The NFL is king in America.

In no other sport could teams from Arizona and Pennsylvania get together to compete and have households in Wisconsin planning their day around the contest. Only the NFL can bring out an annual moratorium on football-related spousal complaints. Curiously enough, the antagonist is always one of the first pushing to attend or host a Super Bowl party.

Living in the world of sports day-in, day-out I get a little bemused and irritated by the hype Super Bowl week. The insanity of representatives from “Cat Fancy” and MTV asking questions of athletes and the inevitability of said athletes acting the fool in response leaves a sour taste in self-respecting journalists’ mouths.

The bottom line is it is just another football game.

So when predicting an outcome, it’s always a good idea to ignore everything except where the body of work stood at the end of the championship tilts on Jan. 18.

The Arizona Cardinals are as flawed as every other NFC team. The one difference is they have Larry Fitzgerald at wide receiver and the Falcons, Panthers and Eagles do not. Neither does Pittsburgh, but the Steelers have dominated on defense all season and were arguably the best team in the NFL (strong argument from the Titans) from the middle of the season on.

The argument isn’t whether Pittsburgh is a better team than Arizona, but will they win?

Kurt Warner is going to have a hard time finding Fitzgerald from his backside. Give the Steelers at least one TD on defense or special teams en route to a convincing victory.

Steelers 33, Cardinals 17

Mike Larsen can be reached at mlarsen@kenoshanews.com