So it's one of those days where I have a bunch of random thoughts from the sports world bouncing around my brain, but nothing really worth of writing an entire article on. So I'm going to pass them along to you and give you some things to contemplate as you jump start your weekend.

The 2009 NFL Season:

It's officially underway! Last night's game wasn't exactly riveting, but with those 2 defenses going at it, I guess it wasn't expected to be. Neither team looked particularly overwhelming to me and I don't think we're going to see any teams just destroy everybody in their path this season. That whole parity thing the league so desires is starting to come around more and more.

Fantasy Football:

Yup, a new NFL season means another year of fantasy football, and all the regrets that come with it. I'm in 3 leagues once again this year after telling myself I'd limit it to two, and I even turned down about 4 other offers to join leagues as it turns out. Even the casual football fans who don't live and breathe this stuff seem to be all about getting in on the fantasy action. It took exactly one game for me to already swear at my decision making for my teams as I had Willie Parker (19 yards) starting, and Santonio Holmes (9 receptions, 131 yards, 1 TD) on the bench. It's going to be a looooong year.

Madden Curse:

Tell me this thing isn't real??? Brett Favre has certainly been a curse since last year's cover, but we'll talk more about that in a minute. Last night, Troy Polamalu came out of the gates on fire, seemingly involved in almost every play and making a ridiculous interception as well. Then he goes down with what looks to be a serious knee injury. Preliminary reports have him missing 3-6 weeks. Speaking of fantasy football, owners of Larry Fitzgerald (myself included) reading this right now are cringing at the prospects of what may happen.

Brett Favre:

I seriously can't recall wanting somebody to just go away more than Favre right now. When he originally retired from Green Bay, I had a great deal of respect for him and his accomplishments. I never really was a big fan or anything, because frankly, I just didn't care much about the Packers one way or another. However, that respect has completely diminished at this point and he's quickly become one of my least favorite players in the league. As if the retiring/coming back flip flop saga where he couldn't keep himself out of the spotlight wasn't bad enough, now he's got to make sure even more people are talking about them as we head into the start of the season. Essentially, Favre seems to be blaming the NY Jets as an organization for his absolutely horrendous performance down the stretch last year. Claiming that the team new of his torn bicep muscle and that he "offered" to sit out those last few games.

I guess New York just forced him out on to the field and made him throw those 9 interceptions in the last 5 games... Seriously, if you're legitimately injured and don't think you can play well enough to be out there, then you sit on the bench. Favre never had any intention of this despite what he says now and his streak means way too much to him. Now he's claiming he's not sure he can make it through the entire season this year. Sounds a lot like he just wants a built in excuse for when he inevitably sucks horribly at some point this year. Congrats Vikings, you took a possible playoff team and turned it into a sideshow circus that is going to be a detriment to your organization in the long run.

Allen Iverson:

So Iverson finally signed with Memphis this week, doing so apparently because God told him to. Hey Allen, did God also tell the other 29 teams in the NBA to have absolutely no interest in you? Seriously, I have no clue what Memphis is thinking here. They've struggled for awhile now, but they really do have a good nucleus of young talent in place that just needs to grow a bit and have time to gel together. Iverson undermines all that completely. I've never been an Iverson fan at all, and actually couldn't stand him when he first joined the NBA, but I grew to respect him as he seemed to have matured and unquestionably played hard every night. He's regressing however. Denver got instantly better without him and Detroit imploded with him. Iverson's biggest problem is that he always has a chip on his shoulder. He's 34 now and clearly in decline skill wise after the years of beating he's taken going to the basket relentlessly. There's nothing wrong with that and he can still fill a useful role for many teams. However, he still seems to think he is as good as he was when he was 25, and that's where the problem is created. I see Iverson out to prove a point this year and he's going to be jacking up shots at a Kobe Bryant 05-06 level. At any rate, it's going to be yet another ugly year in Memphis.

ACC Football:

There has been much discussion of late as to how poor the ACC has gotten as a football conference. It's true that they did not look to good in the opening week, going 5-7, including 2 losses to FCS teams. They're still a far better conference than the Big East however, which somehow still gets an automatic BCS bid, which just proves how flawed that system truly is. Apparently for the ACC though, things change when they play each other. So far there have been two games between conference foes and both have been nothing short of highly entertaining. Last night Georgia Tech managed to take down Clemson 27-24 in the closing seconds of the game, after having lead 24-0 at one point. On Labor Day, Miami and Florida St. created a buzz with a very exciting 38-34 game which saw the Hurricanes take away the win and bragging rights. Both teams showed flashes of the old brilliance the programs are noted for and have many thinking they may be on their way back to prominence after several down years.

