Dressed for success

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Here it is! The secret to 41-year-old Jerry Rice being the oldest and most accomplished wide receiver in NFL history:

It’s the pants.

Sunday in Pittsburgh, just before Rice begins his 20th NFL season, a Raiders equipment man will neatly lay out four pairs of silver game pants in front of Rice’s locker — as a 49ers equipment guy did for most of Rice’s 16 years with San Francisco.

That’s as many as 1,144 pairs of game pants that Rice has perused for his sartorial satisfaction over a 19-year Hall-of-Fame career.

“Some days I want to wear a (size) 34. Some days I want to wear a 36. Some days I want to go 32,” Rice said.

“So the equipment guys, they’re used to me now. They put three or four pairs of pants in there, gloves, shoes, stuff like that.”

His blindingly new white shoes match the meticulously folded white towel, which hangs from his fit-as-Jack LaLanne waist line.

This season that waist is in the middle of a carefully created 210-pound frame — the heaviest he has played a game. That’s to withstand the pounding of a season’s worth of defensive backs trying to knock the old man down.

Above that waist is the snugly fitting black jersey, tucked strategically under and around pads to keep defenders from grabbing easily. To look into Rice’s game-day eyes is to peek at art, for even Rice’s eye-black is neatly applied.

So there it is: The greatest receiver of all time is also its 21st century Beau Brummel.

“For me, I take pride in everything I do. And the way my uniform looks is very important,” Rice said. “If you look good, you’re going to play well. That’s really been my motto over the years.

“And I think I have had some success.”

You think?

Rice holds 13 league records, including all the ones that matter for receivers: receptions (1,519), yards (22,466), touchdowns overall (205) and receiving touchdowns (194). He owns 10 Super Bowl records, including career receptions (33), receiving yards (589) and points (48).

Yet the man who owns as many records as Motown enters this decidedly new Raiders season with a decidedly new spread-it-around-and-throw-it-deep offense and in a decidedly new role: reduced.

For the first time, Rice acknowledged such this week.

“I’m here for a reason. It’s a lesser role now,” Rice said, speaking publicly for the first time on anything other than Tim Brown’s release since the end of last season. “But I’m going to get opportunities. I’m going to play a lot of downs. But a lot of guys are going to get opportunities also.”

Rice seems content with this inevitability.

He didn’t directly say whether this will be his final season. Before January’s Super Bowl, he told ESPN that it likely would be.

Then, before training camp, whispers surfaced that Rice was hedging, that the desire was there for more than 2004.

So on he goes, into his fourth Raiders season since the 49ers decided they had no more use for him. It’s twice the amount of time Rice thought he’d be with Oakland.

“To be honest with you, I thought I would be here about two years and after that I would be gone,” he said. “But I still love it, and I still enjoy the challenge.”

He said he still loves the game, the practices, even the meetings.

To hear Rice tell it, he’s in the front row, sitting with ramrod posture, devouring the nuances of new coach Norv Turner’s third-and-8 formations — in a room with more than a few half-dozing, glazed-eyed 20-somethings.

“You know what, it’s still there — even during those meetings,” Rice said. “I sit in there, and I’m listening, and I’m trying to focus, and I’m trying to better myself.

“I think you just can’t get complacent. I still have the same work ethic. I might not be able to do some of the things that I used to do. But I think with the experience, I can.”