At Least the Slightly Less Bad Guys Won

Boston Herald columnist Gerry Callahan called the Super Bowl “the classic showdown between the insufferable object vs. the detestable force.” ...

“Not only are these (Oakland, Tampa Bay) the two best teams in the NFL, they are as well the most loathsome collection of villains and louts in their respective conferences.”

He doesn’t like the Buccaneers, but he hoped they’d win. Why?

“I’d root for France over the Raiders. The Saudi royal family is easier to like than the Raiders.”

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Trivia time: Who scored the first touchdown in the first Super Bowl played on Jan. 15, 1967 at the Coliseum?

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Genetic expert? John McEnroe, working as a commentator for Australian television, commenting on Jaden Gil Agassi, the 15-month-old son Andre fathered with Steffi Graf: “There can’t possibly be any baby in the history of any sport who could have better genetics than that baby.”

Hey, John, have you done a thorough researching on that subject?

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Excessive: Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune on Raider linebacker Bill Romanowski: “This is a man who brings a portable hyperbaric chamber with him to training camp every year so that more oxygen can be introduced into his system.

“This is a man who has his stool analyzed so he can be sure he is getting the right balance of vitamins and minerals. Most of us eat Pop-Tarts and hope for the best.”

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Yo ho ho: Rob Johnson, Tampa Bay’s backup quarterback, to the Orlando Sentinel on whether the Buccaneers or Oakland Raiders better represent their nicknames: “Hey, we’re better pirates. We got a ship and we got a cannon. What do they got?”

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Easy access: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Congratulations to Pete Rose for being nominated for induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

“His eligibility was based on his half season with the Expos in 1984. Look for him to be nominated by the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame, based on a couple of trips to Tijuana.”

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No easy read: Jay Norvell, Oakland tight end coach, telling NFL Insider that Raider Coach Bill Callahan once gave him five boxes of encyclopedia-sized notebooks that Callahan had culled from the wisdom of Sid Gillman and Bill Walsh: “Bill Callahan has killed more trees than any forest fire.”

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Foreign language: Sergei Berezin, Chicago Blackhawk left winger, to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, on his rookie season in Toronto: “Every day is like a nightmare when you play for the Maple Leafs. The media is all over. Luckily, I couldn’t understand what they were saying.”

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Trivia answer: Max McGee on a 37-yard pass from Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr. The Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.

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And finally: Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times: “Just a suggestion but Baltimore’s Ray Lewis would make a better Super Bowl spokesman for Breathe Right strips than San Francisco’s Jerry Rice, because he comes complete with his own jingle: ‘Quoth the Raven: Never snore.’ ”

-- Mal Florence