PHOENIX --- Longtime Arizona Cardinals fans learned years ago to have low expectations -- they've been let down too many times.

But now that Cardinals coach and Augusta native Ken Whisenhunt has the team in the NFC Championship game, Arizona fans are showing real enthusiasm.

Team jerseys are selling out, sports bars have been packed for the playoffs and tickets to Sunday's game in Glendale against the Philadelphia Eagles sold out in six minutes.

"It's kind of pathetic to say it, but the truth is, I'm having trouble sleeping I'm so excited," said Jack Corson, a Cardinals season ticket holder since 1993.

Corson, known as "MadJack" to his friends and even the Cardinals' management, is the only fan allowed to hang a banner in University of Phoenix Stadium, because of his longtime loyalty.

His giant banner depicts a cardinal's head in place of the star on the Arizona state flag, and each game displays a different message in yellow and gold letters.

During Sunday's game, it will read "Shock the World" as the Cardinals try to soar past the Eagles into the Super Bowl.

"It feels surreal," said Corson, a 50-year-old project manager for a Chandler software company. "It's totally like living a dream. Somebody pinch me."

Longtime fan Dustin Holmes can't get used to co-workers saying, "'How 'bout them Cardinals?' and not meaning it in a joking sense. It's weird to be on that side of the fence."

Until the Cardinals (11-7) beat Carolina 33-13 on Saturday, they were the only NFC franchise to never play in the conference title game since the merger in 1970.

The Cardinals' last title of any kind was in 1947 -- as the Chicago Cardinals.

Corson said he just has a good feeling about Sunday and the home-field advantage. The Cards are 7-2 at home this season.

"When you come to Arizona, you're playing in the house of pain because that crowd is loud," he said. "This town's got Cardinals fever."

Whisenhunt calls the home-field advantage for Sunday's game "huge."

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