NJCardFan
ASFN Icon
I've been a fan of this team a long, long time. This is my 37th season as a Cardinals fan. Some of you have been fans for longer than that. But the Cardinals are the only team I root for that is not a Philadelphia team. I was born and raised in South Jersey. Right in the heart of Eagle country. And, in my youth, if you weren't an Eagles fan, you were probably a Dolphins fan(my brother) or a Steelers fan or a Cowboys fan. There were fans of all stripes in my neighborhood but being the individualist kid that I was, I wanted my own team to love. So, I looked in the paper and as 10 year olds were apt to do, I scanned the standings and atop the NFC East it said St. Louis. So, with the pettiness of a tween, I adopted the Cards as my team and I've been a fan ever since. As all of you, I've bled and cried and sweated with this team. I've given my heart and soul to this team, however, I've been given very little in return.
In my early years as a fan, the Cards were contenders. Winning the division in my first season as a fan and winning 10 games in the 2nd. My first experience with humiliation came on Thanksgiving Day 1977. I sat and watched in embarrassment as the Cards were dismantled 55-14 by the Dolphins. What made it worse was, as I mentioned above, my brother is a Dolphins fan and so was another kid in my neighborhood. To say I was ridden like an old mare is an understatement. That season culminated in another embarrassing loss, being schooled by the previously 1-26 Bucs 17-7. Little did I know but the 1977 collapse was the beginning of the Same 'Ol Cards.
Since the 10-4 finish in 1976, I watched this team go through losing season after losing season. Sure there was the respite from 1982-1984 but other than that, and the dangled carrots that were 1987 and 1988(the first in AZ), the franchise has been abysmal. And we go from bad to worse. 3 win seasons. 4 win seasons. 5 win seasons. 6 win seasons. These were the norm. If we had a 7 win season, we thought we died and went to heaven. That's how pathetic a franchise this had become. Oh, we showed flashes. We even had a winning season in 1998 and we actually not only made the playoffs, but we won a game.
But all of that changed during a quirky season we like to call 2008. The year we finally stopped being basement dwellers. We won our division, and, against all odds, we won another playoff game. Then another. Then, on a chilly February afternoon we achieved the impossible. We, the team who everyone used to scoff at, laugh at, snicker at, make it to the promise land. The Super Bowl. The grandest stage in American sports. We were in the Super Bowl. Even after those final seconds ticked away as the Eagles tried for a miracle, we were still in a state of shock that we were going somewhere that was a pipe dream in the past. On that February day, we stopped being the Same Ol' Cards and became a member in a pretty exclusive club. And boy what a game we gave America. We were mere seconds from pulling off the impossible. We were a few seconds from going from the "worst playoff team ever" to Super Bowl champions but it wasn't to be. But boy were we proud of our boys. And we were excited for the next season and when that season came and went, we were division champs again, a double digit winner for the first time in over 30 years, and we won one of the most exciting playoff games in history. But a repeat to the big dance wasn't meant to be as we were schooled by the eventual Super Bowl champs.
Then something funny happened on the way to the Forum. The next season, we slipped down the rabbit hole. In one season, we went from being contenders to being the Same Ol' Cards. And now, with a 1-4 start to this season, the slide is complete. No more are we the exciting Kurt Warner led team that shocked the world by going to a game few ever thought we'd see without having to buy a ticket to being the same old embarrassing franchise that everyone snickered at, laughed at, scoffed at.
Sports is defined by loyalty. A player's loyalty to the team, a team's loyalty to the players and a fan's loyalty to both. Well, for 36 years I've been pouring out my loyalty for this team. Bleeding red. Buying the merchandise. Wearing the jerseys in public. Getting pointed at, snickered at, laughed at. I've given so much time, effort, and loyalty to this team but I've received very little in return. And I'm tired. I'm tired of giving my all as a fan only to see this team go back to being a laughing stock. I'm a patient man but I simply cannot wait another 30 some years before we become a competitive team again. Life is too short. My loyalty is waning. And it isn't that I'm teetering leaving this team, this team is leaving me.
In my early years as a fan, the Cards were contenders. Winning the division in my first season as a fan and winning 10 games in the 2nd. My first experience with humiliation came on Thanksgiving Day 1977. I sat and watched in embarrassment as the Cards were dismantled 55-14 by the Dolphins. What made it worse was, as I mentioned above, my brother is a Dolphins fan and so was another kid in my neighborhood. To say I was ridden like an old mare is an understatement. That season culminated in another embarrassing loss, being schooled by the previously 1-26 Bucs 17-7. Little did I know but the 1977 collapse was the beginning of the Same 'Ol Cards.
Since the 10-4 finish in 1976, I watched this team go through losing season after losing season. Sure there was the respite from 1982-1984 but other than that, and the dangled carrots that were 1987 and 1988(the first in AZ), the franchise has been abysmal. And we go from bad to worse. 3 win seasons. 4 win seasons. 5 win seasons. 6 win seasons. These were the norm. If we had a 7 win season, we thought we died and went to heaven. That's how pathetic a franchise this had become. Oh, we showed flashes. We even had a winning season in 1998 and we actually not only made the playoffs, but we won a game.
But all of that changed during a quirky season we like to call 2008. The year we finally stopped being basement dwellers. We won our division, and, against all odds, we won another playoff game. Then another. Then, on a chilly February afternoon we achieved the impossible. We, the team who everyone used to scoff at, laugh at, snicker at, make it to the promise land. The Super Bowl. The grandest stage in American sports. We were in the Super Bowl. Even after those final seconds ticked away as the Eagles tried for a miracle, we were still in a state of shock that we were going somewhere that was a pipe dream in the past. On that February day, we stopped being the Same Ol' Cards and became a member in a pretty exclusive club. And boy what a game we gave America. We were mere seconds from pulling off the impossible. We were a few seconds from going from the "worst playoff team ever" to Super Bowl champions but it wasn't to be. But boy were we proud of our boys. And we were excited for the next season and when that season came and went, we were division champs again, a double digit winner for the first time in over 30 years, and we won one of the most exciting playoff games in history. But a repeat to the big dance wasn't meant to be as we were schooled by the eventual Super Bowl champs.
Then something funny happened on the way to the Forum. The next season, we slipped down the rabbit hole. In one season, we went from being contenders to being the Same Ol' Cards. And now, with a 1-4 start to this season, the slide is complete. No more are we the exciting Kurt Warner led team that shocked the world by going to a game few ever thought we'd see without having to buy a ticket to being the same old embarrassing franchise that everyone snickered at, laughed at, scoffed at.
Sports is defined by loyalty. A player's loyalty to the team, a team's loyalty to the players and a fan's loyalty to both. Well, for 36 years I've been pouring out my loyalty for this team. Bleeding red. Buying the merchandise. Wearing the jerseys in public. Getting pointed at, snickered at, laughed at. I've given so much time, effort, and loyalty to this team but I've received very little in return. And I'm tired. I'm tired of giving my all as a fan only to see this team go back to being a laughing stock. I'm a patient man but I simply cannot wait another 30 some years before we become a competitive team again. Life is too short. My loyalty is waning. And it isn't that I'm teetering leaving this team, this team is leaving me.
