Fitzgerald's Dad Keeps His Cool

Larry Fitzgerald Sr. said he wasn't going to cheer, and he wasn't lying. Granted, there wasn't much for the Arizona receiver's dad to cheer about in the first half of Super Bowl XLIII.

But the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder reporter had plenty of opportunities in the fourth quarter, and he didn't.

Larry Fitzgerald Jr. was pretty much a non-factor throughout most of the game, picking up just one reception for 12 yards in the first three quarters, but he got heavily involved in the fourth. With Arizona trailing 20-7 heading into the final quarter, the wideout came alive with two touchdowns to put the Cardinals ahead with a 64-yard touchdown catch and run with 2:37 remaining in the game.

"It hurts so bad to be so close to being a champion and having it snatched away like that," the younger Fitzgerald said.

Sitting in the auxiliary press box, Fitzgerald Sr. calmly kept notes throughout the game. When Fitzgerald scored his first touchdown of the game, a 1-yard pass from Kurt Warner midway through the fourth quarter, the elder Fitzgerald wrote in his reporter's notebook: Warner to Larry. No exclamation point or even a smiley face.

He wrote the exact same note when Fitzgerald scored his second touchdown.

PENALTY TIMEOUT: The Cardinals showed their Super Bowl nerves at times, consistently shooting themselves in the foot with penalties.

Arizona was penalized 11 times for 106 yards, including three times for 35 yards during Pittsburgh's third-quarter scoring drive that put the Steelers ahead 20-7. In contrast, Pittsburgh had seven penalties for 56 yards.

"Obviously, the penalties were things that we allowed to extend their drives, things that hurt us," Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "It's unfortunate that there were that many penalties called."

Fitzgerald was a little more pointed in his comments about the penalties.

"I don't need the NFL to go in my pocket to comment on the officiating," he said.

GOOD REVIEWS: The Cardinals were 3-for-13 in challenges during the regular season. They were 2-for-2 in the Super Bowl.

Less than 6 minutes into the Super Bowl, they threw the first red flag and it paid off. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger had capped the Steelers' opening drive with what appeared to be a 1-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal. Upon further review, officials ruled Roethlisberger's knee was down before the ball crossed the goal line.

With the touchdown negated, the Steelers settled for a 18-yard field goal and an early 3-0 lead.

Arizona won another challenge at the beginning of the third quarter. Warner was sacked and fumbled on third-and-6 with Pittsburgh's James Farrior recovering the ball. After the Cardinals challenged the call on the field, replay showed Warner's arm was going forward and the play was ruled an incompletion.

Katherine Smith