Bay Area football fans salivated from one end of the 1970 NFL season to the other in anticipation of the first Oakland Raiders-San Francisco 49ers game that would rise to the level of bloodlust.
The teams — the 49ers of the established NFL, and the Raiders of the upstart AFL — had met in exhibition games. But those glorified practices in no way reflected the searing animosity between the two leagues.
The showdown on Dec. 20, at the end of the first season following the NFL-AFL merger, figured to be an early Christmas present for fans of both teams.