By The Time I Get to Phoenix - Part 1

Anyone who knows me well knows I am an NFL Arizona Cardinals fan. I have rooted for them since 1974 when they were in St Louis. I stayed with them as a fan since they moved. If you know anything about the NFL, you’ll know they don’t get to the playoffs very often. They made it in 1974 and 1975 and didn’t get in again until 1982 (when they allowed extra teams because of the strike that year). They lost in the first round each time. Finally in 1998, they got in and won a first round game against Dallas then lost in the second round to Minnesota. They didn’t get in again until their great run in 2008 with Kurt Warner leading them to a heartbreaking loss to the Stealers in the Super Bowl. They got in again next year winning their first game and then losing the next. Kurt retired which sent them into another losing spiral. In 2013, both QB Carson Palmer and Head Coach Bruce Arians arrived which started their resurrection. They improved and made the playoffs last year, but when Carson Palmer tore up his knee a few games earlier, they were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs.

I have always wanted to go to a Cardinal playoff game. It’s really difficult to arrange that because a) they rarely go and b) when they do go they rarely play a home playoff game. I’d hoped with a 7-1 start last year, I’d finally get a chance. With the injury to Palmer and then to backup Drew Stanton, the Cardinals ended up a wild card team, forcing them to the road to play (and lose). The Cardinals started off great again this year, but I didn’t get my hopes up. They finally clinched a home playoff game by beating Green Bay in the next to last game of the season. Jonathan had agreed to go with me so I quickly got on StubHub and bought two lower level seats at University of Phoenix Stadium. I then starting pricing flights. The best deal was flying from St Louis to Phoenix via Southwest so I bought a ticket to leave late Friday and get back Monday. Jonathan had accumulated enough Southwest points to get a free round trip ticket. Finally, I rented a car from Enterprise since they had the best price. What about a hotel you may ask? In a burst of optimism months before, I had reserved a room at the Hampton Inn Glendale for that weekend (the closest hotel to the stadium). So we were set..

I eagerly awaited the announcement of when the games would be played. I had to wait until the first round of games were over (the Cardinals got a bye for being the 2nd seed in the Midwest). Happily the Cardinals/Packers game would be on Saturday saving me having to undo everything (should the game have been the late Sunday one). We eagerly anticipated seeing the game and having a fun weekend together.

In my next post, I’ll discuss our trip down. It was not uneventful.