There was no rioting in San Francisco after the World Series. No cop cars overturned. No mob of distraught fans looking for that emotional release. People were, if anything, too stunned to be felonious.

	Expect Raiders' fans to be on their best behavior on Sunday.

But there's an alternative theory, one that makes all the sense in the world: They're saving it for Sunday's 49ers-Raiders game in Oakland.

The Raiders fans are in foul humor because their boys have gone into a full barrel roll, losing three straight. The finer-pointing has begun as, get this, both wide receivers are complaining that they don't get the ball often enough from a quarterback who throws 55 times a game.

And the 49ers fans, most of whom are also Giants fans, are in foul humor because their summer heroes went so badly come the autumn.

So just three days after Hallowe'en, you get angry fans coming into the stadium of angry fans who hate them more than any other fans. ... Gee, I wonder how this will play out.

At least that's what people fear. It's far more likely that the two sides will resort to F-bomb-enriched speechifying but not much actual vehicular arson. After all these are two groups of fandom who talk the talk without actually ever walking the walk, arrestable activities-wise.

But if it were to happen, this would be the spot. The Giants fans are just now rousing from the numbing death-sleep of the weekend and are beginning to apportion blame. Put another way, Livan Hernandez won't be attending Sunday's game.

And the Raiders fans? Well, how would you feel if your little team spent the first four weeks kicking every behind placed before them, then returning the favor during the past three weeks? Especially when the players are starting to backbite, in truest Raiders-in-crisis form.

In other words, biorhythm scam artists would call this the mother of all triple lows, pushed together in one place for a Bergmanesque pigpile of bad mood.

Even allowing for the fact that Raiders fans were more prepared to throw up their hands in the old days before the Raiders left for Los Angeles than they are today, and even allowing for the fact that 49ers fans are every bit as foul-mouthed and unpleasant as Raiders fans, especially when they pull away from the Merlot, this has a chance to get the fans back on CNN.

Indeed, among the traditions of the modern age is fans blowing off steam with malicious intent after their teams win, or better yet, when they lose. We see it on the tube, shake our heads with the disgust that comes from watching a cliché perpetrated upon us, and then we got back to one of the 50 or so cable shows that force Alyssa Milano upon us.

We know the Raiders' fans have been girding for this all summer, only they hoped to have their boys at 6-1 when this game arose. They have watched it start to fray at the edges, and now they are hosting their least favorite team at a time when their least favorite team has a better record than their most favorite team.

But the Giants fans did nothing, even though armed with great reason. At the very least, they could have dug up the Giants' bullpen.

In fact, they all went to a rally at the ballpark Monday and thanked the players for winning the first best-of-five World Series. They came away feeling properly grateful for all those best efforts their boys gave them, and they pretended to go home satisfied with almost again.

But that's just sublimation. Either the kids got it, or the family dog got it, or the spouse got it, or the mailman got it.

Or maybe the Giants fans are just biding their time until Sunday, against a fan base far hardier and mean-spirited than that of the Angels.

We know the Raiders fans have been girding for this all summer long, only they had hoped to have their boys at 6-1 when this game arose. They have watched it begin to fray at the edges, and now they are playing host to their least favorite team at a time when their least favorite team has a better record than their most favorite team.

Oh, they're waiting. Trust us, they're waiting.

They'll be waiting, though, for fans who have just watched Felix Rodriguez blow a 5-0 Giants lead with one out in the seventh inning of Game 6 by serving up a three-run homer to Scott Spiezio. God in heaven, it's a train wreck with card tables waiting to happen.

At least that is if the talk turns to walk. If not, if the two sides are gentle and respectful to each other, then I do not want to be the family dog. At least not without some goalie gear.

Ray Ratto is a columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle and a regular contributor to ESPN.com