Super Bowl Shock and Awe

Sunday's Super Bowl was not supposed to be good.

Of the teams assembling in Tampa--the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers--neither were the Cinderellas of the season, nor the dominating powerhouses or sentimental favorites (sorry, Manning brothers).

And at that, the Steelers' star wide receiver walked onto the field with a bum knee, while a lackluster Cards defense lined up to meet them.

The nation was coming off one of the coldest weeks of the year so far.

Even Sports Illustrated and Playboy canceled their Super Bowl parties. The Super Bowl? Without an SI party?

But the second the Vince Lombardi Trophy found its way into the hands of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers, the exclamations began: This was the best Super Bowl. Ever.

What happened? How can such a lackluster exposition give way to such a climax and even more exhilarating denouement?

There's no answer; just the facts:

The second quarter ended with a drive-stopping interception run back for a 100-yard touchdown by the Steelers' James Harrison.

The Cards' first lead of the game came by way of a 64-yard touchdown pass to Larry

Fitzgerald with 2:37 left in the game.

The last Pittsburgh offensive drive ended with an impeccable perfect throw-perfect catch combination in the Cardinals' end zone ... and victory.

Most importantly, America exhaled this Sunday. Everyone who tuned in got caught up in it, not just the 71,101 people at Heinz South Stadium.

The emotionalism this game ended up capturing just proves that you can still expect the unexpected; that what is predicted is not always what is delivered.

And now, when few things allow us to focus on something besides the state of the economy, that is something increasingly important to remember. We can barely get our morning coffee without hearing about this downturn's latest victim.

The Super Bowl shocked and surprised. It made some of us cheer, some of us cry.

So I'm going to give the advice that might get me excommunicated from the journalistic world: This weekend, put your newspaper down. Get your nose out of the newest article lamenting the absurd unemployment rate and miserable budget cuts. Put on your coat and gloves and go enjoy yourselves -- and each other. Walk around your downtown, meander down Main Street. We live in a beautiful place with great people.
You might want to wait until Saturday, though. The forecast says Lexington's going to hit 62 degrees.

-Monica Chinn