Going Where No Cardinals Fan Has Gone Before

In a 48-hour period that will change America forever, the Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl and Barack Obama is going to the White House. What price would the Las Vegas sports books have given you on that parlay one year ago?

In a land of possibility, my Team of Destiny did the improbable.

I am so stoked, I am going to walk all the way to Florida for Super Bowl XLIII ¿ maybe I'll pass the Madden Cruiser on the highway.

(By the way, even if I do walk all the way to Florida, I'll watch the game on TV.)

The Cardinals now have a chance to end a 12-year championship drought. That's a longer dry spell than Whitney Houston's had.

This one was for Cardinals fans ¿ ah, let me tell you about Cardinals fans.

Sure, we're not America's Team. There is no Cardinal Nation; frankly, it's more like Cardinal Cul-de-Sac. But Cardinals fans are littered across the nation ¿ I met two at a Stuckey's in Opelika, Ala., two more at a Chevron in Breezewood, Pa., and a family of four, with a cocker spaniel, waiting for a Sam's Club to open in Lone Tree, Colo.

Cardinals fans are a stout, quiet lot. We have suffered silently for years, watching our team lose games called by bottom-tier network announcers relegated to the week's worst matchup. Generally, we are not rich ¿ average income: between jobs ¿ and we don't have fancy connections or celebrity backers.

What we do have these days is an uncommon, unearthly duo: Our stadium and our quarterback.

Have you ever seen historic University of Phoenix Stadium? It's Lambeau Field with palm trees. Nobody beats the Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. Nobody.

The Cardinals enjoy the biggest home-field advantage in the NFL. When the roof is open, the combination of the desert heat and the half-filled stands stifles visiting teams. When the roof is closed, the stench of the heavy cologne from the half-filled stands ¿ it's an Old Spice crowd ¿ stifles visiting teams.

And have you ever seen otherworldly quarterback Kurt Warner? He came from a galaxy far, far away, played Arena Football, bagged groceries, went to NFL Europe and did not start an NFL game until he was 28 ¿ and he's going to end up in the Hall of Fame. Everything he touches turns to first- and- goal.