RAIDER NATION UNITED SILVER, BLACK BLEED THROUGH SOUTHLAND.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Maureen Johnson has booked a hotel room in San Diego, packed a cooler and stowed her Raiders boots, socks, pants, shirt, jacket and scarf - all in silver and black - in her trademark Oakland Raiders bag.

After 19 years without a Super Bowl, Raider Nation is ready for a fight.

``I'm packed and ready to go: Give me my ticket, and we're gone,'' said Johnson, 70, president of the Canoga Park-based Greater Los Angeles Raiders Boosters Club who hopes to be in the crowd Sunday in San Diego with her daughter, the club's coordinator.

There's just one hitch: With scalpers' tickets going for $2,000 and few tickets available to Raiders season ticket holders, Johnson fears she'll be aced out of the Super Bowl spectacle.

``It's terrible, awful,'' said Johnson, who for 30 years has bled black and silver. ``It (would) be the high point of my life.''

While many football fans in the Los Angeles area will never forgive owner Al Davis for taking the team back to Oakland in 1995, after 13 years in Los Angeles, Johnson is among the many thousands who have remained loyal to the silver and black and their swashbuckling tradition.

And Super Bowl XXXVII isn't just any Super Bowl.

It pits the Raiders against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their coach, Jon Gruden, who abandoned Oakland a year ago and will be facing his former team in the championship game.

To Raiders players and their fans, with their Raiders black-patch mystique, brawls and ear-biting manners, what Gruden did is pure betrayal.

And that has nearly everyone expecting a high-pitched Super Bowl battle of the brigands.

So Raiders faithful in Los Angeles and throughout California are readying their chips, gunning for sports bar stools, or planning a trek to San Diego - whether or not they get into Qualcomm Stadium.

``We are very excited,'' said Oscar Rozsa, owner of UJPEST Sports Lounge in Van Nuys, a San Fernando Valley Raiders fan planning a Super Bowl Sunday blowout.

``I don't think we'll let anyone in unless they're a Raider fan.''

Some Raiders fans, too young for the sports bar scene, are just as excited to watch the game on television.

``I love 'em,'' said Omar Lopez, 12, of Encino, his Raiders cap at a jaunty angle. ``(The) Raiders are gonna win.''

Decked in the NFL's hottest-selling logo, Raiders fans have been widely stereotyped as a gang of blackguard hoods, hooligans and horned freaks drawn to Oakland's ``black hole'' coliseum.

But to most Raiderphiles, it's just the behavior of a few ``bad apples.''

``I've loved the Raiders, oh my gosh, forever,'' said Johnson's daughter, Debra Zeldin, 33, a Fox Sports employee, who met her husband talking about the Raiders.

``The Raiders are my life ... It's the Commitment to Excellence, to being the best. It's the blue-collar ethic - they just keep persevering.''

Sal Carlos of the Eastside Raider Nation in East Los Angeles, a club comprised of nearly 100 business professionals, has reserved a patio at the Commerce Casino for a Super Bowl party and to cheer for another California sport championship.

``Imagine what a great day for California if the Raiders win,'' he said. ``You've got the Lakers, the Galaxy, the Sparks, the Angels and now the Raiders. How many states can say that? None.''

But not all Angelenos are pulling for a California sweep.

Many one-time supporters of the former Los Angeles Raiders now swing for the Buccaneers - not because they're from Florida, but because they revile Davis for hoisting his one-eyed jack and setting sail back to Oakland eight years ago.

``Doesn't matter,'' said Viola Tozier, bartender of the Instant Replay sports bar in Canoga Park, where regulars this week cast aspersions on their former team. ``Everybody hates the Raiders 'cause of their owner.''

``What did he do for L.A? Moved it back to Oakland ... Power play,'' said Jim Mitchell, 71, of Canoga Park, who will root for Tampa Bay.

``The Raiders are a good team, but we hate Davis.''

Said Fuzzy, a 52-year-old biker from West Hills, from the end of the bar: ``I'd like nothin' better than to see Al Davis lose to Gruden.''

This week, fans in the San Fernando Valley cleaned stores out of Raiders paraphernalia as sports bars and residents prepped for the pirate bash.

Rene Constante, assistant manager for Just Sports in Northridge, said Raiders key chains, championship hats, and authentic players jerseys have sold out.

``There's a lot of Raiders fever,'' he said. ``People come in every day asking for stuff. Crazy.''

Darryl Cohen, 29, of Simi Valley and Michael Goldman, 22, of Woodland Hills both trolled for Raiders gear this week after scoring tickets to Sunday's game.

``This is the matchup everybody's wanted; Gruden against his protege,'' said Cohen, an organizer of NBA star John Salley's Best Damn After-Super Bowl Party, at the E Street Alley in San Diego.

``I think it's going to be a blowout,'' said Goldman, a TNN ``Slamball'' competitor wearing a throwback Jerry Rice jersey in honor of his team. ``My whole 'Slamball' paycheck is going on the Raiders.''

The Instant Replay, Yankee Doodles and BJ's Restaurant & Brewery in Woodland Hills, Weber's Place in Reseda, Champs in Burbank, Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills and sports bars around the Valley each expect a large turnout of Tampa Bay and Raiders fans.

``It is a huge day, we're all ready, we will be packed,'' said Sue Zhang, manager of the Yankee Doodles bar. ``This is Raiders territory.''

While Raiders caps were plentiful this week, few fans wore the crossed swords of Tampa Bay.

On Monday, fans still hoarse from the Raiders' 41-24 AFC championship game win over the Tennessee Titans fairly floated out of Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

``I'm ecstatic,'' said Brett Mabry, 38, of Simi Valley, who vowed to pay the $2,000 asking price for a nosebleed seat among the ``collective soul'' in San Diego.

His rallying cry: ``Bring down the hammer!''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Raiders fan Jason Galaviz of Seattle, Wash., sports devil horns as he cheers for Oakland on Sunday.

Amy Sancetta/Associated Press

(2 -- color) Raiders faithful pack the UJPEST Sports Lounge in Van Nuys. The hot spot is expected to be filled for Sunday's Super Bowl.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(3) Glendale resident Andy Davis shows just how much of a Raiders fan he is, after having the team's logo tattooed on his leg at the White Dragon Tattoo Shop in Van Nuys on Thursday.

(4) Reseda Raiders fans, from left, Mynor Priesing, A.J. Jalal with his 18-month-old daughter, Alayssa, and Jeff Measles will journey to San Diego on Sunday with the hopes of scoring tickets to the Super Bowl.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer