On Jan. 13, 1991, I spent the whole day getting ready. The Los Angeles Raiders, who are currently the Las Vegas Raiders but whom I called the Oakland Raiders both then and now, had a late afternoon AFC divisional playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
I wore the Raiders parka I got for Christmas all through church and during the Giants’ 31-3 beatdown of the Chicago Bears. I held the Raiders troll doll I bought at Ben Franklin’s with my stocking money for the entirety of the 1 o’clock game, stroking its black, stand-up hair and hoping that Bo Jackson would run for 1,000 yards later that afternoon. My perceptions of NFL rushing statistics had been largely shaped by the original
