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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:

The Steelers, a team that remains consistently good even in a small market, against The Eagles, a team that’s been good for most of the decade, but has never won a Super Bowl and whose last NFL championship was in 1960.

Better than that for Tampa Bay, though, is the idea of having rabid fans of two Northern teams romping around in the sun for several days, running up huge bar tabs and chicken-wing bills. I bet that, along with the high-rollers flying in with long-standing reservations at Bern’s, we’ll also get folks from Pa. hopping in the van and heading down without tickets just to escape the dreary winter for a few days. They may be loud and obnoxious, but they’ll drop bucks in sports bars and nightclubs and worry about the mortgage later. That’s how hardcore Steelers and Eagles fans are.

So the football fan in me would love to see a Cardinals/Ravens standoff. But the Tampa-Bay-booster in me knows that the Eagles/Steelers is better for our area.

OK, let’s split the difference. Steelers/Cardinals.

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