Arizona Dreamin’

My voice is shot.  My ears are ringing.  My back is aching from sitting in traffic for over two hours going into the NFC championship game and another hour trying to get out.  And, I’m not complaining—not at all.  After all, our Arizona Cardinals are on their way to Tampa Bay and Super Bowl 43.  This, from the team the “experts” called the worst playoff team in NFL history.  Idiots.  The analysts, not the Cards!

Number 13, Kurt Warner, has once again showed why he should have been the league’s MVP this year instead of the older Manning boy who was knocked out in the first round and has, in my mind, solidified his place in Canton, Ohio.  He will be the third oldest QB ever to make it to the Super Bowl and only the second quarterback to take two different teams to the big dance.  Congrats Kurt—and Fitzy and the rest of a top notch team; you guys have given us more than some big wins—you have given your fellow Arizonans a little hope when we desperately need it.

Think about it, the Redbirds came to the Valley over twenty years ago and made a habit out of disappointing just about everyone.  Often was the case when the team was so far ahead that they should have coasted to a win only to roll over and play dead just to cut their fans to the core.  Year after year the Cardinals played and year after year they let us down.  Yes, I did say “us.”  Though I came to the Valley just a couple of years ago I did grow up in St. Louis and I cut my teeth on the Cardiac Cardinals back in the days of Jim Hart and Dan Dierdorf and the gang.

So, why after so long do we go to the big bowl now?  Is it just our time (probably), a great team and coach (Led by rock star Whizenhunt—most likely) or, is there something even more significant?  Tens of thousands of Arizona citizens have lost their jobs and more are on the ledge.  Our budget is upside down—we’re down about two billion bucks this year.  And the housing market is so bad in Phoenix that it has been declared “Ground Zero” for America.  Tough times indeed.

As I screamed my lungs out along with 71,000 of my best friends at University of Phoenix stadium I looked around at all the people sharing my euphoria.  For three solid hours in the game and the many hours afterwards, we have all been on a high of epic proportions.  And, for that same period of time, we escaped the reality of troubled times by embracing every touchdown, sack and scramble for extra yards.

Yes, I think the Arizona Cardinals may be more than just this year’s dream team.  Perhaps they represent all that is good and possible when we finally do get a quiet moment to dream.