Did you enjoy your Sunday night? Good, because it was the final eve before your inevitable onslaught of storylines involving the unlikely Arizona Cardinals and the storied Pittsburgh Steelers. Ken Whisenhunt meets his old employer. Larry Fitzgerald gets to show off his skills against his alma mater’s city. Um .. the Steelers punter played for the Cardinals last … year … zzzzzzzz. So while you stock up on hardtack and duct tape as you hunker in your bunker, just pretend how fun it would be had Sunday’s losers have actually won.

It’s a battle of redemption versus repetition. Donovan McNabb, having been benched earlier in the year, is now 2-1 in NFC Championship games and getting to start his second Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Joe Flacco became the first-ever rookie quarterback to even be in a Super Bowl. And John Harbaugh, the first-year head coach, can follow in the footsteps of Baltimore coaching icon Don McCafferty in trying to win a Super Bowl as a rookie head coach. Home teams are now a stunning 3-7 in the NFL playoffs, and the Super Bowl will finally see two Wild Card teams face off. And, of course, what are the odds? The last time the Ravens were in the Super Bowl, the site of the game was … Tampa.

And what of beleaguered head coach Andy Reid and his sudden stubble? We’ve only known of the portly Philly coach as having a clean chin and a scraggly mustache. Now his playoff beard, a trend among hockey players and some basketballers, could now catch on when it comes to the head of NFL teams. Especially if the Eagles can win their first Super Bowl in franchise history, giving the City of Brudderly Love two championships in as many pro sports finals. Does this mean the 76ers have a chance this year? (Spoiler: No, it does not.)

But the most gripping storyline is probably Ray Lewis. Yes, he was a Super Bowl MVP the year after being charged with murder stemming from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but at the time he wasn’t wholly embraced as a household figure. All he’s done since being acquitted of murder is play tremendous football and be the face of an NFL team — as a linebacker. That’s no small feat, and maybe Brian Urlacher of the Bears can say the same thing, but quarterbacks are supposed to be synonymous with a franchise. Now he can play for the Super Bowl ring with the stigma of his checkered past mostly gone … and maybe this time, American can embrace him.

Er, anyways, back to reality.

• Thanks, ST. PETE TIMES, for putting out all the story lines for the Cardinals and the Steelers in digestible, organized fashion. Now turn off your laptop and TV, go out, and jog off some extra pounds.
• THE 700 LEVEL is understandably crestfallen over the Eagles loss…
• …while THE EBONY BIRD is equally scatterbrained and searching for answers.
• An astute FLICKR user (Flickerer?) caught one Steelers sign whose author knows the history of the NFL dating back to at least the mid-90s:

  

• ESPN seems like it’s a little early for another contrived feature meant to generate useless discussions … but here it is. “Mt. Rushmore of Sports” has fans figure out who the best four sports figures from each state are. For once, the South Dakota version will look extremely boring.
• Avalanche teammates Ryan Smyth and Milan Hejduk had a lot in common after Sunday’s game … “You scored your 300th goal today? OMG me too!“
• Oh, hell. I knew I had January 17th marked on my calendar for a reason, but I forgot about Curtis Granderson’s charity basketball game featuring Kid Rock getting fazed by one of his hallucinations … oh, wait, that actually is a large fluffy tiger.
• The unemployment rate in MLB is over 50 percent … well, if you only count the players that wanted to sign for another team.
• Arkansas freshman basketball player Brandon Moore wins the traffic infraction bingo game: DWI, reckless driving, no insurance, no registration, and fake ID. He didn’t even need to use the free space!
• And finally … Jim Rice blames Big Stein for never winning a World Series. Steinbrenner, if you recall, let a ground ball go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

(Editor’s note: Yes, the Arizona Cardinals are your 2008 NFC Champions. Is this really true? Did this really happen? SbB correspondent Tuffy was there in Glendale to bear witness to the implausible. Here’s his story:)

As we left the site of the most unlikely outcome of this NFL season thus far (except perhaps “Cowboys Gel as Team, Go Miniature Golfing Together Often”), thousands of Arizona Cardinals fans chanted, “Su-per Bowl! Su-per Bowl!”  It was less of a declaration than an opportunity to hear the words aloud for the first time matched with the Cardinals team that just won 32-25 to take its first trip to the Big Game as a sand-based entity.

