Well, that’s that. Thank you Jesus that the 2008 sporting season is finally over. It’s been an awful year for most everyone – and that includes those who don’t claim to be big sport fans either – and we all sit here hopeful that 2009 will bring us warmer climates and miraculous change that we’ve been promised. Hmm. But I digress.
As many of you observed, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in alarming fashion yesterday to win their sixth Super Bowl title. Having a hatred for the Steelers that is very rarely matched, I do have to tip my hat to them, because they did earn this victory. Beyond ironic was the article Gene Wojciechowski wrote about how the Steelers “win the right way” (clearly showing the reader that he must have been stoned during Super Bowl XL), but nonetheless, the Steelers won the game outright. Sadly, they were not the team I wanted to win.
Now this sounds pretty silly coming from a self-proclaimed Cardinals hater, but I was really pulling for the birds last night. This may come across as hypocritical coming from a Seahawk diehard, but it was the only logical thing for me to do. Not digging either team, I was left with a decision that really resembled the Clinton/Dole 1996 election. The Steelers represented Bill Clinton – the guy who it was fashionable to like and just seemed to have a lot of good luck fall his way; The Cardinals, then, fit the Bob Dole role great – someone who was never taken seriously to begin with and ruled out from the start. Being significant underdogs, and carrying with them the great distinction of having never screwed the Seattle Seahawks over in a Super Bowl, I had to at least “pull for them.”
Now, considering that the birds lost, I share with my colleagues on Just South of North some pretty fair disappointment. See, everyone knows all about the “classic” teams like the Steelers, Cowboys, 49ers and Patriots. We hear enough about them that we want to puke, thank you very much. Teams like the Cardinals resemble the Seahawks – usually at the butt end of jokes and never taken seriously – and of course if they make it to the big game, are usually ruled out and definitely not the sexy pick to win. Bad breaks always seem to fall their way. There are a lot of other teams out there like us, too – the Falcons and Chargers come to mind. Not that I would have been entirely pleased had the Cardinals won, I understand the frustration that comes with being a Cardinal fan. We Seahawk and Cardinal fans have that in common. We may not like each other tremendously, but there has always seemed to be that sense of almost camaraderie between the teams (it would include the Rams, too, had they not won that Super Bowl). Had the Cardinals won, us Hawk fans would have been in a more lonely division. This all sounds absurd, of course, but these silly comparisons I suppose are the by-product of following teams religiously since you were ten.
So Cardinals, I salute you. You played a heck of a game, and at least you didn’t have the refs rain down on you. Kurt Warner, I hope for your sake that you come back – that said, if you retire, I’ll breathe easier in regard to my Seahawks. Pittsburgh, I hate you all the more – but you earned it.
Alright, that’s that. Screw 2008. GObama. Go Seahawks.
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