Tuesday Morning Running Back, Conference Championship Edition

Believe it, folks: the Arizona Cardinals are going to represent the NFC at Super Bowl 43 in a little less than two weeks time.

To football fans like myself. this is the biggest miracle in sports since George Foreman landed a lucky right-cross on Michael Moorer to win the heavyweight title at age 45.

In truth, the Arizona Cardinals have always been a laughingstock within the NFL ranks. Over the years, they've had more losers than Oliver Stone's recent films.

Sure they had good players. Neil Lomax was one of the most consistent passers in the NFC throughout the 1980's and Otis Anderson was a top-tier rusher before he defected to the Giants in 1986.

But the Cardinals always missed something that could have made them a contender.

In most years, the team didn't have a quarterback that was a leader, or had a strong arm. Who could forget such immortals as Timm Rosenbach and Tom Tupa lining up under center.

In other years, it was the coach. Buddy Ryan was past his prime and Dave McGinnis was in over his head,

But this year, bolstered by an innovative head coach and a grizzled veteran quarterback, the Cardinals won a division title and set out to prove that they were no pushovers.

They've done that by scoring early and having their defense rise to the occasion by giving them the big play just when they've needed it.

This has all culminated in their first Super Bowl appearance against a Steelers team that is seeking a record sixth title in the Super Bowl era, and has a tight defense that can stop the explosive Cardinal offense.

But don't count the birds out. They've defied the odds throughout the playoffs and have proven a worthy contender for an NFL championship.

I think this game is going to be a lot closer than many people think,

Now, allow me to comment on some of the things that led both teams to the big game by using the bullet points.

• You've got to love how quickly the Cardinals jumped on the Eagles defense on their first drive. The first pass by Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald over the middle was a thing of beauty, as was Fitzgerald's stretch into the end zone to score the first touchdown.
• Credit the Eagles' DeSean Jackson for his hustle in stripping the ball away from the Cardinals' Aaron Francisco mere seconds after Donovan McNabb was picked off. When was the last time you saw two turnovers on the same play?
• Larry Fitzgerald is a lot more athletic than I thought he was. I loved how he faked out the two safeties on the flea flicker on the Cardinals second touchdown, and got to the ball just as it was getting to him.
• What an unfortunate time for David Akers to finally miss a field goal. I was beginning to think that Akers was as sure a thing as death and taxes.
• If anyone still thinks Donovan McNabb isn't a leader, take a look at the third quarter again. The short passes to Celek and the fantastic deep ball to Jackson that put the Eagles ahead are not made by an inexperienced quarterback.
• Whenever the name Ken Whisenhunt is mentioned in Arizona, the lasting memory of him will be the gutsy play call he made on fourth and inches sweeping Tim Hightower to the outside. That was a heck of a gamble that paid off.
• The Eagles fans can dwell on the non pass interference call on their final drive all they want, but their inability to stop Tim Hightower on the Cardinals last drive is what hurt them in the end.
• This just in: Donovan McNabb has canceled his hotel reservation in Tampa and has apologized to the Giants for using their sideline phones for such nonsense.
• Hines Ward may say nothing is going to keep him out of the Super Bowl, but if he can't go, the Cardinal's chances just got a whole lot better.
• It pays to have athletic receivers. Just when you thought Ben Roethlisberger was going to throw a ball away, along comes the leaping ability of Santonio Holmes to create a touchdown.
• Had the Steelers lost that game, the muffed pass by Sweed would have been a painful playoff memory. He should have kept his eyes on the ball.
• The hero of the game was without question Troy Polamalu, who single-handedly stopped Willis McGahee on a key fourth down in the first half and then iced the game by intercepting Joe Flacco for a touchdown.
• One question though: if you were to tackle Polamalu by dragging him down by his hair, would it be legal?
• When you have two physical teams, what happened to McGahee and Clark is bound to happen, especially in a game of this magnitude when all is on the line. My best wishes for a speedy recovery to both of them.
• And so, it's the warm weather Cardinals against the cold-weather Steelers. This should be an entertaining one at the very least.
• They'll be a general sports column in place of this one next week, but check back in two weeks for my Super Bowl review in which I will comment on every thing from the game to Springsteen and the commercials. See you then.