Shouldn't it be 'Wizard-hunt'?

The Super Bowl already has the market pretty much cornered when it comes to sheer spectacle and drama. Without those two elements, it wouldn't truly be the Super Bowl.

Well, cue the drama again for this year's Super Bowl XLIII -- and this time it has a hometown flavor.

On Feb. 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers will try for their sixth Super Bowl victory, against an Arizona Cardinals team playing in its first Super Bowl.

The hometown connection? Ken Whisenhunt, the Cardinals' head coach and an Augusta native.

Whisenhunt was a star football player at the Academy of Richmond County and a walk-on at Georgia Tech who went on to win spots on two all-conference teams, and was one the NFL's leading blocking backs in a nine-year NFL career.

Oh, and that ring on Whisenhunt's finger? That's from Super Bowl XL, where he helped win it as offensive coordinator -- for the Steelers. That ratchets up the drama even more.

Whisenhunt seemed a shoo-in for the Steelers' head coaching job when it came open two years ago, but was spurned in favor of Mike Tomlin. Whisenhunt instead took the head job at Arizona, where the rest -- two Sundays from now -- will be history: the old coach, up against his former team.

"How could it be any different?" asked Whisenhunt, who admitted cheering for the Steelers to win their AFC title game Sunday. "When we actually won the game, how could it not be the Pittsburgh Steelers? That's what I expected." This is drama that could hardly have been scripted better.

Even people who aren't diehard pro football fans during the regular season find themselves watching the Super Bowl each year. This year's game is not one to be missed.

If the Steelers win, they will have won more Super Bowls than any other team. But if the Cardinals win, the oldest operating professional football club in the United States will have finally won its very first Super Bowl.

And a hometown hero will have orchestrated it.

The magnitude of Whisenhunt's achievement can't be overstated. The Cardinals have been one of the National Football League's losingest franchises since their last championship in 1947 when the team was in Chicago. The last time the Cardinals even played for a championship was the following year, 1948. They've had but a handful of postseason appearances since then, and only one playoff victory until this season.

Augusta native Ken Whisenhunt, only two years after taking the reins, has ended the NFL's longest championship game drought. Now, after three unlikely playoff victories against the Atlanta Falcons, the Carolina Panthers and the Philadelphia Eagles, they are one win from a championship.

Maybe the guy's name should be "Wizard-hunt."