Redemption

Redemption.

Back in the saddle again.



Ok, for those of you who are my Austin readers, you do not quite know to what extent my passion is for the Arizona Cardinals. My introduction to the blog writing world was through the creation of a blog entitled “Red Nation 2009.”



My fellow hapless romantic friend created this blog for me while he was living in California. As a passionate, lunatic of the Cardinals I utilized the blog as a method in which to express my views of the team through philosophical messages.



It was not too far removed from my current blog; rather than commenting about the city that is Austin, I wrote about my experiences as part of “Red Nation.”



It turned out to be a magical season for the Red Birds. They made the play-offs for the first time in over a decade and fell a few seconds short from winning the Super Bowl. Trust me, when we had this idea of a blog about the Cardinals, it was not to document positive actions or a team that went on to win the NFC, but more of a form of therapy to have a forum to express our collective depression.



This blog faded to black as I moved. I was a season ticket holder from 1995 until last season. I attended almost every home game throughout those years only missing games in which I did not have a ride to the stadium, as a majority of the time I was the youngest and most delusional thinking that every game was a life or death situation. For the better part of the last four years, I attended each of these games with my Uncle. I have developed into a form of my Uncle and I couldn’t be prouder. He was the person that began this tradition with the Cardinals and his passion has not faded but intensified as the years have concluded.



I look back now with a spectrum of emotions that have allowed me to realize just how amazing those Sundays were spent maturing through life with the tint of football used as a metaphor for just how important it is to keep going.



The Cardinals have bound me not only with my Uncle, but my closest friends. For a few years when I was in high school and pretending to be in college, I spent each Sunday with Andy and Marc. We watched the Cards struggle horribly from our bench seats in the lower bowl of Sun Devil Stadium. We went every week they played a home game, knowing that there was a very limited chance of success but that was not the point. The fellow members of Red Nation around us needed our support as this was my first introduction to group therapy.



My friends have moved on. They are now married and starting families and continuing careers. My Uncle has grown to be one of the most intelligent and compassionate people that I have ever met and makes me proud to say that I am anything like him. Mike, my friend in which all of this “Nation” business was sprung is hours away from visiting me for the game. He calls into question whatever it is that I think “passion” is, as he is a poster child for everything that is “Nation.” He has traveled to see the Cards play coast-to-coast. He has been known to fight a fan or two when unpleasant words were exchanged over the play of the Cardinals.



See, there is this code amongst Red Nation. The code is that we can continue to always be questioning and never quite belief what is about to happen. We can always doubt that things will turn out well or expect defeat prior to assessing the challenge. But, it is like that of a relationship. Sure, when we are pissed, we call our friends and take about our significant other. We go off and say whatever is on our mind without a buffer. (Do not feel judgmental, we all do this.) Because we are in this relationship and have been through difficult times, we have allowed ourselves the right to do so. Once someone from the outside begins to call into question the same things we were just talking about, we get defensive. See, it is okay for us to go off on the thing that we love, but once an outsider does, a fight develops as they do not have the right to question.



As members of Red Nation, we can question everything that is the Cardinals. We have the right to do so as he have struggled through year after year of pain and suffering. But, what is a relationship if there are not moments of complete gut retching pain and subliminal bliss.



I am writing about the Cardinals again as it is about to launch me into another chapter of my life. This feels like a great time to reflect on everything that has been. It feels like a wonderful way to bring in the New Year as well as welcome a friend from the past to my new world. My new world filled with unknown challenges, but the known fact that life is only worth living when surrounded by those in which Love and respect the moments ahead.



This season started with a carpool from Phoenix to Flagstaff. We went to training camp and dubbed it poetically, “Champ Camp.” This was to be my last expedition prior to my move to the big city in the South, Austin.



I watched the Cards underachieve from afar this season. They struggled from the start, losing winnable games and continuing the heartache that is Red Nation. Then, the Cards strung off a few impressive wins and they were the sexy pick again. A few more questionable losses entered the equation and everyone outside of the Nation just looked to the desert with a confused expression without anyway of gauging expectations.



