That the Cardinals did their part to make it one should take some of the sting out of losing their first Super Bowl. Lesser teams might have simply accepted this was not going to be their night after the shocking interception run by Harrison turned what looked like it was going to be a 14-10 halftime lead for Arizona into a 17-7 deficit.

Even worse for the Cardinals is they had to live with the play during one of the longest halftimes ever, sitting in their locker room as Bruce Springsteen rocked the crowd and the Steeler faithful rocked along with him. But after a lethargic third quarter they came back to make it a thriller and keep televisions turned on in millions of homes around the world.

In the end, it wasn’t quite enough. Roethlisberger and Holmes helped make sure of that, and the Steelers blue collar defense wasn’t about to allow a last-gasp shot into the end zone by Warner.

Just as well, probably, because this Super Bowl already had enough memorable moments to last a season.

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlbergap.org