Last year’s Super Bowl took place in Glendale but applied to this franchise in 2008 as much as your roommate’s birthday party.  Sure, it’s at your place, but you’ll probably be down the road seeing a movie or getting drunk.  This year, we suspect Arizona would have invited the Eagles if they had been in charge of invitations.  They proved to be gracious partygoers, bringing their own gift: Andy Reid.

(Not literally pictured: Andy Reid)

Our report from University of Phoenix Stadium (& more pics) after the jump. Read more…

Hey, remember when Donovan McNabb went from the laughingstock of the NFL after admitting not knowing the rules of overtime to the Eagles’ bench - replaced by Kevin Kolb! - after a horrible first half against the Ravens. And when Andy Reid was practically a dead man walking in Philadelphia, with the only questions being who would replace him and where he would eventually land.

(Kendra Wilkinson, fiance of Eagles WR Hank Baskett, enjoyed the win)

Well, who is laughing now? (Actually, I still am about the overtime tie thing, because that’s still ridiculous.) At the least, the Vikings have to deal with the realization that they lost to a team quarterbacked by a guy who doesn’t know the basic rules of football, after the Eagles marched into Minnesota and promptly manhandled the Vikings in a 26-14 victory.

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Is Kendra Wilkinson the newest incarnation of Jackie Christie? Now that Doug Christie isn’t in the NBA anymore, there’s an opening for “craziest significant other of a pro athlete.” Hank Baskett might soon be wondering what he got himself into.

Wilkinson, a Playboy model who went on to star on the TV show The Girls Next Door, appeared on the Best Damn Sports Show Podcast yesterday (they have a podcast?) and very candidly spoke about how she thinks the Eagles are treating her man. She even provided her own unsolicited coaching advice. Quotes after the jump.

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You might remember Cleveland State as a footnote in NCAA basketball history: back in 1986, the Vikings became the darlings of the hoops world when they beat Indiana and St. Joesph’s to become the first No. 14 seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Both their wins came in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, one of the sites for the early rounds of the East Regionals (remember back when game sites actually had some geographical relevance to their bracket?)

Flash-forward 22 years, as Cleveland State makes their return trip to Syracuse, this time to take on the previously-unbeaten and 11th-ranked Orange. The Vikings - thought to be a contender in the Horizon League before a rash of early losses - put up a good fight and lead late, only to see Syracuse’s Arinze Onuaku tie the score at 69-69 with two seconds left on a put-back basket, setting up the inevitable overtime where the better team uses their superior depth and athletic ability to pull away from the game underdogs.

And then this happened:

Cedric Jackson drains the 60-footer - just like they work on it in practice - and Cleveland State stuns Syracuse 72-69. All of which left Orange coach Jim Boeheim pretty irritable at the post-game press conference. Add in a faulty microphone and you’ve got a late contender for coaching meltdown of the year. (Thanks to NESW SPORTS for the heads up

Yowza. I know it looks bad, but Boeheim was obviously in a bad mood and I’m sure he feels really bad about it. (Although that mic totally had it coming.) After all, he doesn’t want to set a bad example for his students, so they can think they can act out in violent and destructive fashion and not be punished.

Oops, never mind. Still, it’s a great win for Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters. Let’s just hope he doesn’t suffer the same downward spiral that the last Vikings coach to win in Syracuse did, but I hope Waters is smart enough to not get caught high as a kite leaving a crack house.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles kept “Operation Don’t Let a Tie with the Bengals Ruin Our Season” going for at least one more week last night, pasting the Cleveland Browns 30-10. (And really, is there any other way to beat a Ken Dorsey-led team?) That’s three straight wins after the debacle against the Ravens that led to Donovan McNabb’s benching and a general consensus that the Andy Reid Era in Philadelphia was over.

Impressive, but will it be enough? Let’s just say that the odds are stacked against them. Not only will they need to beat Washington (who are imploding, but it’s on the road) and Dallas (the perpetual question mark), but they need either Atlanta (games against Minnesota and St. Louis) or Tampa Bay (San Diego and Oakland) to lose once.

With three almost guaranteed wins there, the Eagles have to pin their postseason hopes on the less-than-golden arm of Tarvaris Jackson. Good luck with that.

