Sure, the Steelers should win. But who cares? I hope they lose. I'm always bored by big, tough, defensive teams. Without Swan and the boys, who cares about the Steelers? Who cares about the Bears without Sweetness and the Refrigerator? I don't want to see any team that wins all its games 9-7 win anything. Sure, it works, but they bring you down. Just like a pitcher's duel is boring unless you're sitting right behind the plate, watching how fast the fastball comes in, how it's diving, and so on. Otherwise it's like watching paint drying.

I want this game to be won in the dying moments by that increadible acrobatic pass catcher for the Cards. What's-his-name. Let old Pops Warner win one.

On the other hand, a great pleasure this year was to watch the collapse of the Cowboys, America's Team. Ha, ha.

Is Montana making a comeback next year? Please say yes.

Or something like that.

The AzCards in the SB makes two great cases...one for a playoff oriented championship system, the other for a regular season oriented approach. Both have validity, both are entertaining.

Leaving the NCAA D-1 football system in place, with little tweaks like blowing up the BCS home office, gives us another dimension to sports...one that is fading in every other game, amateur or professional.

Remember last year?

Did anyone predict last year's script? 18-0, unstoppable, destiny, a NY Giants team that had an unconvincing regular season - what ended up happening?

I can easily see the Cards winning this. Warner could easily throw 3 touchdowns. Yes, the Steelers have an amazing D, but the great thing about the passing game is that you only need a small wrinkle in the coverage to put up 7. Warner and co, at the moment, are finding those creases and wrinkles.

That being said, I could easily see Pittsburgh clamping down, getting Warner rattled, and winning 12-6 or some other godawful score.

No one knows what's going to happen, that's why they play the games!

They sure looked like the real deal on Sunday and the Sunday before, especially the great Larry Fitzgerald.

Remember, as we begin the dawn of a new era today, in America, anything is possible, even the Arizona Cardinals winning the Super Bowl.

I'm starting to talk myself into the Cardinals. Why? I dunno. Just a feeling. Warner-to-Fitzgerald is starting to take on Montana-to-Rice type dominance, and even if the rest of the team around them is no great shakes, that's starting to feel like enough to perhaps swoop in and grab a Super Bowl this year. I also keep flashing back to the biggest (offensive) play in the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game. "Ben" gets flushed out of the pocket, does one of his patented "throwing across his body off the wrong foot" passes, miraculously connects with Santonio Holmes, who admittedly did a great job staying with the ball. The announcers fall all over themselves praising "Ben," but really -- couldn't that play have just as easily resulted in a costly interception? One of these days "Ben"'s going to get burned, badly, tossing those flat little ducks into coverage.

Meanwhile, the best team in the NFL might not even be playing in the postseason. Bill Belicheck has got to be sitting at home biting into a terrible towel right now. The AFC championship game was an error-prone slugfest of the kind the Patriots were built to win, and they blew out the Cards just a month or so ago. Opportunity missed.

...which is why it now bores me -- every team employs the same philosophy. I wish we could go back to the '60s and '70s, when teams that were run-oriented could win NFL titles. (Sometimes, I'd even like to see the return of two-way football, so we could see the Mannings and company play defense, just as Sammy Baugh did.)

Unfortunately, the league caters to casual fans like Jim H., to whom quarterback uber alles. If we're going to feel that way, why not eliminate all the other players and make this a glorified Punt, Pass & Kick competition?

The Steelers will probably win, although this is arguably not as complete a team as the 2005 squad that beat Seattle. However, I'd love to see the Cardinals take it all, because I'm a Washington Nationals fan. I need hope.

I really don't understand people saying the Steelers might win by scoring 9 or 12 points. The Steelers put up 35 on the Chargers -- which is more points than the high-powered Cardinals have scored this post season -- and they scored 23 against a tough Ravens team. I know the Cardinals D has turned it up a few notches in the playoffs, but I think the Steelers will be able to score on them.

The fact is that Roethlisberger has been playing all season with a separated shoulder he sustained in week 1 and Willie Parker has been hobbled by knee and shoulder injuries for most of the season. The Steelers really struggled offensively at times this year but they're peaking at the perfect time, in large part due to the health of Roethlisberger and Parker.

All that said, I sure hope Hines Ward's knee isn't serious.

Look, here in Cubland, we'll take our championships wherever, whenever and however we can. (OK, maybe excepting that fluke in 2005.)

Seriously...The men in my family were Cubs/Cards fans and stayed that way even after the (Bears and Sox enabled) move to St. Lou. I only wish they were still alive to savor this moment. (Then again I believe they now have the best seats in the house.)

I think you'll be seeing a lot of long-time die-hard Cards fans coming out of the Chitown woodwork in the next 2 weeks! The rivalry with the Bears has not been as intense as Cubs/White Sox or Cubs/baseball Cardinals, but it's there, simmering under the radar.

GO CARDINALS! YES YOU CAN!

Trivia note; During the lean WWII years the Card and Steelers merged.

...but if you're bored by watching, say, the hit Clark put on McGahee, or really anything Troy P. does, then you may want to look into attention deficit disorder treatments.