The Bell Tolls: Work, family lines blur for Fitzgerald's dad

By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY

No cheering in the press box.

That's a standard rule in my business, and in many press boxes across the NFL you'll still hear it announced on the PA before kickoff.

 Original Fitzgerald, a multi-tasking sports journalist and proud papa of the Arizona Cardinals' all-pro receiver.

The senior Fitzgerald, 53, a long-time columnist for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and host of three sports talk radio shows from his base in Minneapolis, was in the press box in Glendale, Ariz., and Charlotte the past two weekends to witness his son demonstrate why he's become perhaps the NFL's most electrifying receiver.

And he didn't cheer when his son leaped between two Carolina Panthers defenders to snag a Kurt Warner pass for a 41 yards that set up the game's first TD.

"I understand there's no cheering," Fitzgerald says. "I'm there as an objective journalist. On the outside, that's what you see. But inside, I'm high-fiving."

The Cardinals, hosting the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's NFC title game, are on the brink of the franchise's first Super Bowl berth.

Fitzgerald, the original one, will be in Tampa, regardless.

Fitzgerald's skill matures into stardom

by Bob McManaman - Jan. 16, 2009 02:46 PM
The Arizona Republic  http://www.azcentral.com/

He was just a child. And even then, Cris Carter knew there was something incredibly special about grade-schooler Larry Fitzgerald, the ball boy for the Minnesota Vikings.

Carter, a veteran NFL receiver, would spend hours playing catch with the kid from Minneapolis. So did another Vikings receiver, a youngster named Randy Moss. Together, the three hit the weight room, the basketball court and ran mile after mile. 

And ever since, they always stayed in touch, especially Carter and Fitzgerald. Even to this day.

"I knew very, very early on that he had some unbelievable ball skills," Carter said this week while visiting Fitzgerald at the Cardinals' Tempe training facility. "Even back then when he was just a kid, he could catch the ball like few people I've ever seen." 

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Better beware of Fitzgerald

BY TOM ROCK | This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  : January 17, 2009

How committed are the Cardinals to the air? Turns out that one of the biggest plays of the season - maybe even in their franchise's history - was drawn up at 35,000 or so feet.

The 41-yard pass to a leaping Larry Fitzgerald, who soared above double coverage to set up the tying touchdown early in the Cardinals' divisional win over the Panthers last weekend, came on a play called "Fake Toss, 339 Taxi Pass," which was drawn up aboard the airplane carrying the Cardinals to North Carolina for the game. It literally was designed on the fly.

There was so little time to install the play that all the coaching staff could do was diagram it in magic marker and scribble it on the typed-up play-calling sheet by hand. "If we go all the way," offensive coordinator Todd Haley said, "I'm going to frame that sheet of paper."

The Cardinals didn't even have a chance to practice the play (they were concerned that spying eyes might be watching their walk-through in Charlotte), but on that early third-and-1, they went right to it.
 

It's Cinderella and the Steel Curtain:  Warner, Fitzgerald lead Arizona to win

Nancy Gay, Chronicle Staff Writer  Monday, January 19, 2009  http://www.sfgate.com/

(01-19) 04:00 PST Glendale, Ariz. --

After three stirring playoff victories that have made their previous decades of ignominy and dysfunction look like the greatest buildup to success in the history of sports, the Cardinals demand that you believe in them now.

"Keep hating! Keep hating on us!" Cardinals nose tackle Bryan Robinson bellowed as he weaved through a sea of high-fives that greeted him at the door of the delirious Arizona locker room Sunday.

Give the Cardinals their due: After squandering an 18-point halftime lead, one of the NFL's original franchises rallied in proper underdog style to knock off the Eagles 32-25 in the NFC Championship Game.

The Earth hasn't quite spun off its axis, and signs of the Apocalypse still might appear. But yes, the Cardinals will play in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Fla.

Cards' Fitzgerald finds special motivation in his wallet

By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/  

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Larry Fitzgerald kept running across the middle, flying through midair, separating himself from Philadelphia Eagles defensive backs and pulling the Arizona Cardinals along with him.

The three-time Pro Bowl wideout has soared on the postseason stage, lifting his game and a once-dismal franchise to within 60 minutes of Super Bowl immortality after Sunday's 32-25 NFC Championship Game win vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.

Fitzgerald's final total against the third-ranked Eagles defense? Nine catches for 152 yards, including a postseason-record tying three touchdowns. He has 23 receptions for a postseason-record 419 receiving yards with five touchdowns in January.

The 25-year-old's three consecutive postseason games with 100 or more yards receiving puts him in the elite company of former Los Angeles Ram Tom Fears, San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice and current New England Patriots and former Minnesota Vikings wideout Randy Moss.

Fitzgerald Spends Time Winning, Not Talking

When the celebration erupted, when confetti flowed, when family members were ushered onto the field, Larry Fitzgerald took off for the locker room, a bolt of lightning in fashionable braids.

“You seen Larry?” one of the Cardinals’ employees said.

“Larry’s gone inside, man,” another said. “Been gone.”

Unstoppable, more or less, right to the last sprint.

The best receiver in football, Fitzgerald doesn’t come with a flamboyant nickname like Plax, or a surname changed to Ocho Cinco, or fancy initials like T. O. He apparently isn’t much for hugging in public, or mugging for the cameras. After undressing the Eagles for 3 touchdowns and 152 yards via hookup from the officially ageless Kurt Warner, Fitzgerald was next seen dressed for success, and the Super Bowl.