Greetings from Arizona.

I say this in advance:

Please excuse my typos.

I arrived here early Sunday morning after catching a 6 a.m. flight from Kansas City. I was in KC to write a column on Missouri’s loss to Oklahoma in Saturday’s Big 12 Championship.

I don’t do 4 a.m. wakeup calls very well.

In terms of football, this has been a rough trip. I took a 5-hour train ride from St. Louis to Kansas City, then a shuttle bus to Arrowhead Stadium, just to see the Tigers lose 62-21.

Then after the jarring 4 a.m. wakeup call in KC, it was into the cab to the airport for the 6 a.m. flight to Phoenix. After getting 3 hours of sleep, I hoped for a quiet ride, and maybe a few winks of sleep, but the cabbie wouldn’t shut up. He basically covered his life story in the 20-minute drive. Then as I boarded the plane, the flight attendant hollered at me because I didn’t hear her instructions to wait at the front of the plane while she handed an orange juice to another passenger. I was given a stern lecture, but there were no additional mishaps.

Landed in Phoenix. Rented a car. Drove to University of Phoenix Stadium and arrived there at 9 a.m. One problem: the game started at 2:15 p.m. Arizona time. So I did what any weary sportswriter would do. I slept in my car in the parking lot for a couple of hours. A concerned security guy tapped on the window to make sure I was still alive.

They wouldn’t let me in the stadium at first, because my media credential said I was Bryan Burwell, and my ID said I was Bernie Miklasz.

I was surprised this would happen … after all it is pretty difficult to tell Burwell and me apart.

I figured no one would know the difference and I’d be able to walk right in.

Not really. After all but signing a blood oath, I was permitted entry.

It’s a glamorous life.

What can I say?

I love my job, even when the Rams lose 34-10.

And even when the first e-mail of the day comes from an irate Mizzou fan who began the missive with this valentine: “You’re a fat-ass drunk.”  I suppose he didn’t like Sunday’s column critique of Missouri’s 41-point loss to Oklahoma.

Two more flights Monday, and then I’m home.

Anyway, this was a long journey on planes, trains and automobiles.

A long journey to watch Mizzou and the Rams lose by a combined score of 96-31.

But I have to say it was fun to be in the Arizona Cardinals locker room after they clinched the NFC West title by drubbing the Rams. The Rams’  season has been so gloomy, it was a nice change to be in a happy locker room for once. But a lot of this is personal. I like Bill Bidwill and the Bidwill family that owns the Cardinals. Cardinals QB Kurt Warner is one of the class acts in sport. And I had a chance to visit with Warner, as well as old St. Louis football Cardinals stars Jim Hart and Larry Wilson.

Warner was especially gracious.

I missed his post-game news conference, because I was in the other room, interviewing Hart, WIlson and my friend Michael Bidwill, the Cardinals’ team president.

Warner approached, greeted me with a hug, and then asked me if I needed anything.  I told him that I missed his interview, and that I understood that he was ready to leave. A PR guy tried to move Warner along, but Warner stopped and said he’d be happy to answer a few questions for me… whatever I needed.

Is this a wonderful guy, or what?

First, Warner asked me a few questions about the Rams and their future. I told him that I wasn’t sure if Jim Haslett would stay on as head coach. Warner said he liked Haslett and thought Haslett would do a good job but wondered if Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom needed to make a move to change the organization’s culture. And Warner said he couldn’t help but notice Marc Bulger’s frustration in Sunday’s game. It was obvious to me that Warner feels bad for his friends on the Rams, because he knows how much it hurts to lose.

Warner said he wanted to beat the Rams, but not because he wanted to deliver some sort of payback because the Rams released him following the 2003 season. But how ironic, to clinch the NFC West against the team that gave up on him.

