Super Bowl Set

Well, I was half right; although I think I gave the Arizona Cardinals a better chance than some people. It seemed that many people were picking Philadelphia but they were leaving themselves an opening that Arizona might win. Good thing too. I didn’t really watch the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game as I don’t care for either team, but I did enjoy the Arizona-Philly game. I was hoping that Arizona would win as I have a soft spot for Kurt Warner and I just like rooting for the underdog. It was a good game and the final Arizona drive was quite impressive. Reasonable minds can differ on whether a penalty should have been called on that 4th down pass for the Eagles. I didn’t see anything that seemed that brazen, but I also prefer a slightly rougher form of football.

Vegas has opened the line for Pittsburgh by 7. I’m not at all surprised for several reasons. First, defense always win championships. Arizona’s defense has stepped up and that has been key to their getting to the Super Bowl. But Pittsburgh has the best defense in the entire NFL this year and that will likely trump Arizona’s high powered offense.

Second, taken as a whole, the AFC has been considered the tougher conference for the past few years and the Giant’s rise to the top of the league during the regular season did nothing to counteract this feeling. Arizona in particular is probably viewed as soft in relation to the battle tested Steelers.

Third, the Steelers just had a better record (12-4) and against better teams. Arizona finished 9-7 but six of those wins came against the rest of their division (San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis) who were a combined 13-35. With a two week layoff, people just expect Arizona to return to earth a bit and we’ll see the regular season versions of these teams, of which Pittsburgh was much better.

Mr. A informed us three years ago that the dish of Pittsburgh would be perogies. I'm not quite sure what the dish for Arizona would be. Something spicy and Mexican oriented I guess.

Hopefully, it’ll be a good game, but I’m not optimistic. I’m also unsure about the ads since the commercials have really stunk for the past few years. It very much seems like the ad agencies aren’t even trying or are just going for the cheap laugh. We’ll see I guess.