Super Bowl post

I waited a day to cool down before writing this, because as anyone who knows me can attest to, I was a bit hotheaded after the game last night – watching my team lose and then having someone smash my windshield in.

Let me start off by saying that was one of the best, if not the best, games I’ve ever seen – and sure I’m probably biased because it was my Cardinals in the Super Bowl – so sue me. A record-breaking comeback and then a heartbreaker of a perfect catch made this a game I won’t forget.

That said, the officiating was terrible, and the stigma from it won’t go away anytime soon. I can empathize with Seahawks fans on that one. The killer interception for a touchdown was an iffy call, as were the repeated missed calls of an abusive Steelers line, as was not ejecting James Harrison for sucker punching Aaron Francisco, as was not even booth reviewing that questionable last call as to whether Warner was passing or not when the ball was knocked loose.

But really, we killed ourselves. 106 yards in penalties? Gansby was Pitt’s best player half the time, with hold after hold. Missed tackles and a lackluster performance from the secondary led to too many big plays for Pitt, and we took too long getting the ball into Larry Fitzgerald’s hands. And I’ll be haunted for a long time by watching triple coverage on Holmes, but no one trying to make a good play on him or the ball, giving him the chance to make that miracle catch that he did.

Sigh.

Even so! I’m incredibly proud of my boys in red. To have come so far is the story of a lifetime. I remember as a kid watching the Cardinals and seeing them get to the playoffs ten years ago and beating Troy Aikman’s cowboys with Jake Plummer at the helm – and thinking we finally had a chance to get somewhere. Then ten years went by til we saw another season where we could even pull off .500 – and my thanks to Coach Whisenhunt for that. Kurt Warner coming back to lead the team into the playoffs, and then overcoming all the odds in game after game to reach the big one – he’ll not be forgotten by Arizonans anytime soon. To be able to say the Cardinals were the best team in the NFC this year is something I was starting to think I’d never say, and I feel great being able to say it now.  Kurt, I hope you stick around one more year at least to let us see if we can keep it up.

As for Kurt Fitzgerald, the guy who’s kept my eye since we drafted him – man, you were something. I’ll never forget the look in your face as you took that football 64 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. These playoffs have rightly put you into the national spotlight and the record books. And you’ve stayed nothing but classy about it. Here’s hoping we get many more years of watching you work your magic.

So yeah. That’s my Super Bowl wrapup. And yeah, we may have lost but I can say they’ll never take this away from us:

Here’s to next year.

3 thoughts on “Super Bowl post”

  1. Awesome game! Ahead with 2 1/2 minutes left. If only they could have made one more stop. If only…

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