TURKEYS NO MORE

The down trodden are still down. They came up short. By 35 seconds.

It was a painful, painful loss. Right up there for me with the '85 St. Louis Cardinals World Series loss to the Royals and the 2002 St. Louis Rams loss to the Patriots and the Fighting Illini's NCAA loss to North Carolina. The last two both attended by my son and me.

But this was a big hurt. Even though the Arizona Cardinals played well enough to win. And a two yard goal line pass interception turns into a 100 yard return. But still they came back. My man, my most favorite professional athlete of all time, Kurt Warner, brought them to within 35 seconds of a Super Bowl win.

Much will be written by the pundits. By those much more clever than I. One thing I know, though, that maybe they don't --this was it for the Cardinals. There's no "wait till next year". This was our shot.

I fully expect Kurt to retire. It would have been so nice for him to go out on top. But all fairy tales don't always end well. And if ever there was a story of rags to riches, it was Warner's. With Leinart at the controls, just don't expect much. He's overrated as most USC QBs are. Their college team is so good that it distorts what their quarterbacks can do at the next level. An average Joe looks mighty good playing behind that offensive line.

I also don't expect The Edge to return and he's pretty good. Boldin may well bolt in another direction. Without him, there'll be more double coverage on Larry Fitz, maybe the best wide out I've ever seen. But who's going to throw him the ball?

It's hard to repeat if you get all your guys back. I'm afraid it won't happen. Man, I hope I'm wrong. It's great to see Cardinal red all over the place and that beautiful stadium raucous.

Thanks for a great playoff run. Enjoy the accolades. They fade all too fast.