THE ARIZONA CARDINALS - Founded in 1898 and a charter member of the National Football League, hold the distinction of being the oldest continuously run professional American football club in the United States.They are based in Glendale, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. The Cardinals are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
The Cardinals are the current NFC champions and will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. The franchise’s lone NFL championship game victory came in 1947 while they were based in Chicago, and came two decades before the first Super Bowl game was ever played. The club’s other NFL championship occurred in 1925, eight years before the league began holding a championship game, and is a controversial title to this day. The much contested title was believed to belong to the Pottsville Maroons but was given to the Cardinals instead in what is called the 1925 NFL Championship controversy. In the six-plus decades since winning the championship in 1947, the team has qualified for the playoffs only six times and has won only five playoff games, three of which were achieved during their ongoing run in the 2008-09 NFL Playoffs.
Before the 1988 NFL season, the team moved from St. Louis, Missouri to Tempe, Arizona, an eastern suburb of Phoenix, and played their home games for the next 18 years at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium. In 2006 the club began playing all home games at the newly constructed University of Phoenix Stadium in the northwestern suburb of Glendale.
THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS - Are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are currently a member of the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Founded in 1933, the Steelers are the oldest and most championed franchise in the AFC. The team will appear in its seventh Super Bowl on February 1st 2009 and is one of three teams to have won the Super Bowl five times. They have hosted more conference championship games than any other NFL franchise. From 1974 to 1979 the franchise became the first NFL franchise to win four Super Bowl titles in six seasons, a feat which is yet to be matched. The 2005 team was the first sixth-seeded team in NFL history to advance to a conference championship game; they went on to win the game, followed by their latest Super Bowl victory on February 5, 2006. They are currently the American Football Conference Champions, after winning the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2009.
The Steelers have had seventeen players and coaches inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the fourth most of any franchise in the NFL. The fifth-oldest franchise in the NFL, the Steelers were founded as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1933, by Art Rooney. The ownership of the Steelers has remained within the Rooney family since its founding, and is arguably the best ownership in the NFL. The current owner is Art’s son, Dan Rooney, who has given much control of the franchise to his son Art Rooney II. The team also enjoys a fanbase nicknamed Steeler Nation, that is rivaled by few teams. The Steelers currently play their home games in Heinz Field on Pittsburgh’s Northside, which also hosts the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Built in 2001, the stadium replaced Three Rivers Stadium which hosted the Steelers for 31 seasons. Prior to Three Rivers, the Steelers had played their games in Pitt Stadium and Forbes Field.
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