http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/01/14/cardinals/index.html
Re-shuffling the deck: These aren't the same ol' Cards anymore
Story Highlights
For 60 years, the Cardinals had more hometowns than playoff wins
The beautiful, magical thing about the Cardinals is how they lost
The world is now upside down witih the Cards hosting the NFC championship
Before Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals never really had much reason to celebrate.
John Biever/SI
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The Arizona Cardinals are one home victory away from the Super Bowl, and you better believe I'm excited about it. Everyone needs a hobby, and one of mine has been collecting Cardinals moments. I've always been drawn to hopeless causes.
I picked up my Cardinals hobby in 1996. In the aftershock of my childhood team, the Cleveland Browns, bolting for Baltimore, I needed a team to follow. I wasn't looking for love -- I had a closet full of orange and brown and knew I could never love another team -- but I wanted a good time. I wanted a team that could provide all of the heartache and busted hopes the Browns had given me all my life.
The Buffalo Bills intrigued me because I've always had an affinity for Buffalo -- it's like Cleveland, only with more snow. But it seemed wrong to jump on the bandwagon of a team that had already lost four consecutive Super Bowls. The Atlanta Falcons in those days were coached by a man named June and led by a running back called "Iron Head," which seemed promising, but I couldn't get into them. The Cincinnati Bengals were run by a nice man named Dave Shula, who last I heard was running a chain of steakhouses. But I was living in Cincinnati at the time and wrote a lot about that team and saw the madness up close ... it's one thing to watch a horror movie, quite another to be in a horror movie.*
*Some of the best/worst Cincinnati Bengals moments: Saw a Bengals punt returner fair catch the ball at the 1 yard line; watched the Bengals take back-to-back delay-of-game penalties ON PURPOSE; watched the Bengals trade up to draft Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter with the first overall pick, then saw him rip a ligament on his third carry in his first preseason game. My personal favorite was when the Bengals came up with a new punt-return scheme that placed two return men deep. The first game they tried it, the return men collided with each other and the punt dropped between them.
Then there were the Cardinals. And they were perfect. Before this year's beautiful and stunning playoff run, the Arizona Cardinals (and St. Louis Football Cardinals, and Chicago Cardinals) had won precisely one playoff game in 60 years. How about that? For six decades, the Cardinals had more hometowns than playoff wins -- and it wasn't close. That single fact is remarkable enough.
But the beautiful thing about the Cardinals, the magical thing, is the way they lost. The magic began with the Cardinals' first home game in Arizona -- that was Sept. 12, 1988, a Monday night game against the Dallas Cowboys. They were the Phoenix Cardinals then*, and they had just left St. Louis in sort of a mutual agreement -- the city of St. Louis didn't want to lose football, of course, but was more than willing to lose owner Bill Bidwill. For most St. Louis people, it seemed a fair trade.
*The Phoenix Cardinals became the Arizona Cardinals in 1994, when owner Bill Bidwill decided that the team needed a more inclusive name. I've always wondered what people in Flagstaff, Tucson and Peoria thought about suddenly becoming known accomplices to the Arizona Cardinals. Isn't that a bit like changing the name of the Boston Strangler to the New England Strangler?
Anyway, late in the first half of that Monday Night game, the Cardinals were set up for a field goal to tie the game. And it was at this point that Cardinals coach Gene Stallings called for a fake field goal that, theoretically, would have asked kicker Al Del Greco to take the ball and run 42 yards for a touchdown.
I have long wondered how this play might have worked. It was possible, I suppose, that the Cowboys players might have been laughing too hard to tackle Del Greco. A thick fog might have quite suddenly descended upon the field, making it impossible to see Del Greco. Arizona fans might have been equipped with straws and those little darts that make the victims fall asleep. Anyway, it, of course, did not work. And the Cardinals lost by a field goal.
So it began. The Cardinals have had eight football coaches since that day. They have had 13 quarterbacks lead the team in passing. They have had 12 running backs lead the team in rushing. They have finished 22nd or worse in points allowed 13 of the last 14 years.
And they have had moments, beautiful moments, like in 1994, after the Cardinals lost their first two games. An enraged coach, Buddy Ryan, came out in the papers and guaranteed that they would beat the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. Guaranteed. It was a bold statement from a bold coach. The Browns beat them 32-0.
There was the time in 2006 when they blew a 20-0 lead against the Chicago Bears -- this even though the Bears only managed nine first downs all day and Bears quarterback Rex Grossman threw four interceptions -- and coach Denny Green made his famous, "They are who we thought they were, and we LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK," rant. Green was mercifully let go at the end of the year.
