Mike Tomlin commented, more or less, that his Steelers don't blink in the face of adversity and it might not always be pretty, but they get it done.  I couln't agree more.  Aside from the last catch (not the throw), there was little pretty about the the Pittsburgh's Super Bowl 43 victory over Arizona.

But the Men of Steel did get it done.

And as small as that seems to me on one hand, it is pretty huge.  At some point there was a real chance for the Steelers to think they were on the wrong side of a fairytale and they were going to live sadly ever after as the defeated, evil antagonist.  But they did not give up and went into auto-emergency mode with the last drive and made it happen.

Taken on its own I think Roethlisberger's touchdown throw to Santonio Holmes was ill advised and turns out poorly 9 out of 10 times.  But it worked this time and there is no denying the Steelers made this victory happen.  They did not sit around and wait for it and they did not panic.  You can't ask for too much more than that.

On the other hand, not giving up is what professional football players should do.  How pathetic they would have been if they did.  The Cardinals certainly never gave up either, and for this they have our respect as well.

All in all, it was a ho-hum game until the fourth quarter except for James Harrison's interception return for touchdown.  So boring in fact my wife left the room to catch the end of ESPN's rebroadcast of the Australian Open Final.  Can't argue with her decision, but like the Steelers, I'm not pretty but I get it done.  I stuck it out, it got better, and I for the most part am a satisfied NFL customer.

Now about some of those calls...

So it looks like my Super Bowl 43 projection or hope wasn't quite right regarding the big plays.  The Cardinals got one with Larry Fitzgerald's 64 touchdown catch and run.  But the other truly big came from the Steelers with James Harrison's goal line interception and 100 return for touchdown (I still think Harrison was down before the end zone by the way, but there was no decent replay proof so I agree with the lack of reversal).  Porobably the most shocking Suoper Bowl play ever.

That play, though, had the potential of doing the Steelers more harm than good.  Obviously it made the difference in the final score and they wouldn't have won without it, but I'm guessing it prevented the Steelers team from fully grasping at halftime just how capable Arizona was of taking the Lombardi Trophy.  They did not come out in the second half prepared to shut down the Cardinals and they ended up being very fortunate to win.

What happens in Super Bowl 43 if the Cardianls can manage a few early scores?  If they can quickly get a lead, say two touchdowns or so, any inferiority complex might vanish and they'll be in control.  Could you realistically expect the Steelers to come back from that?  I don't think so.  They are very good, but would they be come-from-behind good?  In such a big game?  Or would it be their only fear seemingly becoming a reality?

The Steelers are likely to control this game more or less from start to finish.  But what if they don't?  I think this is the Cardinals best shot.  They need to strike fast or all the blowout predictions are inevitable.  They have a shot at doing just that.

As much as the Steelers' defense is powerful and intimidating, you just know they are thinking often and hard about stopping the big Larry Fitzgerald play.  But they have to actually do that.  It is easier said than done.  I think Fitzgerald has already gotten in the minds of the Steelers and the early moments of the first quarter might decide the game.  The Steelers may be so busy trying to send a message with a big hit that they actually fail to do their real job which is stopping the entire Cardinals offense.  If they key on Fitzgerald, they still might not be able to stop him and/or they might let someone else beat them for a score or two.

Don't get me wrong, this is indeed me just grasping at some strand of hope.  But it is a consideration for the vaunted Steel Curtain.  They have to live up to their reputation without getting burned by it at the same time.

These days I try my best to keep the potential distractions to a minimum.  Below are some of my current guidelines for achieving a qualtiy Super Bowl Sunday viwing experience.

- Little or no vomitting.
- Have more than enough of a quality German weiss beer on hand (truth is I'll drink anything, but since this is a special day, I prefer the weiss).
- Back up beer is my trusty ol' friend Guinness.
- Have appropriate beer glasses.
- Appetizer is simply chips and salsa with guac and sour cream.
- Regular meal is chilli or delivery pizza - - no fuss, filling, satisfactory leftovers.
- No more than four small children in the house.
- If there are more than two females in the house, they need to have their own area with a TV.
- The women are by no means segregated, but they need the option of their own area where they can have their own convesations.
- I just don't want to hear about how cute some palyer is when I really just need him to fu(k!ng catch the ball when it lands right in his hands.
- At least one TV must be showing the game in high definition.
- I need to be able to actually hear most of the audio from the TV.
- For dessert: bourbon.
- Postgame: have the sex with my wife.

Without all or at least most of this, I might as well be watching a damn awards show.

In my fantasy world I'd watch the Super Bowl from on the field and through the eyes of a starting safety...preferably as a member of the San Diego Chargers.  Ever since childhood that was my dream position and team, even though I played Quarterback and Linebacker and rooted for the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings.  Go figure.  In the real world I often end up watching the game alone or in the company of my Wife and, now, our two young sons.

I have done quite a few different types of Super Bowl parties over my career as a spectator and seemed always to have a good time (and often too good of a time...let's just say Super Bowl 26 ended up in a wild 3-way tie which had nothing to do with the Redskins or Bills).  However, there's a heavy element of distraction in any Super Bowl party that, if allowed to run amuck, can leave me hanging without the proper sense of closure.  I need to see the full spectacle of the game, right down to that ridiculous tripe the NFL calls a halftime show.  If I don't consume sufficient volumes of Super Bowl hype, pregame has-been analysis, over produced commercials, the costly flyby and tingly National Anthem, numerous sultry cheerleader shots (both teams' please), some actual game coverage, and a few other must haves, I can become quite the jaded football bitch.

