Game 43: George W. Bush vs. Super Bowl XLIII

This is a must-win match for the Presidents here in America Bowl. They're down by two points, with two matches to go. There are no timeouts left.  There is no margin for error. Here comes George W. Bush.

Bush, son of 41st President George H.W. Bush, came into office by squeezing past Al Gore in the disputed election of 2000. He got some tough breaks and found it hard to get a rhythm going. The Internet bubble burst, the stock market plummeted, and it turned out that Texas energy giant Enron was a sham. Terrorists struck America on September 11, 2001. Terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden escaped U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. invaded Iraq to stop "weapons of mass destruction," which were not found to exist. "Mission Accomplished" was declared in the Iraq invasion, and Saddam Hussein was brought to justice, but bombings and chaos continued.

Photos were released of U.S. soldiers torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina did not go well. The federal deficit reached an all-time record. Are we done yet?  Financial meltdown, anyone?  Bush left office with low approval ratings, but the nation at least hadn't experienced another terrorist attack after 9/11.

Super Bowl XLII started slowly, then just kept getting better. Early, it was all Steelers, going for their sixth ring. Just when the Arizona Cardinals, down 10-7, were about to drive it into the Steelers' end zone late in the first half, Steelers LB James Harrison picked off a Kurt Warner pass and ran it back 100 yards for the longest TD in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh added a FG in the low-scoring third quarter to make it 20-7. Six-burgh!

No team in Super Bowl history had come back from a 13-point deficit to win. But in the fourth quarter, Cardinals star WR Larry Fitzgerald made a leaping end-zone grab to make it 20-14. A Steelers holding penalty in their own end zone caused a safety: 20-16.  Then Warner hit Fitzgerald streaking at midfield on a post pattern for a 64-yard TD, incredibly, to put Arizona up 23-20 with 2:37 left.

QB Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers back into the Cardinals' red zone. With 49 seconds and no timeouts left, he fired a laser pass deep to the left corner of the Cardinals end zone -- it whizzed past the fingers of WR Santonio Holmes. On the next play, they tried the same thing in the right-side corner. Holmes stretched and held the ball on as he dragged his toes to stay in bounds. Steelers win!

On the sidelines as confetti fell, Roethlisberger was handed a cell phone. It was Barack Obama, the new President, congratulating him on the victory. Obama didn't know it at the time, but he was also conceding the Presidents' defeat in America Bowl.  Super Bowl XLIV vs. Obama, coming up next, could be a good one, but it will be played only for pride.

Score after this match:  Super Bowls 23, Presidents 20.

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