Can the Arizona Cardinals (9-7) duplicate what the 2006 St.Louis Cardinals did and pull off a huge upset and win a championship against a heavily favored opponent?

            While the Detroit Tigers (95-67) would like to forget their five-game World Series loss, the Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) are just hoping that the formerly St. Louis-based Cardinals do not send them back home in disbelief. It’s hard to believe back in the 1980s both Cardinals teams played in the since demolished Busch Stadium. Time does fly. Here are other Super Bowl facts worth noting.

- In 1984, the Arizona Wranglers were coached by Hall of Famer George Allen and lost to the Philadelphia Stars 23-3 in the USFL Championship Game at the old Tampa Stadium. This was the only time that an Arizona professional football team played for a title and the quarterback was former Detroit Lion Greg Landry. Philadelphia’s coach was Jim Mora Sr. It’s ironic that the ’09 Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 for the right to play in the Super Bowl.

            – Steelers Hall of Fame defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene was an assistant coach for former Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis (2000-2003). Greene won four championships with the Steelers in the 1970′s. The Steelers are trying for a record sixth Super Bowl title.

            – Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is only the second signal caller to start for two Super Bowl teams. The other was Craig Morton who piloted the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.

            – How important is the Senior Bowl (played last week in Mobile)? There are 36 players who played in the Senior Bowl that are on the Cardinals and Steelers.

            – The Super Bowl XLIII ticket breakdown is as follows: League office gets 25.2%, Pittsburgh (AFC) 17.5%, Arizona (NFC) 17.5%, all other 29 clubs 34.8% (1.2%) and the host team Bucaneers get 5%.

            – NBC is broadcasting its 15^th Super Bowl. Al Michaels is calling his sixth Super Bowl and John Madden his 11^th.

- The Tampa Bay area is hosting its fourth Super Bowl. The first was on Jan 22, 1984 when the LA Raiders waxed the Washington Redskins 38-9.

            – Last year’s Super Bowl was the second most-watched program in television history with 148.3 million viewers in the U.S. The game was broadcast to 223 countries and territories in 30 different languages. Twenty international broadcasters from 14 countries called the game from the University of Phoenix Stadium.

            – The capacity for Raymond James Stadium is 70,500 and the stadium was built on the site where the Cincinnati Reds used to play at Al Lopez Field during spring training.

            – The Cards are in their first Super Bowl but have hosted two SB games including last year’s New York Giants 17-14 win over the New England Patriots.

            – There are only five teams that have not appeared in the Super Bowl including the Lions, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans.

            – Miami/South Florida will be hosting the Super Bowl for the 10^th time on Feb 7, 2010. There is talk that the Pro Bowl will be moved from Aloha Stadium in Hawaii to Dolphin Stadium on the Sunday preceding the Super Bowl meaning no players from the final two teams would participate in the Pro Bowl.

Staff picks: George Eichorn – Arizona 24 Pittsburgh 21; Scott Morganroth – Pittsburgh 33 Arizona 22.