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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Here’s a great piece on the impact of the recession on this year’s Super Bowl. (From Al-Jazeera, no less!) Tampa looks great in the video, and looked stunning in all the overhead shots during the game. Nice job, Bay area. See you in 2014, NFL.

• The Steelers win one for the other thumb.
• NBC does a super job with the Big Game.

Lots more after the break…

• Super Bowl excitement taxes cell phone systems to the limit.
• Jennifer Hudson nailed it.
• Incidentally, I paid no attention to the ads this year. Guess what: I don’t feel like I missed anything.
• Hot Obama nominee trend: screwing up you taxes.
• OMG, Michael Phelps smoked some weed! The whole fucking world is going to end!!!!
• Over the weekend, Google decided every other website was a virus.
• A new iPhone in the wild around San Francisco?

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.

After wandering around Media Day at Raymond James Stadium, squeezing my way in front of the stars while reporters shouted inane questions, I made my way up into the bleachers where it was less frenzied. That’s where I saw a good-looking large fellow sitting all by his lonesome. It said “Spaeth” on the back of his jersey and judging by the No. 89 I figured he was a tight end, maybe a guy who played on special teams.

I sat down behind his left shoulder and said told him I wasn’t a sportswriter, more of a “lifestyle writer.” He replied, “Perfect, I’m more of a lifestye guy anyways.”

We had a leisurely chat for a little more than 10 minutes, talked about what was on Matt’s iPod, then moved onto … football. But not X’s-and-O’s football, more about football from Speath’s perspective, from a lifestyle perspective. I found him to be a thoughtful, interesting young man. As it turns out, Matt’s on the field about 40 plays a game, as part of the Steelers’ two-tight-end sets. He caught touchdown passes in his first two games as a rookie in ‘07.

Here’s an audio recording of highlights of our interview, which was much like a conversation. Download.

Matt Spaeth

The Athletics Department at the University of South Florida opened its doors to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday. USF is serving as a practice facility for the AFC champion team, who will be at the university until Saturday preparing for Sunday’s game.

In anticipation of the Super Bowl-bound Steelers, USF’s football practice field underwent an extreme makeover — including new grass, repainted hash marks and lines, and a Steelers logo in the middle of the field (right).

With Athletics in a frenzy over the arrival of the NFL, naturally the rest of the students on campus must be buzzing with Super Bowl hype. Right?

Eh – not really.

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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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Drew Magary’s Jambaroo, published every Thursday on sport blog Deadspin, is a must read for serious football fans who also get the absurdity of their favorite sport. This week, Drew is sounding off on championship Sunday when he takes time out to address a potential Super Bowl crisis:

And so, if the favorites hold, we’ll end up with an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl that will take place in Florida. People, I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say this kind of mass influx of Pennsylvanians into the greater Tampa area will result in A FUCKING DRIVING HOLOCAUST.

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How does an Arizona Cardinals/Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl sound?

I’m tempted to say that NBC, which will broadcast Super Bowl XXXXIII from Tampa , is shuddering at the thought of those two non-marquee teams clashing on Feb. 1, but really, isn’t the Super Bowl so ginormous that it transcends the matchup? People tune into the Super Bowl no matter what, right? We’ll find out.

Of the final four teams in the NFL Playoffs, only the Pittsburgh Steelers have a national following. I think it’s safe to say that folks in NBC’s executive offices are probably rooting for them against Baltimore next weekend.

Any way you cut it, this year’s game cannot approach the broad appeal of the ‘08 battle between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. And you know what? That’s OK with me. And I suspect it’s cool with most other hardcore NFL fans. As far as I’m concerned, if it can’t be the Bucs (or the Colts) in there, then let’s throw the thing wide open and make it Cardinals vs. Ravens.

A sling-it-around-the-park, wide-open-offense team vs. a gouge-out-your-eye-defense team (with the Cards winning 37-35). The Cardinals have been so down for so long that I can’t help but push for ‘em.

While the matchup probably doesn’t influence the TV viewership that much, I wonder what effect it will have on Tampa Bay, and the supposed economic boon that a Super Bowl brings. In that sense, I’m guessing that the host committee, business interests and local muckety-mucks are hoping for a Steelers/Eagles tilt. Two storied franchises, both from Pennsylvania, makes for a good storyline:

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