There, too, was the celebrated hiring of Ryan, and the ballyhooed signing of Emmitt Smith, and the acclaimed signing of Boomer Esiason, and the illustrious drafting of local star Jake Plummer -- all of them a major unveiling. Every year, it seemed, you could count on the Cardinals to hold a major press conference built around some washed up star or unemployed coach and say, "We are the NEW Cardinals." And then the new Cardinals were the same as the old Cardinals. They once signed former Redskins star defensive end Dexter Manley. He showed up with a colorful spinning wheel and announced that he would hypnotize people with it. He made precisely zero tackles in his four games as a member of the Cardinals.
There is more, so much more, and that's what has made this year's playoff run so unexpected and wonderful. Most of the season these Cardinals looked EXACTLY like all those Cardinals. They decided to go with 37-year-old quarterback Kurt Warner over their mega-hyped quarterback of the future Matt Leinart. Their rapidly aging running back, Edgerrin James, complained about not getting the ball enough. The defense gave up 85 points in a two-game stretch against the Giants and Eagles. And the Cardinals limped into the playoffs, losing four of their last six -- the only two wins coming against the putrid Rams and Seahawks. It all looked so familiar.
Then it happened. They played their first home playoff game in a half billion years and beat the Atlanta Falcons. They went into Carolina, picked off Jake Delhomme five times, and destroyed the Panthers. And here they are, in the NFC Championship Game.
And it's beautiful. Warner looks reborn. James is running with purpose. Receiver Larry Fitzgerald has become a force of nature -- seriously, teams double-cover him, triple-cover him, it doesn't matter. The defense has unexpectedly started stuffing the run, and they're forcing turnover after turnover. The world is upside down.
The Philadelphia Eagles have their own amazing story this year -- I mean, this is a team that TIED the Cincinnati Bengals -- but who would be cruel enough to begrudge the Cardinals and their fans this moment? The last time the Cardinals appeared in a championship game, it was 1948. They were the Chicago Cardinals. Ray Mallouf was their quarterback, Charlie Trippi and Elmer Angsman ran the football, Babe Dimancheff led the team in receiving yards.
They lost that championship game to Philadelphia, 7-0. Since then, the Cardinals have played in three cities, lost 505 games, been coached by everyone from Curly Lambeau to Pop Ivy to Don Coryell to the famed Charley Winner -- who coached his team to tie every year he was with the Cardinals.
Yes, it has been a long and strange trip. But for once, the Cardinals are not who we thought they were.
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Joe Posnanski>VIEWPOINT
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Re-shuffling the deck: These aren't the same ol' Cards anymore
Story Highlights
For 60 years, the Cardinals had more hometowns than playoff wins
The beautiful, magical thing about the Cardinals is how they lost
The world is now upside down witih the Cards hosting the NFC championship
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Before Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals never really had much reason to celebrate.
John Biever/SI
http://r1.ace.advertising.com/click...386,755143^607260^1^0!729614^647239^1184^0,1_
You must be registered for see images
The Arizona Cardinals are one home victory away from the Super Bowl, and you better believe I'm excited about it. Everyone needs a hobby, and one of mine has been collecting Cardinals moments. I've always been drawn to hopeless causes.
I picked up my Cardinals hobby in 1996. In the aftershock of my childhood team, the Cleveland Browns, bolting for Baltimore, I needed a team to follow. I wasn't looking for love -- I had a closet full of orange and brown and knew I could never love another team -- but I wanted a good time. I wanted a team that could provide all of the heartache and busted hopes the Browns had given me all my life.
The Buffalo Bills intrigued me because I've always had an affinity for Buffalo -- it's like Cleveland, only with more snow. But it seemed wrong to jump on the bandwagon of a team that had already lost four consecutive Super Bowls. The Atlanta Falcons in those days were coached by a man named June and led by a running back called "Iron Head," which seemed promising, but I couldn't get into them. The Cincinnati Bengals were run by a nice man named Dave Shula, who last I heard was running a chain of steakhouses. But I was living in Cincinnati at the time and wrote a lot about that team and saw the madness up close ... it's one thing to watch a horror movie, quite another to be in a horror movie.*
*Some of the best/worst Cincinnati Bengals moments: Saw a Bengals punt returner fair catch the ball at the 1 yard line; watched the Bengals take back-to-back delay-of-game penalties ON PURPOSE; watched the Bengals trade up to draft Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter with the first overall pick, then saw him rip a ligament on his third carry in his first preseason game. My personal favorite was when the Bengals came up with a new punt-return scheme that placed two return men deep. The first game they tried it, the return men collided with each other and the punt dropped between them.
Then there were the Cardinals. And they were perfect. Before this year's beautiful and stunning playoff run, the Arizona Cardinals (and St. Louis Football Cardinals, and Chicago Cardinals) had won precisely one playoff game in 60 years. How about that? For six decades, the Cardinals had more hometowns than playoff wins -- and it wasn't close. That single fact is remarkable enough.
