The Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl.  Sounds funny, doesn’t it?   Actually, it’s more like something you thought you’d never hear in your lifetime.  So, what’s crazier sounding then “the Cardinals are in the Super Bowl?”  We came up with a list:

- Roger Clemens not being a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame (Would’ve seemed crazy 3 years ago)
- Tampa Bay Rays going to the World Series  (Would’ve seemed crazy two years ago)
- The Phoenix Suns getting a legitimate Center  (Would’ve seemed crazy one year ago)
- Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture (Still seems crazy)
- Barrack Obama’s historical Presidential victory, first African-American (Seemed crazy 40 years ago, when African-Americans were not even allowed to dine in the same restaurants as whites. )
- Boston Red Sox winning the World Series (Seemed crazy anywhere from 1919, following the sale of the Babe to the New York Yankees, to 2004 when “The Curse of the Bambino,” was finally broken).
- Red Sox winning the ALCS over the Yankees down 3 games to none (Seemed crazy as late as the 9th inning when the Red Sox trailed New York 4-3 with Mariano Rivera on the hill for the Yanks).
- D-backs winning the World Series in the 9th inning off of Mariano Rivera (Seemed crazy as of the 8th when Rivera struck out the side, including Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams, and Steve Finley, which lowered his ERA in the postseason to a major league-best of 0.70).
- Arnold Schwarzenegger , Governor of California (Seemed extremely crazy in 1970 when Arnold made his film debut in “Hercules in New York.”  Seemed very crazy in the early 1980’s when Arnold starred in two Conan films, and Commando in 1985. Seemed crazy from 1994-1996 when Arnold starred in such horrendous movies as “Junior,” “Eraser,” “Jingle All the Way,” and “Batman and Robin.” See below:
“Junior” (1994) - As part of a fertility research project, a male scientist agrees to carry a pregnancy in his own body.
4.4 IMDB user rating (out of 10)
“Eraser” (1994) - A Witness Protection specialist becomes suspicious of his co-workers when dealing with a case involving high-tech weapons.
5.8 IMDB user rating
“Jingle all the way” (1996) – An anxious father decides to dream the impossible dream, to get that year’s hot toy for his son just before Christmas Day.
4.8 IMDB user rating
“Batman and Robin” (1996) - Batman & Robin try to keep their relationship together even as they must stop Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from freezing Gotham City
3.4 user rating

- Michael Jordan playing baseball instead of basketball  (Seemed crazy and maddening to Suns fans in 1993, when Jordan averaged a Finals-record 41.0 ppg during the Bulls six-game series win over Phoenix, during which Jordan became the first player in NBA history to win three straight Finals MVP awards).

Crazier things that haven’t happened:
- Cubs win World Series (hasn’t happened since 1908)
- Female President (hasn’t happened)
- University of Arizona in the Rose Bowl (hasn’t happened)
- Phoenix Suns World title (hasn’t happened)
- Detroit Lions in the Super Bowl (hasn’t happened)

The 620 Sportsline producer Rod Lakin gave a guest column on how ridiculous the East Coast media is.

You knew it was coming. You’d think after Saturday’s domination in Carolina it wouldn’t come so quickly, but there it was: “Let’s book Eagles for Tampa.“

That was the headline that greeted the masses on ESPN.com’s main NFL page on Sunday night. The column, written by Gene Wojciechowski, rehashes a familiar spiel: The Arizona Cardinals Cinderella run is over before the (insert East Coast opponent)’s game has even started. They’re facing insurmountable odds, and it’s sheer insanity to believe a win is possible.

Wojciechowski nearly says as much with his lame list of miracle analogies, preceded by the lead “Anything is possible.” Anything was seemingly more possible than a Cardinals-Eagles NFC Championship Game. After all, two weeks ago the Cards presumptive opponent under a far fetched NFC title scenario most likely would’ve been the New York Giants or the Carolina Panthers.

Under the latter scenario, who would’ve considered the possibility of an Arizona win, let alone a rout like the one we witnessed on Saturday?

And this is the point.