Other sports news that happened while you and everyone else in America were not out watching “Delgo” at your local movie theater:

• Tiger Woods’ caddie/luckiest guy in the world Steve Williams rips Phil Mickelson, calling him a “prick“ and commenting on his…ahem…cup size. Woods responds by telling THE GUARDIAN that he’s “disappointed” in the remarks. Could Williams be joining Fluff Cowan in the Tiger Woods Caddie Graveyard?
• In a bit of karma straight out of “My Name is Earl,” the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE says Vikings DT Pat Williams, after being reinstated via court order following his suspension for water pills, might be out for the season after fracturing his shoulder against the Cardinals.
• SI’s Jon Heyman has word that there might be a mystery suitor who is stepping in late to make a run at Andy Pettitte. Honestly, if it’s the Astros and the phrase “linked to the return of Roger Clemens” comes up, I will start punching people in the throat.
• The SALT LAKE TRIBUNE is surprised that Utah still hasn’t sold 5,000 of their allotment of 17,500 tickets to the Sugar Bowl. Really? Because I don’t see many families of 12 from Salt Lake City thinking that a debauchery-filled trip to Bourbon Street sounds like a proper vacation.
• How committed is Illinois to becoming a sports power? ILLINI HQ has news of a study that puts the cost of recruiting for the Illini’s sports programs last year at more than $1.2 million. That’s No. 2 in the Big Ten, just a tick behind Ohio State, which has a 100,000-seat stadium filled during the football season.
• Despite the Bulldogs’ disappointing season, the ATHENS BANNER-HERALD reports that Georgia assistant coaches are getting a 14 percent bonus for making it to the Capital One Bowl.
• NEWSDAY says it got all warm and mushy in Phoenix as the Suns’ players and fans rolled out the red carpet for former head coach Mike D’Antoni. Then the Suns went out and beat his Knicks 111-103. Welcome home, indeed.
• It’s become a Christmas tradition for President Bush to recruit lots of celebrities to star in his dog Barney’s holiday video (and you wonder why the country is where it’s at?) The BOSTON GLOBE says that Olympic heroes Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin are co-starring in this year’s final masterpiece.
• The BOSTON GLOBE has good news for Celtics fans: they beat the Jazz 100-91 for their 15th straight win. The only catch is that Paul Pierce went down with a knee injury in the final seconds, although he tells the paper that it’s a minor injury. Certainly nothing like getting stabbed in the face.
• The MUNSTER TIMES passes along word of 19-year-old Valparaiso freshman basketball player Logan Jones, who was arrested when cops allegedly found him and some friends in a car drinking and smoking pot. He was arrested, despite the officer noting in his police report that he pleaded with him to “please be cool, I don’t want to loss (sic) my scholarship.”

PETA doesn’t want you to have that hot dog at the game. They don’t want you to set up a grill to tailgate in the parking lot. Basically, they don’t want you to have any fun at a football game. And now to make it easier for you to not have fun, they’ve ranked the top five most vegetarian friendly NFL stadiums. And with a combined record of 25-34-1, it’s not hard to wonder if those five teams are getting enough protein.

Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego took the top spot, for their “bean burritos, veggie sushi rolls, vegetable wraps, veggie hot dogs, and Gardenburgers.” I’m not surprised that San Diegans are watching their figures; most just use sporting events as an excuse to get a base tan. But the other ones on the list, including two perennial contenders for the fattest city in America, leave me scratching my head.

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It’s hard to say which half of football was more craptastic for Donovan McNabb today. In the first half, McNabb was abused by the Ravens defense, pressured into an 8-18 performance that included two picks and a fumble. But at least, you know, he was playing.

Not so in the second half, after head coach Andy Reid benched the longtime Eagles starter in favor of University of Houston product Kevin Kolb. Kolb brilliantly led the Eagles to score after score… oh wait, that didn’t happen at all.

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LAFLEUR HELPS SON SCORE WITH 16YO WHILE OUT ON BAIL While Andy Reid gets roasted for the behavior of his two felonious sons, hockey legend Guy Lafleur is getting similar (and justifiable) treatment north of the border.

The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports Lafleur’s “23-year-old son faces more than 20 criminal charges, including sexually assaulting a minor, armed assault, uttering threats, and forcible confinement between 2004 and 2007.”

Lafleur recently petitioned the court to allow his son, who has been living at halfway houses, to live with him full-time until the trial is over (it doesn’t start until May!). But his request was denied because the local authorities found out Lafleur was allowing his 23-year-old son to hook up with a 16-year-old in motel rooms whenever a visit by the court was allowed. Lafleur “has since admitted that he drove his son to hotels to spend the night with his girlfriend.”