The World Champion St. Louis Cardinals descended upon the field at the Edward Jones Dome today to take in the St. Louis Rams game against the New Orleans Saints. Underdogs by more than two touchdowns, the Rams pulled off a stunning upset for their first win of the season. It was a sports writer's dream, the comeback Cardinals in the house before their World Series parade as the Rams righted ship. The secret online cliche machine that we writers depend on for our posts each day crashed from overuse.
I won't try to make my own cliches without the cliche bot working properly, but I just can't pass up this photo. Chris Carpenter epitomized the Cardinals' magical postseason run, for me anyway. Though he looks like the typical flesh and blood human being, Carpenter is made entirely of muscle, guts and gristle. Starting on three days rest to win game seven of the World Series sums up the essence of Chris Carpenter.
Fitting that he donned a Steven Jackson jersey.
This was Steven Jackson's day. Prior to the game, he gave a rousing speech inside the Rams locker room, the kind of inspiration this team had been so sorely lacking. On the field, Jackson willed his way down the field, turning on the kind of speed that most people, myself included, assumed he just didn't have anymore. On the sidelines, he kept it up, letting his teammates know when they weren't playing their best and asking them to dig deep to preserve the win.
Chris Carpenter. Steven Jackson. Those are the kinds of players you build a team around.