Had the Carolina Panthers won a game that everyone (including Mr. Wojciechowski, I‘m sure) thought they were going to win, who would’ve been careless enough to disregard their Super Bowl chances, at home, in the NFC Championship? Gene Wojciechowski is welcome to make that claim to me. Just as he has, incredulously, made one that writes off a team that handed those very same Panthers their first home loss this year.

“I was just sitting here drinking my coffee, eating my muffin…when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity” - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson’s character in “Pulp Fiction”)

In a movie loaded with great quotes this is perhaps my favorite.

On November 19th, or thereabouts, I had a Jules Winnfield “moment of clarity” about the Arizona Cardinals.   I knew exactly where they were headed and what was going to happen.

Not all of my prognostications come true.  In fact most I’d just as soon ignore and hope you forget.  But a few days before the Giants game I just knew how it was all going to turn out.  They’d lose a close competitive game at home to New York, get blown out by Philly, beat the Rams and Vikings at University of Phoenix Stadium, get pushed around by New England, beat Seattle.

They’d win at home in the wildcard round; lose on the road in the divisional round.

It was….well….clear.

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Oh I didn’t get everything right.  Didn’t see them getting squashed by the Vikings.  I knew they’d get beat by the Patriots, I didn’t think they’d lie down like puppies waiting to get their tummies scratched.  I had no idea Edgerrin James would be a difference maker in the playoffs.

I don’t bring this up to self-congratulate.  I bring it up to tell you that I’m sticking to the script.  Not going to ad lib.  The Cardinals are not winning this weekend.

Nothing I have seen since November 19th gives me a compelling reason to change my story.  Many fans, once ready to feed this team to the sharks after the Patriots loss, are now filling my inbox with nonsense about how they have a legit chance to beat the Panthers.  Beating the Falcons (something I was confident of before the game a week ago) has convinced the masses that this team has morphed into a giant-killer.  Clearly some of these fans have lost their “clarity.”

I, on the other hand, think the 10-point spread is just about right.

They’ve been abysmal on the road all year long and draw their strength from playing in their building.  The Cardinals are like the anti-Superman.  It’s when they leave home, they lose their super powers.

Now the Cards travel 2100 miles to play a superior team, coming off a bye week.  Two rushers (DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart) having fabulous years, a strong o-line, a road grader for a fullback, and a receiver who is every bit as tough and clutch (Steve Smith) as the Cardinals dynamic duo.  In a city where it will be cold and possibly wet.  And BTW, Anquan Boldin is questionable.

Since the Panthers and Cardinals last met, the team rushing totals for Carolina in each game since go like this:  162, 264, 134, 128, 299, 147, 158, and 234.  They have 30 rushing touchdowns as a team this year.

To repeat, 10 points is just about right.

If the Cards win this game it will be nothing short of the miracle that caused Jules in “Pulp Fiction” to have his moment of clarity in the first place.

One more BCS game down, one more to go.  But does the winner of Florida-Oklahoma really have a rightful claim to be the #1 team in all of college football? Or better yet, who has the right to be most upset about not having the opportunity to play in that title game? Burnsy says that team is USC after their walloping of Penn State in the Rose Bowl, as well as the Pac 10’s strong showing so far this post-season. The Trojans are followed by Utah, and not because their attorney general decided to become the latest lame politician to seek cheap headlines for allegedly seeking answers to the BCS mess. Pulling up third is Texas, who started the bowl season with probably the biggest gripe, but ended it with a less than stellar win over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

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Less than stellar would probably be an accurate description of the Suns last win over the Clippers. At least according to their head coach Terry Porter. Porter joined Burnsy on his weekly show, and joined the masses confused by the Suns strange schedule that has featured sporadic games, and lots of time off. Maybe too much time for some, but Porter was quick to say that he does not feel Jason Richardson’s DUI is a “distraction.” Porter also feels like Richardson and the rest of the team will be anxious to play against Indiana because “they’re sick of seeing each other and guarding each other.”

 

 Terry Porter [15:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (83)