But that necessary sense of closure became increasingly difficult to accomplish as the parties grew from me and a few grade school chums, to me and my drunken college mates, to me and a crowd of pulsating genitalled twenty-somethings, to me and my wife and an apartment full of competitive newlyweds, to me and my family and a house full of absolute chaos and mayhem.  In short, I can easily lose my focus if my college roommate is puking on me, or a 20 year old hottie is surprisingly macking on me, or if my coworker's new wife is critquing our wedding china, or if my neighbor's kid just pissed in our fireplace and now wants chicken nuggets and rootbeer.

What's left?  Special Teams?  As average as they are, the Steelers are better than the Cardinals - - so advantage Pittsburgh.  Crap!

There is still another factor (I'm sticking with the players themselves and not getting into the Coaching or other nonsense - - players win/lose Super Bowls).  That other factor is Big Plays.  This is an Arizona advantage.  I think they get two big plays on Sunday.

This is admittedly shakey analysis at best, based on the thinnest slices of reality and logic.  Yet, it is all I need to make this bold projection: those two big plays propel them to a shocking upset with the final score Cardinals 28 and Steelers 17.

With the draw I mentioned in my previous post, the game turns towards the Pittsburgh Offense and the Arizona Defense, where the motivation factor gets resurrected since all the chat has been about the Steelers' D and not the Cardinals'.   With a chip firmly on their shoulder, the Arizona D holds up.

Sure, the "chip" angle is getting old, but maybe no less relevent.  So-called disrespect or at least lack of respect as a motivator in the NFL is a cliche to be sure, but like most cliches it is one based on a truism.  The majority of players on any given NFL team will never be mistaken for great thinkers.  They are reltively uncomplicated in what drives them once they're on the field, and the respect factor is huge in that direct, almost minimalist line of thinking.  So in my mind the Cardinals Defense holds as a matter of pride.

I am trying desperately to avoid transferring Steeler fans' unnecessary over confidence to the Steeler team itself, but still, this is starting to smell a lot like last year.  Cards are well motivated, but now edge in motivation seems a lock - - the Cardinals will be 100% motivated to prove everyone wrong.  So that helps wash to some extent the Steelers' talent, experience, defensive power, yadda yadda and I say the battle between the Arizona Offense and the Pittsburgh Defense pretty much ends up a draw. 

It's gonna be hard for me to put one penny on the Arizona Cardinals against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 43 - - but I'm gonna do it.  Why?  Those of you who followed us over from the old site know I don't go with the odds, the facts, the numbers or any of that other practical crap.  Every logical, Jameson-drenched bone in my skinny corpse is begging me not to bet against Roethlisberger and the Steelers, but I gotta go with my heart on this one.  I am, afterall and unfortunately, about as pragmatic as the outgoing Bush Administration (good riddens, by the way) when it comes to picking winners.

My favorite teams growing up in the 70's were the sorry-ass Chicago Bears (completely unwatchable had it not been for Sweetness and the human voulge that was Doug Plank) and the Lombardi Trophy intolerant Minnesota Vikings.  It was the Vikings' Super Bowl 9 loss to the Steelers which so thoroughly choked my chicken to to the point where to this day I wish some daring flight attendant would have slipped Franco Harris the ol' Visene Mickey on the team flight to New Orleans (or maybe not, my apologies Franco).  So obviously, I can never openly root for the Steelers...unless perhaps they are playing the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders, USC or any number of other teams that pass through my weekly death row.

The Cardinals on the other hand, have never really done anything to dig their way under my skin - - especially not in their current desert incarnation.  With Chicago as their birthplace, I could even stretch a claim to them as an old hometown team, but they'd long since moved to St. Louis by the time I began cuttin' Sunday Mass to watch the truly divine Walter Payton perform his own miracles.  So as far as my system of alliances and grudges go, I have deemed the Football Cardinals pretty much a non-combatant (me and everyone else - - outside of Dan Dierdorf and his wet dream Conrad Dobler).
Any spareable hard-earned money I decide to squander on a Super Bowl 43 bet, therefore, is on the docile Arizona Cardinals.  Or more accurately, not on the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Now if Steelers were playing the Green Bay Packers or maybe the Toledo Rockets, well-hell-hell...now that would be a different story.


For refernce, and with no further explanation, here is a quick portion of my Pittsburgh Steelers Bowl Balance Sheet:

PROS
Bruce Davis is a UCLA Bruin
Travis Krschke is a UCLA Bruin
Logo only on one side of helmet is old school cool
Traj Essex is a Northwestern Wildcat
Rashard Mendenhall is an Illinois Fighting Illini
Carey Davis is an Illinois Fighting Illini
Roethlisberger from a MAC school (not going to mention the school)
Pittsburgh is not located in Texas or Florida
Tommy Maddox was a UCLA Bruin
Mike Tomlin does not bug

CONS
Beat Vikings in Super Bowl 9
Logo only on one side of helmet is dorky
Beat Vikings in Super Bowl 9 only because they wore special shoes
7 Super Bowls is enough for now
Beat Vikings in Super Bowl 9 even though I wore my purple Donnie Osmond socks during the game
Troy Polamalu is a USC Trojan
Bill Cowher just drove me nuts
Uniforms remind me of Iowa Hawkeyes
Ousted Chargers from playoffs last week