“I suppose there’s a little irony there,” Warner said. “But I have such fond memories of the Rams organization and what they did for me, that there’s nothing extra about this for me. My wife (Brenda) asked me about it the other day, whether it wouldn’t be a little sweeter to beat the Rams. But I’m a Cardinal now. I was a Ram, and that time was special, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Not that I don’t feel a connection to St. Louis, because I always will. But now I’m a Cardinal. And I won this thing as a Cardinal, and it didn’t matter who we were playing, and what the situation was. Winning as a Cardinal was the sweet part for me.”

***

Warner completed 24 of 33 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown, with one INT. He could have done a lot more damage, but Arizona wanted to work on its sluggish running game during much of the second half. The Cardinals’ run game continues to be a weakness; they averaged only 2.9 yards per carry against the Rams.

But that doesn’t hold Warner back. He continues to have an MVP-caliber season, having passed for 4,020 yards and 25 TDs in 13 games.  Warner has thrown for a TD in 21 consecutive games. And on Sunday, he connected on his 347th completion of the season, which broke Neil Lomax’s franchise record of 345 completions in a season. Warner is threatening to eclipse Lomax’s franchise record for most passing yards (4,614) in a season. Lomax did that in 1984.

Warner’s 4,020 yards is the fifth-highest total in NFL history through 13 games.

Amazing.

A former teammate is not surprised.

“He knows how to win,” Rams defensive end Leonard Little said. “He was a winner with us for so long. He won a Super Bowl and went to another. He’s been a great quarterback and he should be an MVP candidate because he’s really leading that team in the right direction.”

***

Expecting a victory over the downtrodden Rams, Michael Bidwill (Bill’s son) wore a bright Cardinal-red sports jacket to the game for the first time. It certainly made Bidwill stand out. And he received some TV time as he went to the sideline to congratulate coach Ken Whisenhunt after the division-sealing win.

“I’ve been hanging on to this since last summer,” Bidwill said of the coat. “This red is kind of hard to get. So I had to have it made. And it has been hanging in my closet and today was the day to break it out. I just felt good about today, so I put the red, good-luck sportscoat on and it brought us some good luck. But it was also the team getting it done.”

It was also a matter of having the Rams (2-12) as an opponent.

Not only did the Cardinals bag a playoff spot, but they’re also ensured of hosting a playoff game at University of Phoenix Stadium. The franchise never hosted a postseason game during the St. Louis years, 1960 through 1987.

“We’re a winning football team and that’s what we’re trying to build here,” Bidwill said. “I’m happy for the dans and the players and the coaches who have worked so hard. And for my Dad, who has been in this for a long time,  and he hasn’t had a chance to do this very often… 33 years ago was the last time we won a division championship. I’m most happy for our fans because they’ve been waiting for such a long time, and they have the security of a home playoff game. And a chance. There will be 12 teams in the playoffs and we’re one of them. We have to take advantage of this opportunity.”

***

Larry Wilson, one of the all-time great STL Cardinals, gives a lot of credit to the coach, Whisenhunt for the team’s turnaround. Whisenhunt was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator when Michael Bidwill hired him as the Cardinals’ new head coach before the 2007 season.

“The thing about this football team that’s so exciting is coach Whisenhunt has brought some of that Pittsburgh Steelers personality here,” Wilson said. “They play hard. They’re rough and tough. They get after it. That’s something that hasn’t happened here in a while and it was good to see.”

***

Hart, who passed for 34,639 yards as the Cardinals’ quarterback, was on hand as the honorary team captain for Sunday’s game. Hart, who lives in Naples, Fla., said he didn’t say too much before the game. Well aware of the Cardinals’ star-crossed history, Hart didn’t want to do anything to jinx the Cardinals as they pursued their first division title since 1975.

“As the former players, we didn’t want to talk about it too much before the game,” Hart said. “You don’t want to curse them. Not that we’re superstitious or anything… but once they got into the game it was ‘Hey, they’re going to do it.’ But we didn’t want to curse them.”

Thanks for reading…

-B