Daily Loaf

Watch the CL Street Team snuggle, drink and “sausage” their way through the tailgating parties at Super Bowl XLIII.

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On 1A of the St. Petersburg Times, sports columnist Gary Shelton trumpeted last night’s game as the greatest Super Bowl ever. It ranks high on my list, but I still have to give the overall nod to last year’s Giants/Patriots juggernaut. Admittedly, I liked the outcome of that game better than this one. I was surprised at how fervently I ended up rooting for the Cardinals, even though I’ve never been within a hundred miles of Phoenix. Something about them coming up short in their first chance for an NFL title since 1947 I found particularly poignant.

Larry Fitzgerald

For awhile, I thought the burgeoning recognition of otherworldly Cards receiver Larry Fitzgerald was going to flicker out like a spent candle. I’ve become a fan of his, and in the first half the Steelers bottled him up. But he busted out late with two touchdown catches and more than a hundred yards receiving. He would’ve been my MVP had the Cardinals won. Endorsements next?

Like the Springsteen halftime performance, I’ve been seeing raves about Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of the National Anthem. I thought it was too overheated and the tempo way too slow.

Was I the only one who thought the pregame on-field appearance of “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III and his crew was inappropriate? Yeah, he did a heroic thing that shouldn’t be diminished, but his appearance came off like a blatant, out-of-left-field tug at the heartstrings.

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One of the best.

One of the best Super Bowls ever. That’s two in a row.

Pittsburgh Steelers 27, Arizona Cardinals 23.

For a good portion of the game, it looked like it was going to be one of those ho-hum affairs, and order would be restored.

Instead, Kurt Warner and the Cardinals mounted a serious comeback in the fourth quarter, and made it a jump-out-your-seat contest.

I was at a friend’s house in Seminole, with maybe 25 folks, and almost everyone was pulling for Arizona. When Larry Fitzgerald caught a long touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter, it looked like another titanic Super Bowl upset was in the making. Instead, Ben Roesthlisberger led the Steelers on a drive that culminated in an acrobatic catch by Santonio Holmes to take the lead.

A lead that held. With 29 seconds left, Warner took the helm, and Arizona backers fantasized about Fitzgerald making another one of his leaping, circus catches in the end zone for a Cardinal win.

It was not to be.

Still, it ended up being a terrific game to watch, even though it was a bit heartbreaking to see the Cards, who haven’t won an NFL championship since 1947, come up short.

A close-up of Fitzgerald, wide-eyed, saying, “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” told the story.

The game had everything to excite watchers, including a 100-yard interception return at the end of the first half by Steelers’s linebacker James Harrison that proved to be a major swing.

The referees played a big part in the outcome, having to decide several replays, and throwing penalty flags at crucial times. But TV replays showed that they made the right calls, although it was curious that they didn’t review the last Cardinals play, in which it was ruled the Warner fumbled.

It appeared, at the very least, that the officials should’ve looked at the play to see if Warner was in his throwing motion, which would have resulted in an incomplete pass, and one more chance for Warner to heave a hail mary, possibly giving Fitzgerald one more chance.

Instead, the Steelers walked away with a record sixth Super Bowl trophy in a game that will be remembered fondly by football fans for decades to come.

Cards bettors were happy. The Steelers did not cover the 7-point spread.

At Super Bowl Media Day, the star players sit at podiums and take questions from a throng of reporters, while the lesser names sit up in the stands and do interviews. Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin is a podium guy.

Reporters practiced in the art of gang interviewing (or those with high-profile TV faces) get to ask most of the questions, but I did manage to fire a query at Boldin (after the media horde had thinned). I wanted to ask if he studied Marcel Proust at Florida State, and, if so, what was his favorite part of “Remembrance of Things Past.”

I got this instead:

God it feels good. Say a fond farewell with Dick Cheney’s exit interview from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live.

• “Anything is possible in America.”
• The inauguration may be tomorrow, but the “inauguration celebration” is well underway.

Click below for much more news …

• Finally, a ceasefire in Gaza.
• For the media, covering the inauguration is easier said than done.
• Please welcome to Tampa the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.
• Fox 13’s Russell Rhodes arrested in Channelside.
• The Florida Strawberry Festival has a new queen.
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop opens big at #1.

The historic angle for the Super Bowl that Tampa Bay will host in a couple of week is probably not as compelling as most. The Arizona Cardinals improbably won the NFC Championship 32-25 over the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s the first Super Bowl for the long-suffering Cardinals, who won their last NFL championship in 1947 — against the Philadelphia Eagles. Other than the Chicago Cubs, no other professional sports franchise has gone longer between titles than the Cardinals.

Arizona will play the storied Pittsburgh Steelers, who beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 in 25-degree Steel City cold and light snow flurries.

The Super Bowl will pit the flashy, pass-happy offense of the Cardinals — which dominated the NFC-best Eagles defense for most of the game — against the more complete Steelers, who were the No. 1-ranked defense in all the NFL.

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