The moment that (maybe) changed Larry Fitzgerald's destiny 

By LZ Granderson
Page 2 Updated: January 20, 2009, 1:34 PM ET (Archive | Contact)

Last year I had the pleasure of watching the Super Bowl in a suite at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. I had already told the two friends I came with, Neil and Patrick, my prediction before we arrived. But, as I was standing near the buffet table, someone else I knew asked who I liked in the game.

 

"The Giants," I said.

 

"Really?" he responded, in a tone I had grown used to hearing at that point.

 

We all know the story: the "Greatest Team Ever" gets thwarted by a team of destiny. To this day I couldn't tell you why I felt the Giants would win that game, other than the fact that I'd spent time with players on both teams and I just felt the Giants wanted it more. It was as if they sensed it was their one and only shot, while the Patriots had an air of entitlement, like another championship was their birthright given the incredible regular season they'd had.

The NFL's Most Exciting Receiver

By REED ALBERGOTTI : http://online.wsj.com/article/ 

 le they're not over yet, this year's National Football League playoffs have already produced one spectacle for the ages: the remarkable ability of Arizona Cardinals' wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald to pluck passes out of the sky.

As the Cardinals prepare to face Philadelphia in Sunday's NFC championship game, Mr. Fitzgerald's acrobatics are the talk of the NFL. They have also stirred up a mystery: in photographs, Mr. Fitzgerald can often be seen doing something almost unfathomable: making catches with his eyes closed. "I don't understand it myself," he says.

On paper, Mr. Fitzgerald is not an extraordinary athlete. He's not the tallest receiver in the NFL or the best leaper. His 40-yard-dash time of 4.63 seconds at the 2004 NFL scouting combine is mediocre for the position. To explain his 1,431 yards receiving this season and his ability to haul in footballs with one hand or hold on to them while being pounded by defenders, most analysts say he must have soft hands, great timing or excellent body positioning.

Super Bowl XLIII Marketing Spotlight: Larry Fitzgerald

Posted By: Darren Rovell : http://www.cnbc.com/id/28752279 

If there’s one guy who can benefit the most from of this Super Bowl, it’s Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

Arizona isn’t exactly considered the hotbed for marketing opportunities, but Paul Lawrence of Maximum Sports, who represents Fitzgerald with Eugene Parker, says “winning certainly changes the game.”

Lawrence said that, despite the tough economy, the calls have been coming in since the Cardinals punched their ticket to the Super Bowl, with Fitzgerald scoring three touchdowns in the first half against the Eagles and eventually breaking Jerry Rice’s record for the most receiving yards in a postseason.

“Right now companies want to be associated with winners and Larry is a winner,” Lawrence said. “It’s not that companies don’t want to spend, they don’t want to forge bad relationships. Given Larry’s off-the-field character, there’s a very low risk of associating with him and obviously a high reward.”

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.

The Tampa Two: Cardinals, banged up Steelers ready for Super battle

PITTSBURGH -- We have 13 days to hype the Super Bowl, and I'll even do some of that here. But first a few words on what we saw last night in the Baltimore-Pittsburgh Texas Cage Match.

This is now officially the best rivalry in football. It just passed New England-Indianapolis in my book. The thing is, it's a little bit like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, or Balboa-Creed. I'm not sure how often I want to see it. I'm afraid someone's going to get maimed. If I've ever been to a game with more intense hitting, I don't remember it. This was primeval.

There were three hits in this game that made the Hines Ward season-ending jaw-breaker of Cincinnati linebacker Keith Rivers look like flag football, and one of them left Baltimore running back Willis McGahee laid out on the field. He had to be strapped to a gurney to be carted off. All signs point to him being fine. Late last night, I asked the sport truck who hit him, Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark, what will hurt when he wakes up this morning. "Everything,'' Clark said. My fingers hurt just typing about this game.

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.

King: Fitzgerald one for the ages

SI.com's Peter King joined the show to break down the conference championship games:

-- Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in football. His combination of power and speed is unique. King thinks he's really going to have a special career.

Cardinals' Warner and Fitzgerald star in fantastic tale with a surprise ending

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP : CARDINALS 32, EAGLES 25 http://www.suntimes.com/sports/ 

GLENDALE, Ariz -- Once upon a time, in a hidden desert kingdom, there lived a little boy named Kurt, another named Larry and 51 other guys caught up in the most improbable fairy tale you'll ever hear. That's right, the Arizona Cardinals, that tragically fated football team that put the funk in dysfunction and the mad in nomad, somehow have made it to the Super Bowl.

GLENDALE, Ariz -- Once upon a time, in a hidden desert kingdom, there lived a little boy named Kurt, another named Larry and 51 other guys caught up in the most improbable fairy tale you'll ever hear. That's right, the Arizona Cardinals, that tragically fated football team that put the funk in dysfunction and the mad in nomad, somehow have made it to the Super Bowl.

