January 19th, 2009
A few thoughts:
* Objectively speaking, these Cardinals are surely the worst Super Bowl team in the modern era, no? Who are the other contenders? The Stan Humphries-led Chargers? The ’86 Pats? The Grossman Bears? At least those teams had impressive regular season records padded from being in a weak conference. This Arizona team doesn’t even have that.
And for the record, if the Eagles had won, I think they would have been the worst Super Bowl team ever.
* Did you like that pass interference no-call on the final drive? Kind of beyond comprehension. I choose to blame George W. Bush. It seems incontrovertible that President Bush is the one who picked up the red phone and told The Commish that the Eagles’ 4th quarter drive better not end in anything crazy.
Look, you can say what you want about Bush, but on his watch, he did what he had to do to keep America safe. And you and I both know that the consequences of a World Series/Super Bowl double for Philly would have been terrifying.
* Where does this rank in the Pantheon of Philly losses? I’d say it’s up there. Way up there. The only loss I can think of that comes close is the NFC championship choke against Tampa Bay.
That Tampa Bay loss was hideous. First, it was against Tampa Bay, an expansion franchise which had been hapless for it’s entire existence. Second, Philly was home, and favored. And finally, Tampa had some ridiculous streak–something like 0-54–in games where the temperature was below freezing. That streak ended in Philly.
On the other hand, Tampa actually won the Super Bowl. Arizona is going to get crushed.
* On the bright side, only 111 seasons of Philly sports left until our next championship. Rock on.
Updated Final Thought: How many QB’s have taken two different teams to a Super Bowl? How many have won with two different teams? I’m not a football stat-head, but those must be very short lists. So you would think that between this accomplishment and his insane career numbers that Kurt Warner would be regarded as one of the great quarterbacks of all-time–at least in the top 20.
Yet he was buried on the depth chart under Matt Leinart after being kicked to the curb for Marc Bolger. Neither of whom, I’m guessing, will make the Hall of Fame.
Which just goes to show that true meritocracy doesn’t really exist anywhere, even in the NFL, which is about as much of a pure capitalist, results-oriented marketplace there is. Situations matter. Personalities matter. Non-talent, non-results-based decisions get made all the time because the people charged with making the decisions have other agendas.
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