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Post by G on Jan 10, 2009 23:45:25 GMT -5
You know, since Im home all the time now, Ive gotten to see a whole lot of sports shows on ESPN and I also watched both networks pregame shows. In every instance, when asked who was going to win the Carolina - Cardinals game, not 1 person was brave enough to say the Cardinals would win. Not all week on ESPN or anything. And me, being an underdog fan and my team long done, I picked up the hope that Arizona could surprise, because that is what I like to see. I love to see Underdogs upset the big dogs! So I was a fan of the Cardinals. But I didnt really expect Arizona to come out and beat Carolina. And when Carolina went 50 yards in the 1st 5 plays and score to make it 7-0, I figured this was not looking good. But what happened after that was Arizona opening up the biggest can of whoop ass Ive seen in a long, long time! Ive got to say, they shook up the world! Im rooting for them next week and as far as they can go. I love seeing those Underdogs come through! Gives me hope! Good Job Arizona!!!  |
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Post by starbrand on Jan 11, 2009 11:29:24 GMT -5
I've been a Cardinal fan since they moved to the Phoenix metro area in 1988. I told my friends at work we were going to win that game yesterday.
The Cardinals are well-coached and have loads of talent. I watched local news last night, which had interviews of some of the players that weren't broadcast nationally. Some of the players are bitter about how much they've been disrespected nationally, and that has just been an incredible incentive. The Cardinals had a rough stretch toward the end of the season, but that was after they'd clinched the Division title and the teams they were playing during that stretch were desperately trying to make the playoffs.
I'm rooting for the Eagles today. If the Eagles win the NFC title game will be here next week. I may try to go to that game, though tickets will probably be too rich for my blood.
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Post by G on Jan 11, 2009 11:50:32 GMT -5
You better camp out at the ticket booth if it looks like Philly is going to win. That's an immediate sell out!
I really hate the Eagles and I dont care too much for the Giants either...Hey, Im a Deadskins (with a piece of shit QB!) fan. But it would be cool to see Arizona host the NFC Championship.
All I know is Arizona has been one of those teams that have been mostly bad all my life. And its always good to see a team that has went through hell for decades finally enjoy some success. So whoever they play, Im rooting for them!
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Post by starbrand on Jan 11, 2009 12:01:04 GMT -5
Thanks for rooting for the Cards!
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Post by starbrand on Jan 11, 2009 12:06:44 GMT -5
From my perspective, here's why the AZ Cardinals were bad for so many years:
When Bill Bidwell agreed to move his team to Phoenix, the city of Phoenix verbally commited to building the Cardinals a stadium. Bidwell figured their word was good enough, but when he moved the team out here the city went back on its' word. The Cardinals ended up playing at a college stadium, which was easily the worst stadium in the league and produced the least revenues for the Cardinals of any NFL team. This was in part due to lack of Skyboxes and other revenue-producing avenues.
Now that the City of Glendale built them a state of the art stadium, look how good the team is. This solidifies my point. I went on a local sports radio station and explained my point and was ridiculed off the show. One of the guys who ridiculed me was Seth Joiner. I'm not sure who the other guy was.
In my mind, the City of Phoenix breaking its' word and not building the Cardinals a stadium is why they stunk for so long. Plain and simple.
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Post by G on Jan 11, 2009 12:39:47 GMT -5
I'm not certain it was everything, but Im certain it was a contributing factor. It seems not only do the Cardinals have more revenue from the stadium, but more pride. I havent followed the Cardinals but so much, but it seems they were never able to build a solid all around team. It seems like theyve had great receivers for awhile and I can remember for 3 or 4 years people saying "The Cards are going to be good this year watch!" but the season would begin and it was the same old Cards with good players but not a good team.
I'm really not sure how good they truly are this year. They had the weakest division and had it sowed up pretty early which I think hurt them because they had so much time knowing they were in it and not much else to play for because they werent going to have the best record in the NFC. They flat out stunk for like a month. And then got it together for the Playoffs. I think going into the playoffs everyone thought they didnt deserve to be there. That put a chip on their shoulder. I was mildly surprised when they beat Atlanta, but not too surprised. The real test was Carolina (aint it funny how I live in Carolina and do not root for them?). I think Carolina totally overlooked them. Everybody did. Like I said, not 1 predictor predicted Arizona. Carolina comes out and scores an easy 7. The coach was on the sidelines smiling. But I'll tell you what, from that point on, the Cardinals just flat out wanted it more!
Im not sure the Cardinals are the best team in the NFC, but the fact is, they are winning the games and they are in the NFC Championship. It's one of those "any given Sunday" teams that play hard. And thats what I like about them. They played super hard yesterday. If they want to get into the Superbowl, they are going to have to do it again too. It would be easier at home. If they play the Giants on a bitter cold day (its supposed to have a chance of snow where i am this week and thats saying something because its rare here and it will be much worse up North), I think the Giants would be worse case for them, but they havent played great lately either. The Head Coach and Russ Grimm (former Hog) and the rest of the coaching staff over there have done an excellent job getting their team believing they can win. The Cards can no longer be overlooked. I never expected them to be this far, but I'll stick with them as far as they can go.
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Post by starbrand on Jan 11, 2009 12:46:25 GMT -5
Dennis Green has to get some credit for the Cardinals surge. He's the one who brought Kurt Warner to AZ and he drafted Larry Fitzgerald. He drafted a couple other stars as well.
The chip on their shoulder you mention has been key, but their coaches have been outstanding in the playoffs. Atlanta and Carolina both had vaunted running attacks, and were shut down by the Cardinals run defense.
This team seems to really be on the rise. One guy to watch out for is a cornerback named Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. He's a rookie with Deon Sanders-like speed and atheletic ability, and he's becoming a shut-down corner like Deon was. This is a rising star and even the experts on TV don't even mention him. They don't realize how much he's improved over the last month or two.
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Post by starbrand on Jan 11, 2009 15:39:02 GMT -5
It looks good. Eagles by 9 with 14:56 left in the game. Hard to believe the NFC championship game could be in Phoenix next week.
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Post by G on Jan 11, 2009 16:17:20 GMT -5
Better go get your tickets!!!
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Post by starbrand on Jan 11, 2009 16:32:56 GMT -5
Better go get your tickets!!! I can't get on the Cards website at the moment. StubHub has a bunch of tickets to the game at about 200.00 ea. It's just too rich for my blood at the moment.  |
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