{"id":3444,"date":"2009-02-01T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-01T17:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/02\/super-bowl-sunday\/"},"modified":"2009-02-01T12:20:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-01T17:20:00","slug":"super-bowl-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2009\/02\/super-bowl-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Bowl Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Steelers and Cardinals will finally get down to business on Sunday when they meet in <\/span><\/font>Tampa<\/st1:PlaceName> Bay<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place> for Super Bowl XLIII. \u00a0<\/span>For the rundown on all the top sports picks<\/a> and more it’s OffshoreInsiders.com<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/b>\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s your Daily Sports Roundup.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The Gridiron Spotlight<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

After two weeks of hype and speculation there’s not much left to cover for the Super Bowl XLIII matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Sunday. The line is still sitting at <\/span><\/font>Pittsburgh<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> -7 at most books, with the total on the high side at 46.5 points. The Steelers are 2-0 against-the-spread so far in the playoffs, covering a pair of 6-point spreads against the Ravens and Chargers. The Cards are 3-0 against the number in the postseason, which includes winning outright as an underdog twice. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Friday’s final injury report had Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward pegged as PROBABLE. Ward is the only player listed on Pittsburgh’s release; quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is rumored to have sore ribs, but he doesn’t appear on the injury report. The Cardinals have RB J.J<\/span>. Arrington (knee), P Ben Graham (left groin), and DE Travis LaBoy<\/span> (biceps) all listed as QUESTIONABLE heading into the game, while DE Antonio Smith (knee) is the team’s lone PROBABLE entry.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Game time for Sunday is set for <\/span><\/font>6:00pm ET<\/st1:time>, but introductions and other procedural matters should push kickoff to sometime around 6:20pm ET<\/st1:time>. Coverage is provided by NBC this year, and the halftime show is headlined by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Prop bets abound at online sportsbooks, so there’s plenty of research to do in the hours leading up to the game. That includes looking into which color Gatorade will be dumped on the victorious head coach in the fourth quarter, so call up your locker room sources.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Other Notable Events<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

The NBA gets most of its schedule out of the way before the Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday, with Minnesota at Boston, Orlando at Toronto, and Cleveland at Detroit the afternoon matchups<\/span>. Those three games all feature Eastern Conference division leaders. The league’s night contest, though, won’t detract from the NFL title game, as it’s a matchup between the lowly Thunder and Kings.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The Rest of the Schedule<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

Top-ranked Duke fell 70-68 to <\/span><\/font>Wake<\/st1:PlaceName> Forest<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place> in their last contest, so they’ll be looking to get back on track on Sunday afternoon when they host Virginia<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>. Three other ranked college hoops teams are in action on Sunday, with Penn<\/st1:PlaceName> State<\/st1:PlaceType><\/st1:place> at No. 9 Michigan State, Iowa at No. 19 Illinois, and Cincinnati<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> at No. 21 Villanova.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Finally, the Bruins and Canadiens<\/span> will continue their rivalry in <\/span><\/font>Montreal<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> on Sunday afternoon in one of just three NHL games on the ice. Ottawa<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> and Washington will also play a matinee, while Nashville<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> will travel out to Edmonton<\/st1:place><\/st1:City>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A Peek at the Future<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/strong><\/o:p><\/p>\n

The NHL’s Monday schedule has just three games, with the top matchup seeing Buffalo on the road in Anaheim . . . the Magic will host the Mavericks in NBA action on Monday, while the Lakers will be in New York and Portland will be on the road in New Orleans . . . No. 2 UConn will take on No. 7 Louisville in college hoops action on Monday, while No. 3 Pittsburgh gets a visit from Robert Morris.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

OffshoreInsiders.com<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Steelers and Cardinals will finally get down to business on Sunday when they meet in Tampa Bay for Super Bowl XLIII. \u00a0For the rundown on all the top sports picks and more it’s OffshoreInsiders.com\u00a0 \u00a0 Here’s your Daily Sports Roundup. The Gridiron Spotlight After two weeks of hype and speculation there’s not much left … Continue reading Super Bowl Sunday<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}