Fitzgerald making case to be No. 1 WR in '09

By now, you've probably realized that Larry Fitzgerald is a pretty good receiver. OK, maybe the best receiver in football. But should fantasy owners be wary of overvaluing him based on his dominating postseason?

Matt Lutovsky has already warned you about the "postseason bump" for other players, but I don't think owners need to exercise caution when evaluating Fitzgerald's playoff performance (23 catches, 419 yards, five TDs). Neither does George Winkler, as he explains in his latest Upon Further Review.

Fitz is merely putting an amazing cap on a brilliant season, during which he has totaled 119 receptions for 1,850 yards and 17 TDs. And there's still one huge game to go. What we have been seeing the past three games is how unstoppable Fitzgerald can be for opposing defenses.

The question isn't whether Fitz is capable of being a WR1 in fantasy leagues again next season, but whether he deserves to be the first receiver drafted overall. That honor could go to Fitz, Houston's Andre Johnson or even Detroit's Calvin Johnson.  

Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald flashy on field, anything but off it

By HAL HABIB: Palm Beach Post Staff Writer  Friday, January 16, 2009

PHOENIX — The circus plays he makes, you see. The flowing dreadlocks, you see as well. Package that with the position he plays - wide receiver - and it's easy to peg Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals.

And easy to be so very wrong.

Take the dreadlocks, which have nothing to do with calling attention to himself, because that's the last thing Fitzgerald wants. After his mother, Carol, died of cancer in 2003, Larry considered getting a tattoo in her honor but since he's not a tattoo guy, he let his hair grow, knowing whenever he looked in a mirror, he'd be reminded of her. He also carries her picture in his wallet and looks at it daily.

Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald flying even higher than normal

Fitzgerald playing his best when it matters most

Tribune Newspapers  : January 17, 2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/  

By Tom Rock 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."

Larry Fitzgerald rises above the pack

Fitzgerald shines as Warner leads Cardinals to franchise's first Super Bowl

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=290118022 

• Larry Fitzgerald became the fourth man in NFL history to record three consecutive 100-yard receiving games and the first to do it in the same postseason.

• Fitzgerald was the third player to have three TD receptions in an NFL/conference championship game and the first to do it in the opening half.

Larry Fitzgerald Is in the Proverbial 'Zone'

Posted Jan 18th 2009 4:35 PM by Will Brinson (author feed)  Filed Under: AZ Cardinals, Eagles, NFL Playoffs, NFL Media Watch

http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/01/18/larry-fitzgerald-is-in- 

Larry Fitzgerald has never been tabbed as anything other than an elite receiver, although I just heard some discussion that he was, at one point last year, a "one trick pony." At this point, what with Larry having three touchdowns and almost a hundred yards in the first half of the NFC Championship Game, that idea sounds kind of silly.

But Fitzgerald's explosion onto the scene obviously isn't a new storyline this week; he lit the Panthers up for a franchise record-number of receiving yards last Saturday and, according to his teammates, turned into more of a leader. And when you take a look at his performance over the past five weeks, it's kind of astounding to note what he's done.

Larry Fitzgerald's Moves Freeze Eagles

Add "Super" to Larry Fitzgerald's name, because (barring a Philly comeback) tomorrow's headline writers will be doing the same. On a 2nd-and-goal inside the five, Asante Samuel was forced to shove Fitz on a quick slant in man coverage; the other option was an easy touchdown as Philadelphia sent seven. The pass interference set up 1st and goal from the one; Fitzgerald lined up solo on the left side with all other Cardinals setting up for a one. On the snap, Fitzgerald pulled off an unprecedented sextuple deke -- it was like Bret's Angry Dance, but more angry, like a mosh pit. Sheldon Brown froze like Sub-Zero hit him, and Fitz went on the quick out for the flawless TD reception.

Arizona Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald puts his name in the record book

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ 

GLENDALE, Ariz. — In his first post-season, Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald has put his name alongside some of the greatest receivers in the game.

Fitzgerald's three touchdown catches in Sunday's 32-25 win over Philadelphia for the NFC title matched the most in any conference championship game. Gary Collins of Cleveland did it against Baltimore in 1964 and Preston Pearson of Dallas matched that against the Los Angeles Rams in 1975.

Fitzgerald's most impressive record is one that he's sure to add to in the Super Bowl. His 419 yards receiving are the most for any player in one post-season in NFL history, surpassing the 409 set by Jerry Rice of San Francisco in 1988.

And he joined Tom Fears of Los Angeles (1950-51), Rice (1988-89) and Randy Moss of Minnesota (1999-2000) as the only receivers to top 100 yards receiving in three straight playoff games.