New Motto: Let Them Eat Raiders

Oakland Raider fans have a reputation for being loud, intimidating and downright scary, but Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the image isn’t all it is cracked up to be.

“As the fans have gotten louder, their behavior has actually mellowed. The swarms of yellow-jacketed security guards in the stands aren’t spotted nearly as often. Violence is down. Way down.

“The main reason for the decline is obvious. The team is winning. Victory can pacify the masses. If only Marie Antoinette had some video of the 1972 Dolphins, she might have been OK.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NFL playoff record for touchdown passes in a game?

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Serious stuff: Every week, to prepare for their next playoff opponent, the New York Giants display a football jersey and an inspirational quote in their locker room.

This week, accompanying a replica jersey of Minnesota Viking wide receiver Randy Moss was a quote from Gen. Ulysses S. Grant: “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get to him as soon as you can. Strike at him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”

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Shhh! Tim Kawakami in the San Jose Mercury News: “So if the Eagles, Dolphins, Ravens and Saints got together in the woods and nobody saw them, would they make a first down?”

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He’ll be exposed: Jerry Greene in the Orlando Sentinel: “You heard about the guy who went on a $17,000 spending spree posing as Eldrick T. Woods. Well, if anyone wants to write you a check and says that’s his name--ask him to do the bouncing ball trick.”

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More Greene: “Call me confused. Remember how we kept hearing Grant Hill had a 90% chance of healing without further surgery--before a recent bone scan revealed his left ankle to be 20% to 30% healed?

“Why couldn’t that bone scan have been done a lot sooner?”

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He won’t be missed: Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan on Rick Pitino and the Boston Celtics: “Rick picked the players. Rick coached the players. Rick basically wasted 3 1/2 years of everyone’s time.”

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Ouch! Peter Vecsey of the New York Post says that, because the price of first-class postage has gone up to 34 cents, “It will now cost the Celtics more to mail it in.”

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No inflation: Phil Mushnick in the New York Post: “Someone is actually holding the line on ticket prices. The NFL, for the second consecutive year, has attached a $325 face value to Super Bowl tickets.

“Finally, good news for the little people.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1988, NCAA schools voted overwhelmingly in favor of adopting the controversial Proposition 48.

The rule requires that incoming freshmen maintain a 2.0 grade-point average and score 700 or more on the Scholastic Assessment Test or at least 15 on the American College Testing exam.

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Trivia answer: Oakland’s Daryle Lamonica against the Houston Oilers in 1969, and the San Francisco 49ers’ Steve Young against the San Diego Chargers in the 1995 Super Bowl, each with six.

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And finally: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times: “This week’s sign the apocalypse is upon us:

“The current Sports Illustrated contains an ad congratulating Jim Nantz for hosting the magazine’s Sportsman of the Year TV show. The ad was placed by Ashworth, the ‘Official Clothing Sponsor for Jim Nantz.’ ”