What, Those Guys AGAIN?

Super Bowl XLIII was much closer than most people expected. The Arizona Cardinals came back from a 13 pt deficit to take the lead with time running out. But the Pittsburgh Steelers sucked it up and went on a nearly 90 yard drive to score the winning touchdown with 35 seconds left. It came on a tiptoe catch by Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone. Steelers QB Ben Rothlisberger could not have made a better throw; there were three Cardinal defenders around Holmes.

So, now the Steelers have six Super Bowl wins, more than any other NFL franchise. What where the others?

Super Bowl IX: Steelers 16, Vikings 6
Special teams and defense carried the day. The Steelers scored on a safety in the second quarter, and put themselves in position for a touchdown when the Vikings fumbled a kickoff.

Super Bowl X: Steelers 21, Cowboys 17
It was the Terry Bradshaw - Lynn Swan show. They only hooked up four times, but one of them was a 64 yard touchdown bomb. Dallas made a good showing of it, with Roger Staubach throwing two TD passes, but the Steelers' defense was too much.

Super Bowl XIII: Steelers 35, Cowboys 31
The arm of Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw carried the day, firing four touchdown passes. Two to Lance Stallworth, one to Rocky Bleier, and one to Lynn Swann. Franco Harris ran 22 yds for another. The Cowboys again made it a tight contest, scoring two touchdown in the last seven minutes, but the Steelers recovered their second attempt at an onside kick.

Super Bowl XIV: Steelers 31, Rams 19
The Steelers' era of dominance came to a close with a shaky performance. But a win is a win. Terry Bradshaw shook off three interceptions to rally his team from behind twice. Once in the third quarter with a 47 yd. touchdown pass to Lynn Swan, and again in the fourth quarter on a 73 yd. pass to Lance Stallworth.

Super Bowl XL: Steelers 21, Seahawks 10
Sorry Steelers fans. This one should have as asterisk beside it, because the officials gave the Steelers some big breaks. There was the first quarter offensive interference penalty against Darrell Jackson that wasn't, nullifying a Seattle touchdown. And the fourth quarter holding penalty against offensive tackle Sean Locklear that wasn't, costing Seattle field position on the Steeler 1 yd line. And the illegal low block called against Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck that was in fact an attempted tackle. Each of these came at pivotal junctures in the game. But in ten or twenty years no one will remember any of that, so it goes down as a win.

Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23
No need for a recap, because we've watched it already. But here goes: Steelers controlled the first half, closing it out with a 100 yd. interception return for a touchdown to go up 17-7. Cardinals rally from 20-7 to take a 23-20 lead with under 3 min to go. Steelers score to reclaim the lead, then force a fumble in the closing seconds to secure the win.

Super Bowl Start Time

Kickoff for this year's Super Bowl (43 if you're New School, XLIII if you're Old School) is at 6pm eastern standard time. Or 6:20pm EST. No one wants to say precisely; the pre-game show and various set-pieces have to be shoe-horned in, and sometimes these don't come off quite as planned. But you can probably expect the ball will be in play by 6:30pm EST at the latest. A world wide audience of potentially 1 billion could tune in.

The pre-game show starts at 12:01am EST on Sunday morning and will run continuously for roughly 18 hours, the commercials having long ago become integrated into the programming. Topics covered will include profiles of key players, their families, pets, and home towns, profiles of the coaches, their families, pets, and home towns, profiles of the assistant coaches, profiles of coaches' hair pieces if any, and highlights from each of the previous XLII Super Bowls accompanied by dramatic music and commentary. Complete exhaustion of all relevant subject matter will be achieved by 3:00pm EST.

The actual game will pit the Arizona Cardinals against the Pittsburgh Steelers. As of this writing Pittsburgh is favored by a touchdown or nearly so, but in recent years the games have been close. And almost compelling enough to justify the hype. If each team’s playoff performance is anything to go by, this year could hold true to form.

It should be noted as an afterthought that although the westernmost range of the North American Cardinal does extend to Arizona, you are much more likely to find these birds in the eastern half of the country. Nor is steel made in Pittsburgh these days. The city's economy is now based on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, fashion, and financial services.