The grand-daddy of sports: The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the largest single annual event in the sporting world. Last year’s match up between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants had 130-140 million people tune into the game at one time or another. The Super Bowl is more than a football game; it’s a chance to get together with friends, watch the Super (expensive) commercials, eat good food, and watch the best teams in the NFL face off in the biggest sports battle in the World. The storylines will be plenty, the commercials will be talked about all night, and 2 great football teams will square off for 60 minutes in the biggest and best game of the year.

This year’s Super Bowl features the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. There are many interesting story lines this year that will make this game intriguing to watch starting with the fact that the Cardinals have not been to a championship in about 60 years. If you are looking for an underdog then the Arizona Cardinals would be the team you want to cheer for this year. Another storyline is the re-emergence of the Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner. Warner played for 5 years for the St. Louis Rams and was highly successful being voted as the league MVP for 2 out of the 5 years. He also took the Rams to, and won, Super Bowl XXXIV. Warner was released by the Rams and signed by the Giants where he struggled before going to the Cardinals where he had played average until this year where he broke out of his slump and had an excellent year leading his team to this year’s Super Bowl,

The final storyline, and probably the most interesting, has to do with the coaches. When Bill Cowher (head coach) retired from the Steelers 2 years ago, it was speculated that the offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt, would take his place as the next head coach. The Steelers had other plans and decided to hire Mike Tomlin instead. Tomlin at the time was the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. Once Tomlin was hired he chose not to retain Whisenhunt or the defensive coordinator Russ Grimm, who was also a strong candidate for the Steelers head coaching job. Whisenhunt was subsequently offered the head coaching job for Arizona and he hired Grimm as his defensive coordinator. The Arizona coaching staff now meets up against their former team and the coach who came in to Pittsburgh and stole what they thought should have been theirs in the biggest game of all. This scenario will provide for very interesting interviews and discussions among players, coaches, media, and fans during the 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. It may also provide that extra motivation for the Arizona Cardinals team.

The Cardinals boast a high-powered offense with a strong veteran quarterback in Kurt Warner with one of the best up and coming receivers in the league in Larry Fitzgerald. The Steelers bring to the table one of the all-time best defenses with James Harrison and James Farrior leading a fierce attack at the linebacker positions, and Troy Polamalu providing hard hits from the strong safety position. The Steelers will look to shut down the Cardinals aerial attack and the Cardinals will look to take it straight into the teeth of the Steelers defense and show the Steelers who’s boss.

Will the Cardinals win with Kurt Warner slinging the ball down the field or will the Steelers smash the Cardinals into submission- Tune in Feb 1^st at 4pm to find out.

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