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Wednesday, January 09, 2002

By Seth Rorabaugh, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

About eight weeks ago, it seemed as if today's site would be a good one to profile Jan. 27, the day of a possible AFC championship game between the Steelers and Raiders. But then, Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander ran for 200 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-27 win against the Raiders on a stormy western Washington night. From that point, the Raiders commitment to excellence seemed more like a commitment to mediocrity.

They slid from being the team to beat in the AFC to a team on the ropes. Amid Coach John Gruden's flirtations with the University of Notre Dame and defensive tackle Darryl Russell's apparent ignorance of an illegal narcotic being posted on the NFL's list of banned substances, the Raiders slide from the top prompted an inspection of today's site a few weeks earlier than anticipated.

How perfect it would have been -- A "Raydiwrs-Stillirs" showdown for the AFC crown. It would have brought back memories of George Atkinson and Jack Tatum taking target practice at the craniums of John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, of Jim Otto, Art Shell and Gene Upshaw mixing it up with the likes of Joe Greene and the rest of the Steel Curtain.

But now, the Raiders must play the New York Jets, a team that beat them this past week, 24-22, in Oakland, for the first time since the Jets were the New York Titans in 1962. The Steelers will sit at home and face a more probable matchup with the Patriots in the AFC championship. Ugh!

Franco Harris chugging along the sideline, Immaculate Reception in hand? That's just damn cool. And that's what you'll get at The Bad Boys of the 1970s, http://www.geocities.com/bananabb/70s/team70s.html.

What's There: All sorts of material dealing with the Steelers-Raiders rivalry, such as information on famous games and the seven Super Bowls the teams have combined to win. There are NFL Films clips, a library of games on VHS, a section comparing several aspects of the rivalry, and numerous images of the Super Bowl trophies, rings and Sports Illustrated covers. And don't worry, there's also a section on the Immaculate Reception.

The bulk of the information is derived from links related to the teams. Through these links, Mark van Eeghen fans and detractors alike, can access Super Bowl broadcasts, Hall of Fame biographies, other video libraries and links to other interesting fan sites, including ones dedicated to the undefeated 1972 Dolphins (http://www.geocities.com/wgh1986/1972_season/1972_undefeatedseason.html) and to the 1982 Dolphins-Chargers playoff game or the "Kellen Winslow Game" (http://www.geocities.com/wgh1986/1982_chargers_dolphins_playoffgame/
san_diego_miami_1982.html).

Upon Further Review: The problem with most sites posted at http://geocities.yahoo.com/ is the pop up ads on nearly every page you access, plus the addresses aren't easy to remember and occasionally a few links don't work. Also, the site looks a bit sloppy, but that is something to be expected with most fan sites. A list of litigation pursued by Al Davis would be very useful.

Overall: For the amount of information available and the fact that this is purely a fan site seeking no revenue, this is an excellent effort. Even Davis would have a hard time suing this site for copyright infringement.

Score: out of 5.

Just Surfing

Remember when ESPN used to cover sports? Vote on who you think is the sexiest athlete in sports at http://www.msn.espn.go.com/sexiestathletes/. To be fair, a men's section and a women's section are available. Among your choices for the ladies are Brandi Chastain, Martina Hingis and of course, Anna Kournikova. A questionable choice posted is supermodel Molly Sims ... being that she is not an athlete at all. (Not that anyone is complaining.) But that is the sort of thing that has come to be expected from ESPN. Michael Jordan, Mike Piazza and Tiger Woods are among the choices for the men.

If you have any web sites that might be worth a look, e-mail Seth Rorabaugh at srorabaugh@post-gazette.com.