Drama Follows the Arizona Cardinals All the Way to the 2009 Super Bowl

The Arizona Cardinals have a date with the Pittsburg Steelers in the 2009 Super Bowl. How they arrived is nothing short of a movie script. The team has star players that are upset and yet they have thrived despite the major drama.

Two players in particular come to mind when the word drama is uttered. The first is running back Edgerrin James who was benched mid season in favor of a rookie runner Tim Hightower. James was very upset and stated that he was not on the team to be a blocker and in November he asked for his release. The Cardinals organization denied his request and upon entering the playoffs, James said he would show the leadership expected of him, but no matter what happened, he would not be back with the Arizona Cardinals next season. He has kept true to his word and helped the Cardinals secure a spot in the Super Bowl. After winning the NFC Championship game, James was quoted as saying, "One more game to go (source: espn.com)."

Next up we have wide receiver Anquan Boldin. Boldin began the year bringing the movie Jerry Maguire to real life. In the movie, wide receiver Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) has a major contract dispute with the Arizona Cardinals and his agent Jerry Maguire (played by Tom cruise) is left to defend his loud mouth client. Earlier this year in training camp, Boldin said that the Cardinals reneged on a new contract for him and his agent Drew Rosenhus (who Cruise studied for his role in Jerry Maguire) is left defending his client. All the tension seemed to come to a head for Boldin in the NFC Championship game as he was taken out of the game during the waning moments of the winning drive. So upset was Boldin that he got into a shouting match with offensive coordinator Todd Haley on the sidelines. Now there are rumblings that the Super Bowl may be the last game for Boldin as a Cardinal as well (source: espn.com).

Both players are still under contract with the Cardinals for next season, but each has expressed their distaste of the organization (source: espn.com). It's up in the air though as winning a Super Bowl Ring could make a lot of problems vanish into thin air. As far as the Arizona Cardinals are concerned though, they have plenty of talent.

Larry Fitzgerald has already broken the post-season record for most receiving yards formerly held by Jerry Rice and he still has one game to go (source: espn.com). As for a running back, the organization has already shown that Tim Hightower is the future runner in their back field.

Maybe all this drama is a good thing. After all, nobody gave the Arizona Cardinals a chance to win even one playoff game, let alone make it to the Super Bowl, but here they are. If the team does go on to defeat the favored Steelers they need to make sure that they offend at least two star players next season so that they can make another run at the big game.