OAKLAND -- For the first time that anyone can recall, the NFL Commissioner will be in attendance at a Raiders game here.

Roger Goodell will go where his predecessors, Paul Tagliabue and Pete Rozelle, feared to tread. Or were, at least, reluctant to tread -- in part because there often were times when the commissioner might have been slapped with a subpoena because of the legal suits the Raiders' maverick owner, Al Davis, always seemed to have have going against the league.

In contrast to John McCain and Sarah "I can't see Oakland from my house, but I can see Russia" Palin, Davis really is a maverick.

Perhaps the Commish is coming to see if the 3-10 Raiders still have a "commitment to excellence."

Or maybe, since the NFL,like so many other businesses, is cutting back -- Goodell announced last week that the league was laying off 150 employees -- he's here to tell the Pats and Raiders they have to play with only 10 men today, instead of 11, or that the officiating crew has been trimmed from seven to six.

-- JIM DONALDSON