This year’s Super Bowl is quite a matchup. I will admit, if anybody had told me that the Arizona Cardinals would be playing in this game at the beginning of this season, I would have laughed at them. Make the playoffs, sure; I’ve seen them do it before and they have a stellar offense, but no way the Super Bowl. They haven’t won a playoff game since 1998 before beating the Atlanta Falcons in the first round. They have never played in a Super Bowl, and haven’t won a championship since the Truman administration in 1947, when the team was still in Chicago (the Cardinals left in 1959).

Needless to say when compared to a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have played in six Super Bowls before this one (winning five), the Cardinals have a history of being a punching bag for most NFL teams. This season does prove that any team can reach the Super Bowl any year.

There is a way that these two teams are related however, and it makes sense that the Cardinals can make it to the Super Bowl. The Cardinals’ head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, was the offensive coordinator for the Steelers before he became the Cardinals’ coach. He won a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh in 2005. So I guess it does make some sense that the Cardinals are in this game.

This will be the first Super Bowl of the 21st Century to feature two quarterbacks who have already won a Super Bowl; Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner. While Warner has put up more impressive numbers then Big Ben, Roethlisberger is a proven winner. Even so, the Steelers bread and butter is still their defense, which is just as good as their Steel Curtain days in the 70s.

The Steelers defense finished the season ranked at the top, and that stout defense has help lead the team to another Super Bowl bid. While the offense has been productive, it has not been overwhelming in their victories. Troy Polamatu, the Steelers star safety and leader, should be all around the field come game time and like in the AFC Championship game against Baltimore could cause some key turnovers.

The Cardinals have one of the top ranked offenses in the NFL. Lead by Kurt Warner at QB and Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin at wide receiver, the Cardinals offense has been impressive and one that is eerily familiar to Warner’s old team, the ’99 Rams (aka the greatest show on turf). Coincidently, the Rams were also the punching bag of the NFL before Warner’s arrival. While defense usually wins Super Bowls, Warner’s Rams won it, and the Cardinals have been playing pretty good defense lately.
Even so, the odds makers still have Pittsburgh as a 6.5 point favorite. Throughout the entire season, Pittsburgh has had one of the better, if not the best, defenses, and played consistently throughout the entire season. That cannot be said of the Cardinals.

With Kurt Warner being upset that the MVP award went to the Colt’s QB Peyton Manning instead of him and Larry Fitzgerald being a freak of nature, I’m going to pick the Cardinals to not only cover the spread, but win the game, and continue the NFL’s ideology of league parody.

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Each year, nearly 100 million people tune in on Super Sunday to watch the worldwide phenomenon that is the Super Bowl. Football fans, party goers and commercial enthusiasts alike all watch the “big game,” and, for roughly four hours on the first Sunday in February, the world seemingly comes to a stand still.

But have you ever wondered what it was like to actually be in attendance for this cultural giant of a football game? This year, 93.2 million people viewed the game on television, whereas only 75,000 people where fortunate enough to be in attendance. This reporter happened to be one of those 75,000 football aficionados at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Fla.on Feb. 4, 2007.

As any sports fan can attest to, the Super Bowl is the single most momentous game in all of sports; it is the climax of arguably the most popular sport in the United States. After having the opportunity to actually attend the event, I would argue that it is in fact the most enjoyable weekend any sports fan ever has the chance to experience. Perhaps it is because this year’s game was held in Miami, or maybe it is because the Super Bowl has a magical aura about it, but the feeling of being there simply cannot be recreated.

We arrived in Miami around dusk on the Friday, Feb. 2 and headed directly toward the vicinity of Dolphin Stadium to check out what was going on down there. Upon arrival, it was amazing to see all the preparation the NFL and the city of Miami put into this event. Everywhere you looked, you were constantly reminded of where you were. Whether it was one of the thousand decorative signs donning the XLI logo, over-priced memorabilia vendors or the abundant media outlets from around the globe that surrounded the stadium, it was quite obvious that the Super Bowl was to be played at this location in two short days.

After Saturday’s mid-day festivities (including beach dwelling because when you leave Milwaukee for Miami it is essentially required) came to an end, it was time to spend the evening down at the party on South Beach. Musicians such as Jimmy Buffet, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez all performed, and celebrities such as Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman could be seen carousing down the crowed streets.

When Super Sunday finally came, it was time to experience the chance of a lifetime. There are no words to describe the sensation one feels when attending such an event, not even long and heavy rain could spoil it. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. Everything from Devin Hester’s opening return for a touchdown to Peyton Manning’s hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy was emotionally stimulating given the cultural importance of this game.

There is nothing that can be put into print that does this event justice. It is simply one of those things where you just have to be there and experience what it has to offer. Luckily, I can now say I have been.

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