The Super Bowl

I am so torn over this game. I have been a Steelers fan since I was in grade school. It was during the 70's and there was no better time to be a football fan. Bradshaw, Franco, Swann and Stallworth led a great offensive attack. But it was the defense that ruled supreme. Mean Joe, L.C., Dwight White, Ernie Holmes, Lambert, Ham, Blount, Wagner...the talent there was phenomenal, so much so that after the 1976 season, when the Steelers shut out 5 of their last 8 opponents (think about that!) the rules were changed to free up the passing game. Unreal. I will never forget that team or the entire decade of the 70's as football nirvana. The Steelers are still my 2nd favorite team behind my hometown Rams.

Then we have Kurt Warner quarterbacking the Arizona Cardinals. There is not a finer man in sports than Warner and I desperately want him to be elected to the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. Winning this Super Bowl would make that a slam dunk. I had season tickets to the Rams during the Greatest Show On Turf days and Warner drove that unstoppable machine. It's another thing I'll never forget. But then...there's that other factor. The Cardinals and owner Bill Bidwill. They left St. Louis, hung us out to dry without a football team. Even though I was a Steelers fan first, it still hurt like hell when football left our fair city. And to make matters worse, he did not vote in favor of the Rams moving to St. Louis. Twice he had the opportunity to make right and twice he declined. Can I really hope that this monumental buffoon of an owner gets rewarded with a Lombardi trophy? Nope. Can't do it. For a great take on Bidwill's true legacy, read this article. It sums it all up beautifully.

So my hopes are that Warner completes 80% of his passes with 5 TDs and no picks but falls just short as the Steelers rally for a last second win. The Steelers win the title, Warner is seen as a heroic figure in a tough loss and he eventually lands in the Hall Of Fame. With the Steelers' dominant defense, that is a fool's dream, but what the hell. Go Kurt! And go Steelers!