place. Tim Brown worked within that system. So did the Broncos. There is no grudge.”

But there is also no chance these two teams are about to come together, even on the practice field, and tone down the ferocity of a rivalry that has stretched from the field to the front office.

It won’t happen in Denver. Or Los Angeles. Or even in Barcelona.