The Arizona Cardinals are the reigning NFC Champions. But they are 0-1 on the season and NFL fans in the Valley of the Sun seems to be bailing on them.

Even Kurt Warner is taking some heat on the Internet.

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle had this take after his weekend visit to Glendale:

“One of the enduring myths of sports and marketing is that fans energize quickly when their teams win and remain loyal to their teams once they do. Well, OK, except that there’s the Arizona Cardinals, and their fans know a land mine when they see one.

“The Cardinals over-over-mega-overachieved last year, taking nine wins, a mediocre defense, no running game, Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald all the way to the Super Bowl. The Cardinals might have been the worst franchise ever in all of North American sports, but this was their moment, and you just knew that Greater Phoenix would love them for their pluck, grit and weirdo lovability.

“Except that it doesn’t work like that. They didn’t sell out their opener against the 49ers in time to avoid a semi-blackout (they got the NFL time-warp solution, if that’s any consolation), and 15 percent of those who did go were 49ers fans. Those who weren’t booed them midway through the second quarter of a largely desultory performance and fled the stadium in massive droves as soon as the 49ers went ahead in the fourth quarter.”

WOOING LEBRON JAMES

Jon Stewart gives it his best shot.

THIS WAS UNCALLED FOR

From the wires:

HAMBURG, N.Y. (AP)—Bills players are concerned with their privacy and safety after the front lawn of a home belonging to cornerback Leodis McKelvin was vandalized following Buffalo’s season-opening loss to New England.

Hamburg police on Tuesday confirmed the home of a Bills player was vandalized, but declined to release details of their investigation after an obscenity and the score of Monday night’s game—a 25-24 loss to the Patriots— were painted in white on the player’s lawn in suburban Buffalo.

You may recall that McKelvin opted to run a late kickoff out of his end zone, only to fumble away the ball and give New England its chance to win. At least one Bills fan didn’t take this well.

BASEBALL FIGHT!

Numerous batters were hit or thrown at in this game, leading to this:

BTW, it’s always good to have CC Sabathia on your side.

HERE COMES FLORIDA-TENNESSEE

SEC fans can’t want for the first showdown between Florida coach Urban Meyer and new Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, who did plenty of talking during the offseason.

Yeah, this isn’t going to end well for Kiffin.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering why the Cardinals appear baffled each time they face an unfamiliar pitcher:

• Who could have possibly guessed that the Cards would have flailed helplessly at another unfamiliar pitcher?
• Who could have guessed Mike Hampton would miss the 2010 season after shoulder surgery?
• How many NHL fans paid full price to watch Marco Scandella, Petr Kalus and Justin Falk play for the Wild Tuesday night?
• Isn’t it sad that nostalgia can become so dangerous?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

DJ Gallo, ESPN.com: “I hope you now have the RedZone channel. It’s a must for NFL fans. The only problem is, there were stretches Sunday when I saw quarterbacks like these in a row: Brodie Croyle, Kevin Kolb, Jake Delhomme, Chad Pennington and Kyle Orton. The RedZone channel needs to limit that sort of thing, or ratings will plummet and the channel will get canceled.”

Norman Chad, syndicated columnist, chatting up USC quarterback Matt Barkley: “He’s had a private quarterback tutor longer than Paris Hilton has had a personal shopping assistant. He looks spectacular — golden hair, big smile — and he plays spectacular. On Saturday, he led a game-winning 14-play, 86-yard drive at Ohio State . . . Southern Cal not only produces Heisman quarterbacks (Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart), even its backups (Matt Cassel) become NFL starters. So if you’re the starting quarterback at the nation’s top football program, aren’t you the best player in the land?”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “Now that the track and field folks have tested Caster Semenya to determine whether she’s female, maybe they could test Usain Bolt to determine whether he’s human.”

Pat Forde, ESPN.com: “The state of football at Virginia was perfectly summed up last Saturday when the school’s mascot, Cavman, fell off his horse while riding onto the field amid the pregame festivities. The Cavaliers promptly followed suit, being trampled at home by TCU 30-14. That followed a 12-point loss to William & Mary in the season opener and stretched the program’s losing streak to six dating back to last year. Total points scored during that slide: 79. The fact that Al Groh is in his ninth year at the school speaks poorly of Virginia’s athletic administration: He has recruited remarkably well while fielding remarkably mediocre teams. If Groh is around for a tenth, the ACC should kick the school out of the league.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman was accused of choking his girlfriend, reality-TV star Tila Tequila, before the San Diego district attorney dropped the case. My question: Can we take seriously anything said by someone who has chosen the name ‘Tila Tequila?’ It’s like calling 911 to report a fire, and they ask your name and you say, ‘Harvey Wallbanger.’”

MEGAPHONE

“To see that type of response from so-called passionate fans is taking things to the extreme. You can blog and make your opinions, but to go to a person’s residence, you’re taking it to a whole new level.”

Bills safety George Wilson, on that vandalism incident.