Prognostication

Congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals for making it into the Super Bowl. Honestly, I don't know how you maintained a semblance of the ability to play football, after essentially mailing it in for the second half of the season, with a QB who was 10 years removed from his last Super Bowl and bounced around more than a rusty pinball in a Coney Island arcade. In addition, the last time they made the playoffs they were still in the midwest somewhere. Furthermore, they were supposed to lose to the Falcons, the Panthers, and the Eagles.

And congrats to the Steelers. Big Ben managed to not colossally mess up (unlike some other QBs) and also had a defense lead by Polumalu, who is most likely certified insane (have you seen his hair?). Also have to give props to their coach, who is actually a year younger than Kurt Warner.

And they meet in the Super Bowl. The geratric Cinderella leading a team who was futility personified for decades and also the backup to some pretty boy in the beginning of the season meets the team led by Big Ben and his team of crazed defenders and some other dudes who are on the field the other half of the game.

I'm calling it now: the Cardinals might pull it off. It's a very similar situation to the last season's playoffs: a team who was supposed to lose at every juncture goes up against the team that is supposed to win and pulls it off. That's right: the Cards are this year's Giants. They've got something going on for them, their record and second half play be damned. It's basically written out: the old timer leading his team after a long and sort of embarassing hiatus away from success and his wide reciever who is doing things that defy the laws of physics.

Cardinals will be Super Bowl champs.