Pinch me will ya. But did we all see the 2008 Arizona Football Cardinals in the greatest sporting spectacle of all time? You mean to tell me out of 32 teams that started out from mini-camps, through rigorous training camp and through pre-season injuries, that the Cards ended up being the representatives for the NFC in Super Bowl 43?
You bet, in front of the largest television audience of all time for a super bowl. In arguably the greatest Super Bowl game ever played. What an incredible ride it was, the memories from that magical season will last a lifetime. The Cards were about an inch away from a ticker-tape parade in Downtown Phoenix if it weren’t for Santonio Holmes barely, and I mean just barely getting his right toe to touch the turf.
The NFC Championship Game. That was HUGE, no doubt the single most important sporting event to happen in the state of Arizona. I don’t care if Super Bowl 42 was played here the year before, the problem is the Cards weren’t playing in it. To host the NFC Championship is an honor, that means your team has reached one of the highest pinnacles in professional sports, no doubt. I mean, it’s huge when your team gets to play in that game, but to actually host it, no words can describe.
Hey, I’m not trying to take away from the Suns or what the D-Backs did, but the NFC Championship being hosted here definitely put us on the professional sports world map. Even getting there was done in dramatic flair. Who gave us chance against the mighty Panthers AT Carolina? All the experts chose Carolina didn’t they? My man Cris Collingsworth said them Cardinals gonna lose big time. Well not only did we beat the Panthers, we completely throttled them into next year. Talk about a team that looked shell-shocked. That was a beating.
Talk about the underdog. Who would have expected the Philadelphia Eagles to go into Giants Stadium and BEAT the defending world champions? Again, I’d be lying if I said I thought the Eagles would have a chance, but they pulled it off and it set into motion what would be our destiny.
The team of destiny, the 2008 Arizona Cardinals played in the Super Bowl. Man, what an incredible game that was. I can still see Larry Fitzgerald streaking down the field to score that touchdown. I went completely crazy and was screaming, “we’re gonna win we’re gonna win!”. But man, too much time on the clock for Big Ben. Nothing could stop him or the course the Steelers would be taking into Super Bowl history and immortality.
We won’t spend too much time here, thinking about the game still kind of hurts. But what a season it was. We proved all the experts wrong, hell we proved the whole world wrong. It was us against the world and we came out guns blazing and played with heart, pride and poise. Noting to be ashamed of here, coming in second place. Because we weren’t supposed to be there anyway.
This blog is a salute and a tribute to the Arizona Cardinals. The long time doormat for the NFL, the team everyone always laughed and joked about. The team the other teams wanted to play because it always meant a W in the win column. Well you know what? There’s a new powerhouse in town and we aren’t taking prisoners from here on out.
Tags: 2008 season, nfc championship, superbowl 43