The Magazine Editor's Blog: Ben Graham Must Have His Parade

The Cardinals need to win this Super Bowl. For Australia.

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"Popular? You're bigger than Paul Hogan."

In the new issue of The Magazine, our Fan Issue, we profile two fairly wacky Steelers and Cardinals supporters. I might as well put have myself under the microscope, seeing as how I was almost weeping in the Arizona locker room after my Cardinals became the improbable representatives of the NFC after beating the Eagles. It was an amazing experience to be so close to players and coaches I've been rooting for for so long, but the most interesting moments of the day came when I was watching the crowd (okay, maybe four or five) of media types who were surrounding Ben Graham, the Cardinals punter.

It's not that Graham had an especially good day kicking. These were Australian journalists, and Graham is a HUGE story Down Under now that he's in the big game. I asked a few of my colleagues whether Graham was an anomaly or whether there were a lot of Australian Rules stars who could do what he has done in the NFL. They said no, that Graham was unique, and they were clearly shocked at my lack of understanding of just how gifted an athlete the former Geelong centre half-forward and centre half-back was/is. I won't make that mistake again, and you can add this to my list of reasons I want Arizona to win: I want Ben Graham to get a parade in Australia!

I'd half-consider showing up for it.

Now on to my list of THE 27 BEST SPORTS IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, ACCORDING TO ME. It's a mountain of a ranking, though much less important than another list I keep: BEST TV THEME SONGS IN TERMS OF EXPLAINING WHAT THE SHOW IS ABOUT (The Top 3: Gilligan's Island, F Troop, Brady Bunch…with kids singing).

THE 27 BEST SPORTS IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, ACCORDING TO ME:

1. NFL¹
2. NBA²
3. College Basketball
4. Yoga
5. NASCAR (Sprint Cup)³
6. Golf (PGA/LPGA)
7. NHL
8. Rodeo⁴
9. MLB (Hot Stove League!)
10. Soccer
11. College Hockey
12. Mixed Martial Arts
13. Tennis (WTA/ATP)
14. College football
15. Stone skipping⁵
16. Drag Racing
17. Women's Professional Football
18. Snowmobile Racing
19. Cowboy action shooting⁶
20. AFL (Aussie Football League)⁷
21. Wheelchair archery
22. Boxing
23. Arm wrestling
24. Bowling
25. Roller derby
26. Soap box derby⁸
27. WNBA

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1. Cardinals 31 - Steelers 23. Unless it's Steelers 45 - Cardinals 7.

2. I am officially an Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder fan.

3. I miss Cale Yarborough.

4. I know old-schoolers don't wanna see cowboys in helmets, but this is a sport and that's where we need to be, um, headed.

5. My personal best? Six skips. When I was 22. (Hey, it's a young man's sport.)

6. Because guns don't kill people—people who don't use guns solely for sport kill people.

7. Because if it was good enough for Ben Graham it's good enough to be on my list.

8. Yes it's six months away, but I'm still excited.

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