What a Superbowl

Wow. What a superbowl that was, huh? It's very fitting to me to end the 2008-2009 NFL season with such a kickass awesome game, because frankly I thought this was one of the most fun seasons in recent memory as far as the NFL goes. In the end, the team that I believed was the best team in the NFL since the moment Plax Burress's illegal handgun went off while still in his pants pocket and emptied its bullet deep into Plax's thigh managed to pull it out, but not after making it look really bleak with just a few minutes left.

A few general Superbowl observations:

1. Larry Fitzgerald. Wow. What can you say. People can say whatever they want, but until this postseason, Fitz was probably considered the second best receiver on his own team. Now all of a sudden everyone acts like they've been saying he's the best in the game for the past few seasons. But what a postseason this guy had, utterly shattering the record for receiving yards in a postseason -- previously held by Jerry Rice -- even before the Superbowl began, and Fitz came to play in this game as well. His touchdown run right up the middle of the field late in the 4th quarter was pretty effing awesome. It will be interesting to see starting next year if Fitz is really able to take on the "lead" wide receiver role with Anquan Boldin on the opposite side all the time. I am truly bummed to see Fitz have to lose this game after making that awesome touchdown catch and run with so little time left in the biggest game of his career.

2. Kurt Warner. Talk about truly bummed to see him lose. I'd like to see somebody try to find another example of a quarterback having a day like Warner did in the Superbowl and still somehow not win. 31-43, 377 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interception, and he doesn't win? Warner must still have woken up this morning wondering "what the hell?" I'm gonna say it right here for the record -- anyone who doesn't think Kurt Warner is NFL Hall of Fame material is simply not paying attention. Did you see the stat last night that Warner now holds all three of the top statistical performances in Superbowl history? That right there is sick. Combine with the fact that he led this franchise to its first Superbowl and came this close to winning it, doing everything he possibly could to make it happen, after the year he had here, plus all the stats he ran up and incredible teams he led back in the days of the Greatest Show on Turf, and in my book Warner is an absolute, raging lock to make the HOF. And despite the silly religious stuff with thanking Jesus after he wins games and stuff, Warner is truly a good and likable guy, someone I find it easy to rally around. Oh and btw, as Goat pointed out to me in the girly during the game, Kurt Warner really does look younger than he has in years. Botox anyone?

3. The Cardinals. What a friggin bummer. The NFL's career whipping boys were sooo close to taking this thing down, I'm sure they're still trying to figure out how they gave up that game-ending touchdown drive so quickly, and how the eff Santonio Holmes managed to get both toes down on his game-winning catch. I've talked to a lot of people about this, and it's hard to find almost anyone who wasn't rooting for the Cardinals to pull this one out. It sucks either team has to lose after a game like Sunday night's, but this one especially rots given how hapless the Cardinals franchise has been over the years, how incredibly close they came, and again given what truly decent guys Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald seem to be. Remember, this week saw Fitz publicly offer to restructure his own contract if it would give the Cardinals more money to pay to keep fellow wideout Anquan Boldin in town. That's not something you see every day in the NFL, that's for sure.

4. Ben Roethlisberger. Ben Roethlisberger is pretty much The Man when it comes right down to it. Big Ben now has two Superbowl wins in what, five seasons? I know in the first one he did not play particularly well at all, but even in that one a few years ago, his main wide receiver won the MVP and a Superbowl win is a Superbowl win, right? And he played awesome on Sunday night in leading his team to victory, as he did all through this season really, including putting the team on his back through that incredible last-minute scoring drive that saw the team march about 80 yards in just about two minutes of game time. Just looking at the throw to Holmes that resulted in the game-winning touchdown catch, if you see the replay you can see that Big Ben literally put that ball where only his receiver (or no one) could catch it, just over the outstretched hands of the jumping Arizona corner, and just barely close enough to his man that Holmes could catch the ball and still remain in-bounds. As usual, Roethlisberger had a ton of big plays in the clutch on Sunday, and he has really cemented himself as the best young quarterback in this league as far as I'm concerned. Move over, Tom Brady, there's a new young qb stud in town and his name is Big Ben.

5. Santonio Holmes. Four catches on that final drive, and 9 catches overall in the game for over 130 yards. And what a fucking catch. 'Nuff said.

6. The Steelers. It is so rare these days to see a team that you feel is winning the championship the right way, but I just really get that feeling about the Steelers. Sure, I would have loved to have seen Arizona erase its demons and nab their first Superbowl championship, but personally I find it very difficult not to like this Steelers team. From the ownership all the way down to the players, these are a stand-up bunch of guys, and I am glad it's them who is the first franchise to six victories, as opposed to the 49ers who apparently cheated the salary cap all the way through their 80s and 90s victories, or the revolting Cowboys with their parade of "big money" asshat players and nimrod coaches. The Rooney family which owns the team has been the big proponent of insisting on interviewing minority candidates for head coaching vacancies in the league, and they put their money where their mouth is a few years ago in hiring 32-year-old Mike Tomlin to lead the team after Bill Cowher's departure left the team looking for just its third head coach in forty years. Now Tomlin becomes the youngest head coach to ever win a Superobowl, surpassing the record recently set by former Eagles' O-coordinator Jon Gruden, and the Rooneys, Tomlin, Roethlisberger and that vaunted Steelers defense are all sitting pretty today after capturing the team's sixth Superbowl championship in just 43 years of the leagues being merged in the NFL. Six wins in 43 seasons in a league that is now up to what, 30 teams? Sickness.