Monday Evening Quarterback

Some thoughts on Supe 43:

1. The Cardinals hung in a lot better than I expected: I thought the pick-six by James Harrison was it for the Cards. Rather than being up 14-10, they were down 17-7. And, at that point, one more Steelers TD early in the third quarter would have been the dagger. But they tightened up on defense (until the end) and got back in it. Kudos to Ken Whisenhunt's crew for showing the testicular fortitude not to let the game get away from them.

2. The Cardinals have nobody to blame but themselves: I've seen quite a few fans bitching about the officiating. Get the fuck over it. You let the Steelers march right down the field on you when you absolutely had to stop them. Championship teams don't let that happen.

3. Larry Fitzgerald is incredible: He was pretty quiet in the first half, but nobody on the field was better than Fitz in the second half. His second touchdown showed what an impressive athlete he truly is -- once he hit that seam, he was GONE.

Prediction time

Steelers 27, Cardinals 7.

Apparently the NHL All-Star Game is today

Did I miss something here? Has the NHL become so irrelevant that I -- someone who considers himself at least somewhat in the know regarding when certain athletic contests are -- had absolutely NO IDEA that the All-Star Game was tonight until I arrived at work?

Sadly, yes.

Next thing you know, someone will tell me the Super Bowl is in a week.

Kurt Warner: Hall of Famer?

Well, I'll be damned.

Hell hath frozen over -- the Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl.

Sure, they're most likely going to get fucking massacred by Pittsburgh in Tampa in a couple of weeks, but this is a nice moment in the sun for a franchise that, despite playing in the middle of the desert, hasn't had many.

Sunday's win over Philadelphia was convincing, and though the Cards almost let this one slip away, they got it done when it counted.

Now, in the two weeks before they get marched out to the slaughter, it's high time we started talking about Kurt Warner's Hall of Fame credentials.

Yeah, he's married to a guy. And yeah, he wears mittens when he plays. But take a look at the numbers:

* He's taken three teams to the Super Bowl -- the Rams in 1999 and '01, and now the Cardinals. You know how many QBs have started for three Super Bowl teams? Nine. Staubach, Elway, Kelly, Montana, Bradshaw, Griese, Aikman, Brady, Tarkenton. And Warner will be the tenth in two weeks. What do the nine three-time starters have in common? All are in the Hall of Fame, or will be.

* He will become the second QB to start a Super Bowl for two different franchises. Kudos to you if you can guess the other one. The answer is in the comments.

* He has a career passer rating of 93.8. And while passer rating doesn't take into account two of Warner's career bugaboos (sacks and fumbles), he does rank fourth all-time in that category behind Hall of Famer Steve Young, future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and Jessica Simpson's fuckdoll Tony Romo.

* His numbers are pretty good -- barring injury, he'll hit 30,000 passing yards next season (he's at 28,591 now). He should eclipse 200 TD passes next year (he's got 182). His regular-season record as a starter is 58-45. In the postseason, it's 8-2. He's won more playoff games than Peyton Manning.

Now, there are some knocks on him, for sure. He's only played a full slate of games three times in his career. Part of that was injury issues; another part was finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was run out of St. Louis in '03 in favor of Marc Bulger; he was Eli Manning's resident dickholder for the 2004 season; he nearly lost his job in Arizona to USC golden boy Matt Leinart. His numbers are bolstered by some great seasons mixed with some horrifically bad ones -- he was 0-8 as a starter in '02 and '03; and some respectable stats in 2005 and '06 cover up the fact that the Cardinals were shit (4-12) in the games he started.

However, he was an amazing story when he got his chance with the Rams, and he continues to be one at 37. Is he a Hall of Famer? I think he's got a real good shot.

Why having a raving lunatic in your locker room is a bad idea

Well, first Bill Romanowski simply wanted to coach the Denver Broncos. He even went so far as to prepare a 30-page PowerPoint presentation for owner Pat Bowlen. But Bowlen, in a fit of sanity, went with one of the Jonas Brothers ... er, Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels as his head coach pick.

So what does Romo want to do now? Mix energy shakes for Broncos players.

"I'm going to profess my vision on how to better take care of the athletes," Romanowski said Thursday in an interview from the Bay Area.

On the list of "Really Shitty People To Intentionally Put Around Your Players," I think Bill Romanowski is pretty damn close to No. 1. We're talking about a guy who:

* Spit in the face of 49ers receiver J.J. Stokes.

* Kicked Cardinals fullback Larry Centers in the head.

* Beat the living fuck out of Raiders TEAMMATE Marcus Williams during a training-camp scuffle, ending Williams' career.

* Tested positive for the designer steroid THG during his playing career.

Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that dirty shit like the first three items on this list are extinct from the NFL, or that steroid use is either. But come on. The guy has a reputation as a grade-A nutcase, and why on earth would anyone put this lightning rod in the middle of a locker room that is likely full of guys looking for that little extra edge?

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine

The Detroit Lions, fresh off a perfect 0-16 season, have apparently named Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz as the successor to the deposed Rod Marinelli.

Now, I don't know a lot about this guy, but he's certainly worked for the right people (Bill Belichick and Jeff Fisher). The Titans defense he ran this season had some teeth to it -- it certainly wasn't his unit's fault that Tennessee lost to Baltimore in the divisional round. And he certainly doesn't have to do much to be considered an improvement.

However, the most important move the Lions could have made came in late September, when the Ford family finally did what it should have done years ago and fired then-general manager Matt Millen. The Lions organization was like the proverbial dead fish, rotting from the head down. Millen had to go. Honestly, at this point, it doesn't matter who is coaching the team. Millen is gone, and so is the culture of losing that he fostered.

Plus, this hiring gave me a reason to use the above title for this post. That alone makes him a winner in my book.

KHAAAAAAAAAAN!

A sad farewell to actor Ricardo Montalban, who passed away Wednesday at age 88.

Perhaps best-known for his role as Admiral James T. Kirk's nemesis in Star Trek II (aptly subtitled "The Wrath of Khan"), Montalban also gave the world Mr. Roarke, who teamed with mini-Montalban Herve Villechaize to fulfill the dreams of his island visitors on the cheesy 1980s TV show "Fantasy Island."

No word yet on whether he met his demise by falling off the top of Anaheim Stadium, being run over by a bulldozer and then trampled by the USC marching band.