WE FLY HIGH- NO LIE- YOU KNOW THIS-BALLIN!
Fans show their support before the NFC championship game with the Philadelphia Eagles at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
Gary Grado, Tribune January 18, 2009 - 6:05PM
The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 Sunday in the NFC championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium to advance to the Super Bowl, Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla.
“I can’t believe it,” Reichenbacher said, watching from up high as confetti fell down on the players after the final gun. “This is what this town needs!”
The stands remained nearly full as players accepted their trophy and thanked the fans.
“I’m shocked and pumped,” Alex Kopchynski of Maricopa said.
She and mother Burnie Kopchynski are going to rent an RV and drive to Tampa.
They weren’t this pumped, however, the whole game.
As the Eagles, who were down 24-6 at halftime, chipped away and eventually took the lead 25-24, the anxieties of Cardinals past raised their heads.
“I thought, ‘Not again,’” said Alex Kopchynski.
Whoops, hollers and high-fives were all around when the Eagles failed to convert on fourth-and-10 just after the two-minute warning, thus nearly sealing the Cardinals’ trip to the Super Bowl.
That’s when a sea of green Eagles jerseys headed for the exits.
This was the Cardinals’ first grab at glory in 60 years, and the excitement of the fans matched the importance of the game and the intensity of the play.
Some fans arrived as early as 8 a.m. for the 1 p.m. kickoff.
Traffic into the stadium was a crawl two hours before the game, and all of the parking lots were full, something that doesn’t typically happen.
The pregame beers, brats and burgers went down quickly as the excitement built at tailgate parties
Loud and proud was the unofficial theme as fans gathered around their barbecues.
Armando Estavillo, 62, the patriarch of his family, sat surrounded by his sons and grandsons with his face painted red and white, donning a Cardinals Santa Claus hat and draped in a red, cotton poncho.
“This is a great time with the family,” he said, pointing at one of his grandsons. “These guys will remember this the rest of their lives.”