How does an Arizona Cardinals/Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl sound?

I'm tempted to say that NBC, which will broadcast Super Bowl XXXXIII from Tampa , is shuddering at the thought of those two non-marquee teams clashing on Feb. 1, but really, isn't the Super Bowl so ginormous that it transcends the matchup? People tune into the Super Bowl no matter what, right? We'll find out.

Of the final four teams in the NFL Playoffs, only the Pittsburgh Steelers have a national following. I think it's safe to say that folks in NBC's executive offices are probably rooting for them against Baltimore next weekend.

Any way you cut it, this year's game cannot approach the broad appeal of the '08 battle between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. And you know what? That's OK with me. And I suspect it's cool with most other hardcore NFL fans. As far as I'm concerned, if it can't be the Bucs (or the Colts) in there, then let's throw the thing wide open and make it Cardinals vs. Ravens.

A sling-it-around-the-park, wide-open-offense team vs. a gouge-out-your-eye-defense team (with the Cards winning 37-35). The Cardinals have been so down for so long that I can't help but push for 'em.

While the matchup probably doesn't influence the TV viewership that much, I wonder what effect it will have on Tampa Bay, and the supposed economic boon that a Super Bowl brings. In that sense, I'm guessing that the host committee, business interests and local muckety-mucks are hoping for a Steelers/Eagles tilt. Two storied franchises, both from Pennsylvania, makes for a good storyline:

This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2009.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...