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The Cardinals franchise has been the laughingstock of the NFL for decades, but this team is one win from bringing home a Super Bowl Campionship. Like them or not its because of them that this years Super Bowl is already proving to be better than another year that involves the New England Patriots.

The Red Birds, who were just the 11th best team during the regular season, and suffered a huge loss to New England a little over a month ago, have now found themselves in the big game. Arizona can now move from the ranks of teams without a bowl appearance. Those that still remain are a small handful of teams including, New Orleans, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, and Jacksonville.

Each playoff game for the Cardinals over the last couple of weeks has been like the last couple of minutes of an episode of Lost; it always leaves the audience in complete shock anticipating what could happen the following week. Before the 2009 season, they had one winning record in the last 23 years, and one playoff victory in the past 60 years. They had not played host to a playoff game since 1947, when they played in Chicago. They never had won two playoff games in the same season. In a franchise history dating to 1920, they are undefeated in home playoff games -- both of them.

As for this season, they had won no road games outside the NFC West, a division in which the Cardinals finished as the only team with a winning record -- at 9-7. Leaving many NFL fans asking if the team had only made it to the playoffs because of the weaker NFC West division they played in. But Arizona burned through the playoffs beating teams outside the NFC West. First, Matt Ryan and the red-hot Atlanta Falcons, the #2 seated Carolina Panthers and finally Donovan McNabb and the Eagles.

Is there enough left in the Cards to crown Arizona Super Bowl XLIII champions?

Depending on what source your checking. The Red Birds are 3.5 to 7 point underdogs against the five time Super Bowl Champion Steelers. But Arizona will have their chance to prove to the legions of NFL fans that they deserve to be there. In the famous words of Rodney Dangerfield, “ The Cards get no respect”, and it could be one of the biggest reasons why they are still playing football in early February. There's nothing more tired than the “we get no respect” card, but in this case nobody's ever accomplished more and gotten less respect, than the Arizona Cardinals. And for that reason alone it makes you want to say, “Go Cards”!