Sunday, February 01, 2009

Super Bowl XLWhatever Semiotics

Two stars, and vaguely familiar stripes...

Well, today's the day of the "Big Game." The Pittsburgh Steelers will face off against the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa. The game will be aired on NBC, the "Peacock Network."* I find it especially interesting that the game is on NBC this year, since last Sunday they aired the excruciating TV mini-series adaptation of Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar, which starred New Jersey's own Mira Sorvino (who won an Ausur® for Mighty Aphrodite).

Maybe this is part three of the story.



The Pittsburgh Steelers were originally known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the theories that the original privateers were descendants of the Templar exiles, who hijacked stolen Inca gold from the Spanish and passed it on the British Crown. Here's a thread on AboveTopSecret.com where various theories about the Templar pirates are tossed back and forth.

Given that "Cardinal" is the appelation for an executive/princeling in the Vatican, what we have here is a semiotic replay of the original big game of Templars vs. the Vatican, the old intramural struggle. Of course, Tampa is home to the Tampa Bay (aka Templar Bay) Buccaneers, continuing this theme.

NBC is headquarted in 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the epicenter of Masonic Manhattan. Bruce Springsteen played there a few years back for a live taping of The Today Show (whose symbol is a sunrise). Across the street is the twin-steepled St. Patrick's Cathedral, officiated over by Cardinal Egan.

In light of memes we've been exploring here on The Secret Sun, it's interesting to note that the Arizona Cardinals were originally known as the Phoenix Cardinals when they first moved from St. Louis (the Church, again). The Super Bowl committee has taken on the palm tree as its symbol, the palm being of the genus Phoenix. And who will be providing the halftime entertainment?

Why, none other than the "Rising" man himself, New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen.

UPDATE: Be careful at those parties..
PHILA(E)DELPHIA – Investigators believe a gasoline-powered generator running a fan for inflatable playhouses produced carbon monoxide at a child's birthday party, sending 17 people to a hospital. 
Children were playing in two large Moonbounce balloon playhouses that were being kept inflated by the fan, Fire Department Capt. John Cleary said Sunday.- Yahoo! News
UPDATE II: Originally the Chicago Cardinals! How could I have overlooked that? Thanks, reader!

UPDATE III: Terry was on the case at Koncrete Junkyard a couple weeks back. Terry reports on the Cardinals' new stadium, nicknamed "The Bird's Nest." Coincidentally, the Olympic stadium of the same name was in the news this week.

UPDATE IV: Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger had his own Phoenix Rising three years ago:
On Monday, June 12, 2006, at 11:17 a.m. EDT (UTC-4), Roethlisberger was involved in a motorcycle accident near the intersection of 10th Street and Second Avenue near downtown Pittsburgh, in which he was not wearing his helmet. KDKA-TV of Pittsburgh has reported that Roethlisberger did not have a valid Pennsylvania motorcycle license at the time of the accident, only a temporary permit that he had obtained after moving to Pittsburgh.

July 13 Roethlisberger in his first interview on ABC's Good Morning America explains that he was told by responding paramedics that he ruptured a major blood vessel in his mouth and was minutes away from dying.
 
Despite the seriousness of the accident, his recovery went so well that he started the first three Steelers 2006 preseason games.
7/13 is 3/17 in reverse, innit?

UPDATE V: 17-7 at the half.

UPDATE VI: Gee, Bruce. Nice move with the explosions and the mike stand there. Subtle.

UPDATE VII: Maybe the Cardinals should have not betrayed the Phoenix. Templars take it...

* The peacock is identified with Hera.