Super Bowl XLIII: Cardinals vs. Steelers

Well, firstly I must say that even up to and including game day for this years Super Bowl I was asking my buddies, "is it just me, or are the Cardinals in the Super Bowl??". It was one of those surreal occurrences where it just doesn't seem possible. I live in the Phoenix area, and that has always been the one constant not only here in the valley but sports in general - the Arizona Cardinals will never succeed; they will always fail... it's just a matter of when. Oh, sometimes they disappoint you in dramatic fashion, but they will always disappoint. I'm not a Cardinal fan. I'm a Packer fan (anybody who who knows me is painfully aware of this). But I do live here in Arizona so I've kind of adopted the Cardinals as my auxiliary team to pull for after the Packers. I've never had a strong conviction for the franchise; and I'm not going to tell you that I've jumped on the Cardinal bandwagon as many have done this season (I have no respect or tolerance for 'bandwagoners'). But I can tell you that it's made the NFL season much more interesting since I live in AZ. And I have definitely made a point to watch more Cardinal games this season than I normally do. I must say that I honestly hadn't watched too many Cardinal games in the past, mainly because they usually suck ;) But since they were making some noise in the NFC I was curious to see if they were the real deal. And they DID look like the real deal for the first 2/3 of the season. Then after they clinched their division they seemed to have taken a 6 game nap. I figured, oh, here come the old Cardinals that I'm used to. Let the meltdown begin! Many people jumped on the bandwagon for the first half of the season, then promptly jumped right back off that very wagon when the Cards proceeded with their losing streak to end the season. It wasn't looking good... the so called 'experts' were calling Arizona the worst playoff team in the history of the NFL. Like, ever. Ever, ever. Granted, they benefited from being in the worst division in the NFL; and they got to play each crappy divisional team twice (St. Louis, SF, Seattle) which is pretty much a given 6-0 record right there for any decent team; and yes, they had a colossal slide after they clinched the division for the last several games of the season. So in a way they did limp ass backwards into the playoffs. And nobody gave them a chance... including me. I figured the first round against Atlanta would be close. I definitely thought that there was a good chance that the Cards would lay an egg and lose that game and get bounced out of the playoffs in typical disappointing Cardinal fashion that we've all become accustomed to. But I didn't fully count them out in the first round. Of course they ended up winning fairly decisively. Most experts picked them to lose that game. In the second round they against the Panthers, in their house, and there was absolutely nobody who gave the Cards a chance to win that game (including me again). The Panthers ended the season strong, the Cardinals ended their season very poorly, momentum was going Carolina's way, it was at Carolina, and AZ had an absolutely miserable record on the east coast this season. So the odds were definitely against them. And of course they just boatraced the Panthers. That was pretty cool. As fate would have it the Eagles beat the Giants which set up the NFC championship game here in Phoenix. Again, few gave the Cards a chance to step up and handle their business. But they did handle their business and for the third week in a row they shocked the world by playing at a high level, balanced attack of running, passing and solid defense. Holy crap, could it be?? Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl?? No way. Yes way! And they almost won that damn thing. They played like ass for the most part, but their offense came together late in the game. I can't recall in the Super Bowls that I've watched such a dramatic set of game-changing plays both ways. The game really could have gone either way. Although I'm not a big Cardinal fan, I do like to see different teams win championships - in all sports. To me it's boring to see the same teams win over and over again. Yes, fun if it's your team. But I was definitely pulling for the Cardinals just to see them complete their Cinderella season and turn the NFL universe upside down. But they came up short. Just short. There were so many plays that you can point to that screwed them up (100-yd run back right before the half, Antron Rolle getting in Fitzgeralds way to make a potentially game saving tackle, dropped interception opportunities, absolutely horrible tackling on several key plays, etc....). Disappointing outcome. But I want to say congratulations to the Cardinals on a great playoff run and finally making a Super Bowl appearance. It's been exciting to watch the playoff run; although quite disappointing to see them lose the big game in such dramatic fashion. I don't know too many die hard Cardinal fans (you know who you are) - but I think I feel the worst for them. But hey, in typical Cardinal fashion you know the AZ warcry, "There's always next year!"...

-Jim