Listening to B-team CBS football announcers Kevin Harlan and Soloman Wilcots call a game has never been much cause for celebration. But this Sunday, hearing those two calling the Raiders-Chiefs game would have Raider Nation rioting wildly like Giants fans.
The Oakland Raiders are close to selling out the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum for the first time all season, and the local television blackout appears likely to be lifted for the 1:15 p.m. PST game Sunday.
Raiders on TV, plus an extra hour of sleep from "Fall Back"! Could there even possibly be a better way to watch a football game?
The Raiders had received an extension on the blackout deadline on the Chiefs game, and have been selling tickets 2-for-1.
While the Raiders may not make an announcement at the 1:15 p.m. Friday blackout deadline, it is widely regarded that this should be interpreted to mean that the game will indeed sell out. Or rather, that the Raiders organization has already decided to purchase the remaining seats to lift the TV blackout, but they just want to try to sell as many more 2-for-1's as possible.
"Numbers are closely-guarded secret," tweets the Oakland Tribune's Jerry McDonald, "but extension means someone is buying up whatever is left to make sure it gets on TV."
The Kansas City Chiefs are the NFL's surprise Cinderella team this season, and have sole possession of first place in the AFC West.
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But the Raiders are on a 92-17 roll of outscoring their opponents these past two games, and looking to win three in a row for the first time since the Super Bowl XXVII season.
If it gives you any measure of revenge satisfaction, realize that the team that beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXVII also has the poorest attendance in their conference this year.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who can't figure out if the Randy Moss auto-tune video is a tribute or an insult.
