You might not believe in the '08 Cardinals because they recently got trounced by Favre and the Jets 56-35 in the most dominant performance by a washed-up superstar since Magic Johnson won the All-Star MVP the year everyone was afraid to guard him. And I don't blame you. As far as franchises go, the Cardinals are the Clippers of football, and actually, that might be an insult to the Clippers. But did you know the 2002 Titans started out 1-4, endured a humiliating 52-25 thrashing at Oakland in Week 4, then ripped off an 11-1 streak before losing in the AFC Championship Game? We can't dismiss the Cards when they play in a brutally bad division -- they're headed for a No. 3 seed at worst -- and they feature a sneaky number of playmakers on both sides of the ball. If only Anquan Boldin wasn't still out with a face.
(And remember, in the past 13 months, we've seen an 18-0 team lose the Super Bowl; Kansas win the NCAA hoops title; a WNBA star blow out her ACL during a bench-clearing WNBA brawl; Michigan lose to Toledo and Appalachian State at home; Federer lose Wimbledon to a Spanish clay court specialist; A-Rod and Madonna become a hot tabloid rumor; Michael Phelps win eight gold medals; Tiger win the U.S. Open with a torn ACL; CBS dump Billy Packer; the Red Sox pay Manny Ramirez to play for someone else and everyone in Boston being fine with this; the U.S. hoops team nearly blow the Gold Medal game to a team that started Marc Gasol and a 17-year-old point guard; the Tampa Bay Rays come within a game of the World Series; and an improbable throwback Celtics-Lakers Finals. You're really telling me Arizona making a Super Bowl is far-fetched at this point? I just want to know when Cuba Gooding Jr. gets involved as the team's token bandwagon celebrity. You know it will happen soon.)