Parity Party

The NFL finds its dynastic days at an end, and births a number of real teams out of the ash-heaps of age-old joke squads.

The Steelers are not the dynasty of the '00s. Really, two in four is good, but not great. The Patriots are also not said dynasty. In an amazing twist of fate, the perennially disappointing Giants, who in the '90s did a turn as whipping-boys for much better Super Bowl teams, beat the indefatigable Pats in the eleventh hour. The dynasty of the decade--though other than for Ravens and for Buccaneers, it's a broken dynasty at best--is the underdog. Sixty percent of Super Bowls in the last ten years have included a first-time contender for the Lombardi. The teams that we used to make our little brothers control in Super Tecmo Bowl (and those Bucs '90s unis in 8-bit were glorious) now have trophies, and in some cases, rings.

These are the teams of our times--squads with tiny fanbases in towns where most people have either stuck with the next closest team or given up on football altogether.

I moved here to Phoenix in August and was happy to hear that our Cards were doing alright, even if they were in a crappy division. I was really excited that we made it into the playoffs, and elated to beat the Falcons. Then we advanced again. Then again...wait. The Arizona Cardinals were in the Super Bowl? This was the team you could count on being beaten by your horrible home team. Your one sure win. And suddenly I was a die-hard. I am an Arizona Cardinals fan.

The AP tells of 4,000 fans at the airport for the Cards' return home after losing the Super Bowl. Awesome. A man from Surprise (aptly-named!) called them "the big red band of brothers". Word up. I officially join all those crazy Titans, Ravens, Bucs, Seahawks, and Panthers fans in supporting a team whose best years are ahead of, not behind them. Let's hear it for the Big Red Band.