I will say that as a Miami fan, it was nice to have something to feel this good about to start off the season. While many of the national powers have multiple cupcakes to begin their year, Miami scheduled 4 straight Top 20 opponents. Taking out #1 rival FSU was a great confidence boost heading into games against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma. The bigger confidence boost however is that Sophomore QB Jacory Harris looked like the real deal Monday night in Tallahassee. The question is what that just because of the complete lack of solid defense played by both teams, or because he really is that good. We shall see soon enough.

At any rate, while the ACC might not be able to keep up with the SEC, Big 12, or even the Pac 10 right now, there is a lot of great, highly competitive football being played within the conference. Living smack in the middle of ACC Country allows me to see a great deal of it, and while this will always be a basketball first league, Saturdays in the Fall can keep you entertained as well.

It's a phenomenon in sports that seems to be only getting worse year after year. Overhyping and sensationalizing every event to death is apparently the media's new favorite game. The Super Bowl ended less than 24 hours ago and many are already calling it the greatest of all time, but I guess I didn't get that memo.

In all honesty, it turned out to be quite a game, certainly better than I would have expected, and a fairly thrilling finish to boot, but the best ever? I mean... really? I'm simply not buying it. How soon do we forget just last year? Super Bowl XLII had David vs. Goliath in larger terms than this year's version as the undefeated Patriots tried to finish out destiny and go 19-0. Instead, the Giants stopped them with 35 seconds left when they scored the go ahead touchdown, and just in case we forgot, that drive had an even more spectacular play than last night's game winner could manage as well.

For those of you that have watched more than just the 2 most recent Super Bowls, you might even remember a couple that actually came down to the last play of the game, such as Adam Vinatieri taking down the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI as time expired. Perhaps Mike Jones of the Rams tackling Tennessee's Kevin Dyson at the one yard line to prevent the potential tying score in Super Bowl XXXIV? Of course my fellow Buffalo fans can't forget a little Super Bowl known as XXV when Scott Norwood's 47 yard attempt went wide right and cost the Bills a 22-20 win as time ran out. All those games were great finished, and the games themselves were arguably better than the one we witnessed last night.

In reality, the first 29 minutes or so of Super Bowl XLIII were pretty mundane with the Steelers up 10-7 and not a lot of action to get us to that point. Of course, things picked up when James Harrison picked off Kurt Warner and rumbled 100 yards to end the half with a Pittsburgh touchdown, giving the Steelers a 17-7 lead. The Steelers pushed it to 20-7 in the third quarter as penalty after penalty aided their march down the field. At this point, it was starting to look like it would be the typical Pittsburgh pushes out to a sizable lead and sits on it win, which has become the norm for them lately. Larry Fitzgerald decided that wouldn't be so much fun though. He scored on two big plays sandwiched around a Pittsburgh safety and we were staring at a mostly unbelievable 23-20 lead for Arizona.

Ben Roethelisberger would quickly get to work on carving out his name in history however. Taking over at his own 22 with 2:37 left in the game, he carved apart the Arizona secondary, eventually finding Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone for the game winning score, with 35 seconds left on the clock, much like last year in fact. The 27-23 win gave Pittsburgh their 6th Super Bowl victory, more than any other team has managed, and there is a story there. There's a story in Big Ben making up for a poor performance despite winning Super Bowl XL. Larry Fitzgerald's incredible play throughout the playoffs and especially in the Super Bowl make another great story, as does Kurt Warner's endless ability to put up huge numbers in the biggest game of them all, despite maybe not managing to win them.

Endless great stories came out of last night's game, but to think the game itself was something so much more than all of them seems far too short sighted for me. As I already mentioned, the first half was forgettable right up until the end of it. Little has been discussed about the ridiculous number of penalties that marred the action throughout the game, not to mention the numerous replays and subsequent over turns needed to correct the original calls. The fact of the matter is that up until the middle of the 4th quarter, Super Bowl XLIII really just wasn't all that entertaining. By most accounts, even the commercials were pretty lacking throughout the night.

I'm not sure when the trend started, but somewhere along the line, the national media has decided that every year something has to be bigger, better, faster than that which came before it. Sooner or later, truly great games and moments are going to be forgotten amongst all the hype of our instant gratification world, and that's a sad thought to have. Hopefully you enjoyed last night's game and the highly entertaining ending it provided, just do me a favor and keep in mind that it's neither the first, nor last time you'll see something of it's type.

