Here is an interesting and fun fact about the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers — during World War II, while the league was struggling, the then Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers merged into one franchise. The franchise was known as Card-Pitt for one season in 1944.
In ironic fashion, the Cardinals will meet the Steelers in what will be their first Super Bowl (XLIII) appearance this Sunday in Tampa.
Here is another interesting and fun fact about the Cardinals franchise — its stupid and I don't like them.
Before this pathetic 9-7 season where they limped into the playoffs, the Cardinals had not had a truly significant season in the NFL since 1947.
That was before any Super Bowl, before cell phones, Internet and before Cody Pastorella so I don't acknowledge the Cardinals as a legitimate football team.
I'm also still very hostile about the Dallas Cowboys not making the playoffs, while the Cardinals won the NFC West with the same record.
Sure, Arizona deserved it more than the Cowboys based off of the Oct. 12 meeting where the Cardinals beat Dallas 30-24 in overtime because they cheated and injured Dallas punter Mat McBriar for the season.
Tony Romo was also injured in that game and that was pretty much the turning point for Dallas in 2008.
Coincidentally enough, this came 10 years after the Cardinals knocked the Cowboys off 20-7 in the first round of the playoffs, and that was pretty much the end of the "good ole days" with 'The Triplets' Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin.
Looking back, that 20-7 loss pretty much ended my childhood. I think I started shaving a week later.
While I do like a good underdog story, I will not be backing the Cardinals this weekend.
To get right to it, if it were not for my alma mater (Lamar University Cardinals), I would probably be working to rid the world of all cardinals, as in the actual bird.
On top of Arizona wrecking the 1998 and 2008 Cowboys seasons as well as my childhood, the Cardinals once resided in St. Louis where there is another Cardinals team I hate very much in the MLB's St. Louis Cardinals, who are often responsible for wrecking the Houston Astros' seasons and postseasons.
I have been numb to feelings of any kind ever since Albert Pujols hit that Game 5 home run off Brad Lidge at Minute Maid Park in 2005. I realize the Astros advanced to the World Series but that homer never landed and the Astros never fully recovered, which resulted in the Chicago White Sox WS sweep.
While writing this blog, I believe I have decided to never visit Chicago, St. Louis or Arizona.
Moving on to Super Bowl XLIII, I am hoping the Steelers have too much defense for Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and company.
I am not very confident in picking Pittsburgh since it almost lost to Seattle in 2005 after I had the Steelers over the Seahawks 168-4. I am also thinking Arizona's defense might just be the X-factor, as in Arizona's defense is considerably better than Pittsburgh's offense.
Nevertheless, I will pick and root for the Steelers. I will do this knowing that if Pittsburgh wins it will pass Dallas for the most Super Bowl rings (6).
Oh well, I guess.
Steelers 26, Cardinals 16.
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But as a true Cowboys Fan. Can you really pull for Pittsburgh in this one? If the Steelers win, they will have 6 all time Superbowl wins, one more than the Cowboys. Right now Dallas, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh are tied with 5. Go Cards! They've proved their worthiness in the playoffs. Agreed, they come from a pretty weak division, but give them credit for knocking off 3 formidable playoff opponents.
ReplyDeleteGO CARDS!
I think I would care more about the number of rings if San Francisco wasn't there too. Like if it was just Pittsburgh and Dallas and Dallas was getting left behind. I'm just not that hung up on the rings, aside from the fact that the Cowboys need more of them regardless of who wins Sunday. Plus, if Arizona wins a Super Bowl, I think it really degrades the whole experience for every team that's ever won one before. It's kind of like when I graduated from college, everyone with a undergraduate level degree felt a little less special that day.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that for the most part total number of rings is irrelevant. Who really cares? It's all about now this year. I am a huge Cowboys fan. It has been like 13 years since they have won a playoff game. So if I am in a conversation it would be absurd for me to say well we dominated in the early 90s. Come on who really cares. Same for the Bulls what have they done lately you can't ride on the back of championships of 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteSure Arizona was 9-7 this year, but the Giants of last year were 10-6 and limped in also. They got hot at the right time and before they won the SB noone was saying they were so great. Then this year they had a great regular season. Maybe the Cards can get a nice spark from this IF they win. Edgerrin James and Hightower will need to step up if they want to win.
Good points. I agree completely, but I'm not letting Arizona off the hook. Half the country probably didn't even know Arizona had a football team. I just find teams like the Cardinals and Seahawks boring and less intriguing for big games.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you on the mediocrity in regular season play, however. I actually told a friend a few weeks ago that it may be just as important to lose games in the regular season as it is to win them. Obviously you wouldn't want to lose too many to the point that you miss the playoffs but winning too many is not the best strategy either.
Examples from last year are New England, Green Bay, and Dallas. And you already gave the point about the Giants coming from 10-6 to win the Super Bowl last year. The Steelers did a similar thing in 2005, coming from the wild card to win the enchilada. I guess the current trend in the NFL is making it a horrible idea to win more than 10 games.
Not to reference school too often, but in high school, my three-week-averages were usually in the 30s. But then I'd slowly turn it around and by the sixth week, I was pumping on all cylinders. No doubt it was harder to do things that way but the end result was super, just like Sunday could be for the Cardinals.
This is, quite possibly, the greatest sports blog that has ever been created. I've only ever read one, but after seeing it, I'm pretty sure this is the greatest - and there's only one post so far!
ReplyDeleteIn particular, I appreciate and totally respect the fact that no world history is important in BC "Before Cody". You know, I've always wondered what BC meant in the history books, but now I know.
I wonder if the mediocrity breeds superiority trend is true in other areas besides football. I can imagine business meets where presidents are telling their companies to perform badly for the first three quarters so they can really bring it home in the end. It would be interesting to see if that was effective...