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Super Bowl 2013: Raider Nation top storylines and game thread

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By this point we are all growing tired of the lead-up and just want the game to start. That time is now. I know you are all watching so if you are dying to talk about it too, this is where to do it.

Christian Petersen

There aren't a lot of second chances in life. Both the Ravens and 49ers got a second chance to make the Super Bowl and both came through after failing the previous season.

Now, the story the media was drooling over is here. That is the Harbowl/Super Bro. The only part of this brotherly match-up the Raider fans seem to be interested in is how the loser will react at the end of the game.

Here are the top stories as far as I've seen with regard to Raiders fans:

1. He who a rolling stone would not gather

Randy Moss seems to be the primary reason many Raiders fans are hoping the 49ers lose. The sting of his giving up on the Raiders in his second season in Oakland is renewed with him in the Super Bowl. This is his second trip to the big dance. He lost last time as a member of the Patriots - a team Raiders fans would have wanted to lose anyway, but seeing Moss sulk off the field with Giants confetti stuck to his head made it a bit more rewarding.

2. Michael Crabtree vs DHB

The other half of the 49ers diva receiver equation. He made it very clear when he was drafted that he did not want to be drafted by the Raiders and the Raiders obliged by drafting Darrius Heyward-Bey instead. While DHB has been a disappointment for a number seven overall pick, it would add to that if Crabtree were to get a ring as Colin Kaepernick's favorite target.

3. Ravens redemption

The Ravens were the first team to knock the Raiders out of the playoffs in their three year run in the early 2000's. Tony Siragusa's infamous belly flop on Rich Gannon to knock him out of the game and to rob the Raiders of a trip to the Super Bowl was bad enough. Then watching those Ravens go on to win the Super Bowl. Raiders fans don't forget the Tuck Rule game against the Patriots. That game was just as devastating. It simply wasn't as controversial. Even though Siragusa was not even penalized for the hit.

4. Ray Lewis show

A great many people still believe he was guilty in the incident early in his career that saw two men stabbed to death outside of a nightclub. He was also on that Ravens team in 2000 but had he been convicted of the crime for which he was charged, he wouldn't even have had a career. Other people are just tired of seeing him make a spectacle of himself what with his playoff return to the team and this being his final season. And in the two weeks leading up the Super Bowl, that spectacle is only magnified.

5. Cross Bay Rival

For many Raiders fans, they could never pick the 49ers to win a game, let alone root for them to win one. It's as simple as that. They may live in the Bay Area and have to work with or live near 49ers fans who will rub it in their faces. Those 49ers with their brand new stadium underway and the hearts of much of the Bay Area football faithful. I know personally, I watched the Raiders loss in Super Bowl XXXVII with a classless 49ers fan behind me heckling the Raiders with every mistake - for which there were many - so I can understand that feeling.

6. Kaepernick, Pryor comparison

Kaepernick's success has a lot of Raiders fans excited at the possibility of what Terrelle Pryor could bring to the Raiders. Pryor's mobility would add a threat to the Raiders offense they don't currently have at the quarterback position. Whether it be as a change-up in the redzone or the future starter, the possibility intrigues a lot of people.

7. Commercials

Some of you don't really care much for what happens in the game or the players in it. Some of you just want to have fun and watch the entertaining commercials in the breaks in the action.

Keep up with all the Super Bowl commercials here