SANTONIO TOES

Actually I guess his last name is Holmes and not Toes, but his toes on his right foot that he got down touching the end zone with just over a minute to play in last year's Super Bowl really hurt me. He clearly made a great catch. The pass was on the money from Big Ben and it was lights out for the Arizona Cardinals.

You see I go way back with the Cardinals. But I also go back with Kurt Warner when he guided the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory and another Super Bowl that they should have won.

But as the NFL kicked off another season this past week, I don't see good things for my two teams--the Rams and Cardinals in that order. They are not well run programs, unfortunately. More than any other sport it seems the same teams are powerhouses every year in pro football.

Once in awhile a new kid will jump up, play well, maybe even win a Super Bowl but then reality sets in. The good teams, like the good college teams just program you to death.

What makes a good pro organization? Good people. They all make money, so it's not to be confused with Major League Baseball which still has teams that try to buy a championship. But in pro football, egos get in the way. Division of labor causes rifts. And some, just don't know what they're doing. (See the Rams drafts of this decade and the futility of the Cardinals since 1947 which was their last playoff victory until last year.)

So while I love to watch the NFL, I feel more like the Pirates or Orioles knowing my teams have little chance of succeeding. But I'll be there flipping channels, rooting against the teams I can't stand. But even when the Patriots lose, it's not as fulfilling as a Ram or Cardinal victory.