Random Side Notes from Super Bowl XLIII:
- I've heard multiple interviews from the MVP of the game, Santonio Holmes already. Most of them included statements similar to "I just have to thank God for letting me be so great". Let's hope God taught Santonio a little humbleness along the way too. He had a great game, it doesn't make him a great player just yet though.
- I'm sure I'm not alone, but two thoughts were running through my head while Joe Namath carried the Lombardi trophy towards the stage. First, I was kind of hoping he'd be so drunk that he'd fumble it half way there in the midst of all the Pittsburgh players. Second, I really wanted him to stop along the way and tell the trophy how bad he wanted to kiss it and just lay one on it... instead he opted to kiss Dick LeBeau.
- NBC had a good group amongst it's pregame folks including recent retirees in Mike Holmgren and Tony Dungy... but seriously? Matt Millen!??! What on Earth would that guy know about winning a Super Bowl anyways?
- Do you think we'll ever see a not so "safe" act at halftime again or are those days forever gone? Personally, I watched Wipeout on ABC instead of "The Boss". I couldn't take Stevie VanZandt's backup vocals for more than 3 seconds.
- I was dead tired all day today, but staying up to watch the hour long episode of The Office after the game proved well worth it. I couldn't stop cracking up at Dwight.

It still doesn’t sound quite right, but the Arizona Cardinals are taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII. The Cardinals came into the playoffs as the number four seed in the NFC by way of an easy division championship. Many fans and writers felt as if they didn’t even deserve to make the playoffs when they qualified. Few people gave them a chance in the Wild Card round against Atlanta, even less gave them a chance in the Divisional round at Carolina, and just about everyone (including me) picked the Eagles to knock them off in the NFC Championship. One thing is for sure heading into Sunday; the Cardinals deserve to be there and will put up a good fight against the Steelers.


Before the season even started, the Cardinals were in the news for their decision to go with Kurt Warner at QB instead of their first round draft pick from USC, Matt Leinart. It was a gutsy call by Coach Ken Wisenhunt, but one he felt he had to make in order to win more games. Looking back, it seems to have been the right decision. The Cardinals started out 2-0 with wins over San Francisco and Miami, and then lost the next two games on the East Coast to Washington and New York.

Arizona returned home to face the 4-0 Buffalo Bills. The Cardinals trashed the Bills 41-17 and essentially exposed them as frauds to the rest of the league, sending Buffalo into a tailspin that would last all season. They then got a big win at home against Dallas when they blocked a punt in overtime to win the game. Heading into the bye at 4-2, fans in Arizona were optimistic.

Coming out of the break, Arizona lost a tough game at Carolina, which moved their East Cost record to 0-3. Some would say it was a trend, but the Cardinals ended up proving that theory wrong when it counted the most. The Cards then won their next three games against division opponents which ran their record to 7-3 and 4-0 in the division. It was at this point that almost everybody could see the division was theirs to lose.



Arizona lost a very close game at home to the eventual NFC East Champion New York Giants, then had to travel East on a short week to face Philadelphia for a Thanksgiving Day match-up. They played terrible in that game, losing 48-20. They returned home the following week and overpowered another NFC West team, the Rams, to clinch the NFC West and ensure the fans of at least one home playoff game.

With the last three games essentially being meaningless, Arizona played like it in two of those games. They fell to Minnesota 35-14 and allowed Tarvaris Jackson to throw for a career high four touchdowns. Arizona then traveled east again and moved their East Coast record to 0-5 as they were completely overpowered by the New England Patriots. The Cardinals came home in the final week to beat Seattle, which allowed them to finish the regular season at 9-7 and a perfect 6-0 in the division.

Kurt Warner had an excellent season stat wise throwing for 4583 yards, 30 touchdowns, and finishing the regular season with a QB Rating of 96.9. Arizona didn’t run the ball nearly as much as they passed it, so Edgerrin James finished the season with only 514 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Rookie Tim Hightower took over the rushing duties mid-season and finished with 399 yards and 10 touchdowns. Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald cemented himself as one of the best in the league with 96 receptions, 1431 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Closely following him was teammate Anquan Boldin, who had 89 receptions, 1038 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Boldin’s numbers are even more impressive if you consider the fact that he missed time after being carted off the field against the Jets earlier in the season. As an overall unit, the Cardinals finished fourth in scoring (26.7), fourth in overall yards (365.8), and second in passing yards (292.1).


The defense has held their own and gained momentum during the post-season. They are led by Karlos Dansby, Antrel Rolle, Adrian Wilson, Bertrand Berry, Roderick Hood, and rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The defense combined had 31 sacks, 20 fumbles, 13 interceptions, and 2 touchdowns. Their league ranks aren’t quite as impressive as the offense or nearly as impressive as Pittsburgh’s defense. The Cards finished the season 28th in points (26.6), 19th in yards (331.5), 22nd in passing yard (221.2), and 16th in rushing yards (110.2).

Prediction: Pittsburgh 37, Arizona 17. I tried my hardest to not involve personal bias in my pick and I think the final score reflects that. It's pretty simple, I don't think Arizona is good enough to hang with Pittsburgh. I think the key to Kurt Warner's success is having time in the pocket and I don't think the Steelers defense will give him an ounce of that time. Combine that with a lack of running game, and I don't see this game even being close.