Arizona Cardinals Get Big Airport Send-Off by Fans Before Heading to Tampa

An estimated 1,800 fans turned out at Sky Harbor airport this morning to give the Arizona Cardinals a rousing send-off on their way to Tampa Bay for the Super Bowl. The enthusiastic Cardinals supporters and their families, many holding homemade signs (or babies in cute, red jerseys) lined up near a Northwest Airlines jet...

By Ray Stern

January 26, 2009

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An estimated 1,800 fans turned out at Sky Harbor airport this morning to give the Arizona Cardinals a rousing send-off on their way to Tampa Bay for the Super Bowl.

The enthusiastic Cardinals supporters and their families, many holding homemade signs (or babies in cute, red jerseys) lined up near a Northwest Airlines jet on a Terminal 2 tarmac to cheer on their favorite players.

A few dignitaries were also on-hand, including the state's new governor, Jan Brewer, who wore a bright-red outfit.

See more shots from the send off in this Cardinals Slide Show.

"Stay focused, play hard and we'll all be rooting extremely hard for the Arizona Cardinals!" shouted Brewer (seen above giving a TV news interview)

The Cardinals' opponents in the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers, arrived in Florida earlier today.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.