This lead to a play-off game against the tradition laden Green Bay Packers. Wearing there cheese heads and carrying their brats thousands of Packer fans invaded the desert for what was expected to be a classic game. The Packers, even though they were on the road and the lesser seed, was favored to win the game and many people within the media chose them to win the game.



The Cards started fast and took control from the opening play. They jumped out to a huge lead, only to watch it dissipate in the closing seconds. With a tie game, a makable field goal for the Cards, a win seemed in hand. That was until the kick was shanked and Overtime was to begin. The stadium deflated and Nation fans across the country prepared their garbage cans to be puked into.



The Packers won the coin toss and appeared to seal up the game. Then the chaos that is fate stepped in. On a third down, the Cardinals called a blitz that was torched earlier in the game. This time Aaron Rodgers, quarterback for the Packers, did not see the backside defender. He hung onto the ball a second too long, was sacked. The ball was knocked from his hand and kicked into the hands of Cardinals Linebacker Karlos Dansby. He scampered the twenty yards. The Cardinals won and bedlam hit Red Nation.



I began this entry with the word Redemption. It is an important element of everyday life. Each moment offers a chance of redemption for something that we have done in the past. There are many thoughts and actions that we have lived in a past life that now appear to be illogical and simply dumb.



These moments of redemption allow us to take account for the uneducated opinions or actions in which we executed and open ourselves up to be a little less judgmental and more mature.



Michael Adams is a cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals. He would have been remembered as one of the key members of the game that caused the Cardinals to collapse and loss as he made many terrible plays including multiple penalties. This is not the case as Adams redeemed himself during the game. He was the player that blitzed and caused Rodgers to fumble and lose the game. Adams went from villain to hero in the matter for 9 seconds.



Karlos Dansby is a linebacker for the Cardinals and returned the fumble for a touchdown that won the game. It was the third turnover that he caused and capitalized on for the Cards. Dansby has always been known as a selfish player, placing in personal accomplishments ahead of those within the team. That mindset had him always in the bad thoughts of the couching staff, That changed this season when he dedicated himself to placing the success of the team before his own. This has caused him to have less statistics than in years past, but he has developed into one of the best linebackers in the NFL as well as a true veteran leader on the team.



I could continue on. Kurt Warner going from grocery clerk to NFL Hall of Fame. Darnell Dockett going from orphan after both of his parents were murdered when he was a child in Baltimore to NFL Pro Bowler.



These are stories that motivate the soul. They are the basis for films that make us cry. They are melodramatic and allow for an understanding that people have faced more difficult situations and have always found a way to succeed.



Humans are survivors. We can adapt to any situation. We can cope with any loss. We can manage through any difficulty. Life is not always going to be amazing, but it will always be fair. It will always be whatever you put into it. Deep down we all know what we put in and you can never win what you don’t bet.



I will wrap this up with a pretty bow as I prepare for the game in New Orleans. I will be leaving my humble home in Austin at 4 AM on Saturday. I will have the sports pages of all the national papers in the car, I will have a pot of coffee in a thermos, I will have one of my best friends sitting next to me and I will be ready for whatever moment is offered when we arrive in the Bayou.



I will hope that you will be on board with redeeming something in which is still afflicting you. Understand that we are not always right. It is pride and greed that cause things to unravel to the point of no return not Love and understanding.



Come on Red Birds, play within yourselves, shock the world again and enjoy the ride. Enjoy the game on Saturday and I most certainly wish that each and every one of you could be there with me. Do not worry though, there will be plenty of moments in the future in which we can share in the glory that is living every breathe without apologizing for enjoying your life.



Take care my friends and it is good to be back.



Moral: Redemption offers itself to be taken within every moment, if we allow ourselves to embrace what has happened. The Cardinals will always be one of the loves of my life, no matter how far away I get, they will always make me laugh and cry like only few things in this world can. Life is simply too short to let pass by, seize the moments with openness and laughter, it will make much more sense that way when you get older. Much love amigo, onto Louisiana we shall go!


Song of the day. Feels like a song to bring it all back together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrBXccaq0pk