HONOLULU -- A Pro Bowl media custom is for MVP ballots to be distributed to writers in the Aloha Stadium press box during the second half, when the identity of one or more candidates for the award begins to take shape.
I received one. Writers for FOXSports.com, Yahoo! Sports, USA Today, and the Denver Post each got one as well. So did the writer from the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder. You might recognize his name: Larry Fitzgerald.
Right. Same name as the player who ended up winning the MVP in a landslide for helping the NFC defeat the AFC, 30-21. Care to guess how dad, doing what had never been done in the Pro Bowl's 39-year history, filled out his ballot?
"That was awesome," Larry Fitzgerald Sr., said about casting a vote for his son, who caught five passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns. "And I really believe he's deserving."
Was he ever.
Larry Fitzgerald Jr.'s incredible postseason continued. He devoured the AFC secondary the same way he devoured the secondaries of the Cardinals' four playoff opponents when he set new records for receptions, yards and touchdowns in a single postseason.
This all after he finished second in receiving yards (1,431) and fourth in receptions (96) during the regular season.
Fitzgerald tore it up in the Pro Bowl the way he tore it up in the Super Bowl, when he scored twice and nearly allowed the Cardinals to pull off a stunning upset. He ran faster than the defensive backs trying to cover him. He jumped higher. He had that incredible sense of putting his 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame and his outstretched hands where only he could make the catch.
"You don't really get to understand how good he is until you go out there and play against him," AFC and Tennessee Titans safety Chris Hope said. "He's so impressive. Most importantly, he's honed in for that ball. So when the ball's in the air, he's almost unstoppable."
And the best part was that Fitzgerald wasn't even going full bore. That was what he said after the game, yet he wasn't bragging. He was merely stating a fact.
"It's just an exhibition game," Fitzgerald said. "We were all out there having fun. We were just going through the motions and I was able to make just a few catches.
But don't be fooled. Fitzgerald wanted very much for his team to win the game, and his father was part of the reason.
"Forty-five (thousand dollars, the amount each member of the winning team receives) is better than ($22,500, what each member of the losing squad gets) any day of the week," he said with a smile. "I've got to pay for this trip for my family."
Fitzgerald's second touchdown, on a two-yard throw from New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, put the NFC in front to stay with 4:07 left in the game. However, his first score was a bigger play. It came on a 46-yard hookup from New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees to cut the AFC's lead to 14-10 with 9 seconds left in the half.
It also was vintage Fitzgerald. Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan was running with him in the end zone before Fitzgerald suddenly turned toward Brees and made the catch.
"It's never about one guy, but certainly there are some guys that can just do extraordinarily special things and he's one of those guys," Brees said. "You can't match that."
Although his son might have taken a casual approach to the game, this is what Fitzgerald's father had to say about the significance of the score just before halftime: "That gave (the NFC) a momentum carry-over into the second half. They were dead in the water until that point."
"He's on a roll right now," AFC and Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. "It's just a testament to his athleticism. He's huge, but he moves like a small guy. That makes him much harder to cover."
As the Pro Bowl MVP, Fitzgerald gets to pick out a new 2009 Cadillac. His immediate prizes after the game were a trophy and a large, red Hawaiian lei that was placed over his head.
Fitzgerald promptly removed the lei and placed it over the head of a member of the Pro Bowl MVP voting panel who shared his name.
His father smiled.
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