About that lil' ole football game this weekend
(via Deadspin)
Oh yeah, I almost forgot...this Sunday is the Super Bowl. Um, yeah, I might be watching that. And I might just be pulling for the Arizona Cardinals. I mean, really, how could I not? Regardless of the fact that my friend Will Leitch, he of the infamous cookie sheet incident, is one of the only lifelong Arizona Cardinals fans in the known universe, and arguably the most famous, which is quite a sad statement, the Cardinals are the underdog of all underdogs, one of the perennial doormats of the league currently on one of the more improbable playoff runs in the history of team sports, and are now facing off against one of the NFL's more storied franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers. If all of this were a movie, I'd probably walk out of the theater, because I just wouldn't be able to accept it as being even remotely believable. It'd be just too fucking cheesy. Charles Pierce, a rather esteemed scribe writing for Slate, called the Cardinals run to the Super Bowl "fluky and disgraceful."
This, of course, is horseshit. It's real. It's very real and quite beautiful. And as a lifelong fan of another longtime NFL doormat, my beloved New Orleans Saints, I can't help myself from pulling for them. Not that I have anything against the Pittsburgh Steelers, mind you. Unlike other NFL powerhouses with multiple championships to their credit like the Cowboys and the Patriots, it's hard not to like the Pittsburgh Steelers, for whatever reason.
But there's one thing about the Super Bowl that I don't like...it always carries within it, at least for me anyway, an underlying sadness. I think the sadness comes from two things...first is my firm belief that my team will never get there, and secondly that the Super Bowl signifies the absolute end of football season. The months between the Super Bowl and the start of the next football season often seem like a lifetime. It sucks. Truly. But I think this Super Bowl and corresponding off-season will be different. Way different. The playoff run of the Arizona Cardinals infuses me with hope that maybe my own team can get there someday. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty big on hope these days.
7 comments:
John McCain might be a bit more famous than Leitch.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3866297
GEAUX BUZZSAW!
I'll be on the birds too. The fricking Titans fumbled away their best chance of getting there and winning perhaps ever.
But I think Arizona has shown if you get the right combo of skill players playing together at the right time anything is possible. If Edge can come up with a big game I think they have a legitimate shot.
RJ
Football blows. And so have the commercials for the last several years.
Professional sports can take a flying leap :-)
I work in downtown Tampa where a lot of the action is, the parties, the fanfare, the ESPN tent. It's quite the festive area. Football players and celebs wandering around the city. It's fun. I saw Andy Rooney coming out of the hotel by my building this morning. The girls saw DJ AM. It's really high energy. People wearing gold and black and then lots of people with cardinal hats on that are just hysterical. I'm not sure who to root for. I like the underdog (under bird?) Cardinals. But the Steeler players I met today were really just so nice. It'll be a hard choice. I'd like to say I'm going to the Superbowl Parties every night (Leather and Lace, Angels and Athletes, Maxim, Girls Next Door, Kevin Costner's party, on and on), but no luck there, though I know people who are going. Lots of free stuff to take in at least. And lots of expensive souvenirs with the Super Bowl logo. God bless Football. Just have to find a group to watch the game with on TV Sunday. I did get the 3D glasses to watch the Superbowl 3D commercials. Small pleasures in life.
Rooting for my beloved Steelers, although to give Arizona some credit, they are a very likable team. Fitzgerald is a class act.
C'mon man! The Saints are gonna be there one day! And when they go, I'll be there. I may have to mortgage the house or suck dick for a while but I'll be there. Who dat?! Go Cards!
I don't really have a team to root for this time around which greatly diminishes the fun for me. Additionally, I somehow got talked into doing the majority of the cooking, heavy on chicken, burgers, etc., and I'm a friggin' vegetarian. Also, I truly hate watching football with other people. I like to watch sports in silence and without dumb questions and comments being volleyed about in the background.
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