But the beautiful thing about the Cardinals, the magical thing, is the way they lost. The magic began with the Cardinals' first home game in Arizona -- that was Sept. 12, 1988, a Monday night game against the Dallas Cowboys. They were the Phoenix Cardinals then*, and they had just left St. Louis in sort of a mutual agreement -- the city of St. Louis didn't want to lose football, of course, but was more than willing to lose owner Bill Bidwill. For most St. Louis people, it seemed a fair trade.
*The Phoenix Cardinals became the Arizona Cardinals in 1994, when owner Bill Bidwill decided that the team needed a more inclusive name. I've always wondered what people in Flagstaff, Tucson and Peoria thought about suddenly becoming known accomplices to the Arizona Cardinals. Isn't that a bit like changing the name of the Boston Strangler to the New England Strangler?
Anyway, late in the first half of that Monday Night game, the Cardinals were set up for a field goal to tie the game. And it was at this point that Cardinals coach Gene Stallings called for a fake field goal that, theoretically, would have asked kicker Al Del Greco to take the ball and run 42 yards for a touchdown.
I have long wondered how this play might have worked. It was possible, I suppose, that the Cowboys players might have been laughing too hard to tackle Del Greco. A thick fog might have quite suddenly descended upon the field, making it impossible to see Del Greco. Arizona fans might have been equipped with straws and those little darts that make the victims fall asleep. Anyway, it, of course, did not work. And the Cardinals lost by a field goal.
So it began. The Cardinals have had eight football coaches since that day. They have had 13 quarterbacks lead the team in passing. They have had 12 running backs lead the team in rushing. They have finished 22nd or worse in points allowed 13 of the last 14 years.
And they have had moments, beautiful moments, like in 1994, after the Cardinals lost their first two games. An enraged coach, Buddy Ryan, came out in the papers and guaranteed that they would beat the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. Guaranteed. It was a bold statement from a bold coach. The Browns beat them 32-0.
There was the time in 2006 when they blew a 20-0 lead against the Chicago Bears -- this even though the Bears only managed nine first downs all day and Bears quarterback Rex Grossman threw four interceptions -- and coach Denny Green made his famous, "They are who we thought they were, and we LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK," rant. Green was mercifully let go at the end of the year.
There, too, was the celebrated hiring of Ryan, and the ballyhooed signing of Emmitt Smith, and the acclaimed signing of Boomer Esiason, and the illustrious drafting of local star Jake Plummer -- all of them a major unveiling. Every year, it seemed, you could count on the Cardinals to hold a major press conference built around some washed up star or unemployed coach and say, "We are the NEW Cardinals." And then the new Cardinals were the same as the old Cardinals. They once signed former Redskins star defensive end Dexter Manley. He showed up with a colorful spinning wheel and announced that he would hypnotize people with it. He made precisely zero tackles in his four games as a member of the Cardinals.
There is more, so much more, and that's what has made this year's playoff run so unexpected and wonderful. Most of the season these Cardinals looked EXACTLY like all those Cardinals. They decided to go with 37-year-old quarterback Kurt Warner over their mega-hyped quarterback of the future Matt Leinart. Their rapidly aging running back, Edgerrin James, complained about not getting the ball enough. The defense gave up 85 points in a two-game stretch against the Giants and Eagles. And the Cardinals limped into the playoffs, losing four of their last six -- the only two wins coming against the putrid Rams and Seahawks. It all looked so familiar.
Then it happened. They played their first home playoff game in a half billion years and beat the Atlanta Falcons. They went into Carolina, picked off Jake Delhomme five times, and destroyed the Panthers. And here they are, in the NFC Championship Game.
And it's beautiful. Warner looks reborn. James is running with purpose. Receiver Larry Fitzgerald has become a force of nature -- seriously, teams double-cover him, triple-cover him, it doesn't matter. The defense has unexpectedly started stuffing the run, and they're forcing turnover after turnover. The world is upside down.
The Philadelphia Eagles have their own amazing story this year -- I mean, this is a team that TIED the Cincinnati Bengals -- but who would be cruel enough to begrudge the Cardinals and their fans this moment? The last time the Cardinals appeared in a championship game, it was 1948. They were the Chicago Cardinals. Ray Mallouf was their quarterback, Charlie Trippi and Elmer Angsman ran the football, Babe Dimancheff led the team in receiving yards.
They lost that championship game to Philadelphia, 7-0. Since then, the Cardinals have played in three cities, lost 505 games, been coached by everyone from Curly Lambeau to Pop Ivy to Don Coryell to the famed Charley Winner -- who coached his team to tie every year he was with the Cardinals.
Yes, it has been a long and strange trip. But for once, the Cardinals are not who we thought they were.
