By BOB MATTHEWS
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

The first 36 Super Bowls were won in regulation. That means the NFL is overdue for a championship game decided in overtime and the evenly-matched Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers could make it happen Sunday night.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's worst nightmare for Super Bowl XXXVII must be a team winning the coin flip to start overtime and kicking a game-winning field goal a few plays later.

Of the four major team sports in America, the NFL is the quickest to respond to complaints and suggestions from coaches, players, fans and the media. So expect the overtime format to be changed after a record percentage of games were decided on the first possession in 2002.

It wouldn't have been a bad idea to adopt the change prior to Sunday evening's kickoff.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the 24th different team to play in a Super Bowl. That leaves only Arizona, Carolina, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, New Orleans and Seattle on the waiting list. The best hopes for Super Bowl XXXVIII appear to be the Browns and Saints.

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The Goodyear blimp for security reasons will not be permitted to hover over Super Bowl XXXVII. Fortunately for the Raiders, their offensive linemen (average weight 325) will be permitted to participate in the game.

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The Raiders have two cinch future Pro Football Hall of Famers: wide receivers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. Could linebacker Bill Romanowski join them in Canton, Ohio?

Romanowski has been one of the NFL's most intense players for 15 seasons. He has been called the league's dirtiest player and is darn proud of it. He once spit in an opponent's face and then mocked him for not retaliating. His attitude makes him a perfect Raider. It just took him 14 seasons to become one.

Romanowski has made only two Pro Bowls, partly because hardly anyone in the NFL likes him, with the exception of some players on the team he happens to be playing on. But the doors of Canton are wider for winners, and Romanowski is high on that list. He was a starter on back-to-back Super Bowl winners in San Francisco and then in Denver. He is one victory away from a fifth world championship ring.

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Do you think Bill Parcells might be having second thoughts about backing out on a deal to coach this season's Buccaneers? He'd be preparing for Super Bowl XXXVII instead of trying to figure out who will be the quarterback and feature running back for the Dallas Cowboys next season.

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Here are the top winning trends for the 36 Super Bowls:

Teams winning the turnover battle - 26-2.

Teams with most net yards - 32-4.

Teams with most yards rushing - 29-7.

Teams ahead at halftime - 28-7.

Teams scoring first - 25-11.

Teams with most first downs - 23-11.

Teams with the most sacks - 21-11.

Teams with most yards passing - 20-16.

Teams leading in time of possession - 26-10.

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The host city has yet to have its team play in the Super Bowl and that streak figures to continue for at least the next three years:

Feb. 1, 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston.

Feb. 6, 2005 Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville.

Feb. 5, 2006 Super Bowl XL in Detroit.

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Filling out my ballot for the James E. Sullivan Award for America's top amateur athlete usually is a time-consuming task, but it was a snap this year: undefeated (159-0) college wrestler Cael Sanderson No. 1; Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes No. 2; and Olympic gold and silver medalist short-track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno No. 3.

High school basketball sensation LeBron James was among the 11 finalists but I considered him too commercialized for an amateur award. The winner will be announced March 18.

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According to research by the Canadian Press, here are the revenues each team in the four major sports in North America receives from national TV contracts:

NFL - $77.3 million (the salary cap for 2003 is expected to be around $75 million, so the players payrolls are covered before the gates open).

NBA - $26.4 million.

Major League Baseball - $12.66 million.

NHL - $5.7 million.

No wonder the NFL is in such terrific shape while the NHL appears headed for a long shutdown prior to the 2004-05 season.

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NBA officials can't be happy about two ridiculous fan picks to start in the All-Star Game Feb. 9: Toronto's Vince Carter and Houston's Yao Ming. Carter hardly ever seems to play, and there are many more deserving all-stars even when he does. Yao earned a spot on the West squad as a reserve but picking him as the West's starting center over Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O'Neal was a joke.

And how could Philadelphia gunner Allen Iverson outpoll Jason Kidd for the second starting guard spot in the East?

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I wonder why baseball fans picked Cal Ripken Jr. to start in the All-Star Game to the very end of his career but basketball fans did not pick Michael Jordan - arguably his sport's all-time best player - to start in this year's NBA All-Star Game?

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Add Sacramento's Chris Webber to the short list of NBA Most Valuable Player candidates. His Kings have emerged as the league's best team and he is the team's best player (apologies to terrific point guard Mike Bibby).

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NBA home cooking update: through Thursday, the Western Conference's top five teams (Dallas, Sacramento, San Antonio, Utah and Portland) were a combined 88-16 (.846) at home and 54-51 (.514) on the road this season.

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Sisters Venus and Serena Williams being the world's two best women's tennis players is an amazing feat. The only similar case of dominant siblings in recent memory was twins Gary and Paul Gait in their primes. Unfortunately for them, pro tennis is vastly more lucrative than pro lacrosse.