MAIN Recreation Sports Football Super Bowl 2009

It was a clash of epic proportions when the Arizona Cardinals squared off against the Pittsburgh Steelers for Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday, February 1, 2009 at the Raymond James stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Super Bowl TV Schedule & Kickoff

On TV, football fans wordlwide tuned into the battle over the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy — and to decide which team gets to wear their Super Bowl rings — as it played out live beginning at 6 pm ET on NBC.

Kick-off time was approximately 6:20 pm on the East Coast; 5:20 pm Central; 4:20 pm Mountain; and 3:20 pm Pacific. Across the pond, (and five hours ahead of East Coast time) UK checked out the live game in the wee morning hours on BBC.

For the 2009 halftime show, the Super Bowl committee again went with the "safe choice" with rocker Bruce Springsteen who take the stage with "Born to Run" a highlight of the 12-minute set. Also on game day, the return of the zooming U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds to put on a spectacular flyover just before kickoff.

Game Analysis & Predictions

Super Bowl 2009 Recap

The teams are on the field. Steelers in bright yellow, Cardinals in red. Fans screaming. Kurt Warner is awarded the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Faith Hill sings God Bless America as the camera shows representatives of the Armed Services at attention with their hands over their hearts. The Color Guard enters and Jennifer Hudson adds her sweet voice with the Star Spangled Banner. The Thunderbirds fly overhead... It's finally here. The match up between the Kurt Warner and the unstoppable Arizona Cardinals offense against the unbreakable defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Experts have been arguing all week about who will take this game.

The coin toss... goes to the Arizona Cardinals - 12th consecutive year that the NFC has won the toss. The Cardinals elect to kick. 6:22 ET the ball is kicked Roethelisberger connects with Heinz Ward for the first spectacular catch of the game... so much for all the talk. The game is on. Heath Miller catches a well thrown pass and it's 1st and goal. Roethelisberger has the ball with a 3rd and goal and can't find a receiver so he runs the ball in himself. It's called a touch down on the field, but did his knee touch before the ball crossed the line? The Cardinals challenged. The runner was down short of the goal line... no touchdown. Reed kicks the field goal and the Steelers have 3 points on the board with 6 minutes gone.

And the game goes on with plenty of hard action mixed with those gotta see commercials.

The Cardinals can't do much with the ball. The Steelers get it back and on their 2nd possession drive down to the 2 yard line before the end of the first quarter. The second quarter starts with the Steelers crossing the goal line. The kick for the extra point is good and the score is 10 - 0 Steelers.

Warner connects with Holden who carries the ball all the way... all the way... to 1st & goal. Then Boldin makes a spectacular catch to put the Cardinals back into the game. Steelers 10 - Cardinals 7. Steelers don't do much and Cardinals return the punt halfway down the field. They stall after a penalty and are 3rd and 22 when they call a time out. Announcers note that the Cardinals have averaged 15 yards to go on 3rd downs during this half. They wind up with a punt with 2:55 to go in the half. The Steelers get the ball back on their own 16 yard line. Roethelisberger gets intercepted and the Cardinals have the ball back in Steelers territory. 1:55 left to go before the half. The Cardinals try for the touchdown... pass is intercepted by Harrison who runs back 100 yards for a touchdown... the longest play in Superbowl history.

The Steelers have dominated the first half with possessions, completed passes, and every stat... the score is 17 - 7 at the half.

Back from the half... The Steelers add another 3 with a field goal that gets called back for a personal foul. The Steelers get another chance to make the TD but the Cardinals defense holds them a second time. The Pittsburgh field goal is good this time and the score goes to 20 - 7.

The Cardinals are not out of the game, but they do need to get their offense moving without penalties or mistakes... and they come up with that action halfway through the 4th. A pass to FitzGerald connects in the end zone and to bring it to a one score game. The next play is a good sack on Roethlesberger followed by a shut down of the Pittsburgh offense. The Cardinals get the ball back in good position with plenty of time... but can't move it. At 4th and 20 Arizona punts back to the Steelers 1 yard line. On 3rd and 10 a pass to the 20 is completed, but a facemasking penalty in the endzone gives AZ a safety - 16 to Pittsburgh's 10. The next possession... Fitzgerald runs the ball for a TD PIT 20 - AZ 23 - 4th Quarter - 2:30 left. Can you believe this?

Completed pass to Pittsburgh in the endzone gives them a 3 point lead over Arizona... but is the receiver inbounds? After lenghty review... he was, it's good Pittsburgh has the lead by 4 with 35 seconds. The final indignity, a questionable fumble, (was it an incomplete pass or a fumble) gives the Steelers the ball ... and the game.

Moments of brillance mixed with madness were the story of this game. Luck and penalties played a larger role than we'd like to see at this level of professional play... but it was one hell of a game with excitement to the last seconds. The Steelers earned their rings.

Super Bowl Tickets

If you want to see the game up close and personal, note that a only 1% of Super Bowl tickets are distributed to fans by the NFL, controlled through an annual random drawing that begins in February of the prior year and ends the following June. Otherwise, prepare to pay top dollar for tickets to THE most popular and most-watched sporting event of the year.

Or wait until the drawing opens up again - on February 1, 2009 - for next year's Super Bowl 44 played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on February 7, 2010.

Super Bowl around the Web

The battle of the 2009 NFL superstars wouldn't be complete without Super Bowl party ideas, links to Super Bowl history stats and trivia, and a walk down memory lane with the most popular Super Bowl ads & commercials of all time...

.

Super Bowl History & Trivia

The Sporting News: History of the Super Bowl - Pick a year and get transported back in time to archived coverage in this digital version of the print publication.

Tarik's NFL Super Bowl Results - Quick overview of who won what and when, and great for solving barroom discussions at a clip. Click on the info buttons for more details.

Super Bowl Trivia - What was the name of the first Super Bowl? Which one got the highest TV ratings? Who won MVP in two consecutive years? Like that. And more.

Super Bowl Commercials

Super Bowl Commercials - Our very own on-site feature with information and links to video previews of the funniest and most buzzed-about Super Bowl commercials.

Super Bowl Ads - Catch all of the funniest and best TV commercials of the past & present in QuickTime, RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. Courtesy of IFILM.

SuperBowl Ads.com - A great interface of clickable screenshots leading to memorable video clips from 1998 - 2008, with a featured page of Super Bowl commercial all-time classics.

Super Bowl Party Ideas

Super Bowl Recipes - Great ideas for serving up an unforgettable Super Bowl Fest including recipes for dips and spreads, chicken wings, appetizers, nuts and snacks, and Sloppy Joes.

Football Party Theme - Suggested ideas for party games, what food to serve, along with decorations and kids' activities.

A Super Bowl Party Spread - Feature story from Food Network with pictures, instructions and recipes for a complete party menu.

Super snacks for the Super Bowl - Wow everybody with these recipes for a great knosh including ingredients & instructions for hot wings, pizza, party popcorn, desserts and more.

SEARCH or SUBMIT Your Football Party Recipes

Suggested -> Buffalo Chicken Wings | Sloppy Joes | Fried Chicken

Tacos | Lasagna | Beer Batter Shrimp | Sausage & Peppers

Chunky Beef Crockpot | Super Chili | White Bean Chili w Chicken

also see in Cooking -> Chicken Wings | Easy Chili Recipes