Howard David Howard David Blog February 4, 2009 I have been broadcasting games in the NFL for the past 21 seasons and always had the belief that I've seen something new each and every year. This year was no exception. From the Ed plausible Bowl in Week 2 in Denver, where an official was bigger news than the game; to the end of Tennessee's 10-game winning streak - at home no less; to the New York Jets, a team that couldn't get to the playoffs after an 8-3 start; to the hapless Oakland Raiders, who on the final Sunday of the regular season, went into Tampa and eliminated the Bucs from the playoffs. That game sent shock waves and an early New Year's celebration into Al Davis' living room, where Al was searching for the Christmas card that he thought he received from Jon Gruden. Fittingly, the Super Bowl put a punctuation mark on this bizarre season with a heart-stopping contest between the Steelers and the Cardinals. The Cardinals? Can you imagine if you awoke from a coma after 20 years and you found out that an African-American was elected president of the United States and the Arizona Cardinals were in the Super Bowl? The latter seemed less plausible. After all, these are the Cardinals, a cost-conscious franchise that hadn't won an NFL title since “Give ‘Em Hell” Harry Truman was president. Yet here they were battling the Pittsburgh Steelers, gunning for their sixth Super Bowl crown, which would put them ahead of Dallas and San Francisco in the hardware department. The game was beautiful and the big plays were plentiful. None bigger than James Harrison, an undrafted free agent who stepped in front of a Kurt Warner pass in the end zone and rambled 100 yards to pay dirt for the longest play of any kind in Super Bowl history. That made it 17-7 Steelers at halftime. Everybody felt that this was the end of the magical season for the Cardinals. Everybody but the Cardinals. When Larry Fitzgerald caught a Warner pass late in the fourth quarter and took it to the house, completing a 65-yard journey giving Arizona the lead at 23-20 with 2:30 left in the game, Steeler fans were stunned. Ben Roethlisberger then went to work avoiding one sack after another and eventually finding Santonio Holmes in the right corner of the end zone for the winner, making sure his toes were in bounds and showing the best balance since Nureyev. A game for the ages for sure and a sobering reminder that someone had to win and someone had to lose. This was a game, in fact, where there were no losers and a perfect end to a glorious NFL season. If you would like to comment on this blog, please email Howard David at howarddavidh3@yahoo.com. Howard David is a veteran NFL and NBA play-by-play announcer. He can be heard on Sirius NFL Radio channel 124. This blog is written exclusively for ussportspages.com Archives: January 18, 2009 January 25, 2009 February 4, 2009