Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin invited Rev. Jesse Jackson to the team's final practice before Super Bowl XLIII on Saturday. Pittsburgh had just a 38-minute walkthrough at the University of South Florida, with family and friends in attendance as well. "We had some people who have been special to us come to practice today -- family members and high school coaches," Tomlin said. "It's not a big deal to us, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. We wanted to show our appreciation for what they've done for us by allowing them to be a part of it."

The Empire State Building will shine its world-famous tower lights in the team colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals from Friday to Monday. This will mark the first time the Empire State Building has split its tower lights to honor both teams and celebrate the Super Bowl. The building?s north and south sides will shine yellow and white for the Steelers, while its east and west sides will glow in red and white for the Cardinals. After the split lighting over the weekend, the team who wins Super Bowl XLIII will have its colors illuminated on all four sides of the tower on Monday to claim the entire crown of the Empire State Building. ?We hope the lighting gives football fans across the country an extra boost when cheering on their favorite players,? said James Connors, General Manager of the Empire State Building. ?Be sure to look to the sky on Monday evening as either the Steelers or the Cardinals will have their team colors proudly displayed on all four sides of the Empire State Building. May the best team win!?

NBC analyst Tiki Barber ripped this Sunday's Super Bowl matchup recently. "If they played this game in the regular season, it would be a (regional) game, and no one would watch it," Barber said.

Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon held up a Terrible Towel at a rally on Thursday and pretended to use it as a tissue before throwing it to the ground. Members of the Titans famously disrespected Pittsburgh's trademark Terrible Towel earlier in the season; the Steelers later eliminated them in the playoffs. "That's what they get for trying to humiliate us and rub it in, for not showing any class," linebacker Larry Foote said of the Titans at the time. "We wanted to play them again, but they couldn't hold up their end of the bargain. That's what they get for stomping on the towel. We're stepping on them right now." Mayor Gordon is already backtracking a bit. "At no time did anyone intend, in any way, to offend the Steelers organization and their many fans, supporters and traditions," he said afterward.

It?s finally here! The seminal event that unifies the nation into one giant mass of appetizer-eating, beer-drinking, prop-betting, advertising-junkie, football-watching couch potatoes. Yes, it?s the Super Bowl (don?t tell the NFL I used that term!). And this one looks like one of the more compelling match-ups in recent times, the point spread be damned. I?ll leave the focus on the media-driven story lines to others and focus on the Xs and Os that will decide the game. In my mind, there are three main keys to the game: 1. How well the Cardinals' offensive line can handle the Steelers complex blitz packages. 2. How well the Steelers' offensive line can create running lanes against a resurgent Cardinals' defense. 3. Which quarterback is able to make more plays against the opportunistic, but vulnerable, opposing secondaries. Tackling them in order, the Cardinals have a tremendous passing attack that is fully capable of running away and hiding with this game. But in order for that to happen, the big boys up front have to give Kurt Warner enough time to survey the field and deliver the ball. Nobody brings the heat better than Pittsburgh, and it?s how they bring it that confounds offenses. Is it James Harrison looping wide? Is it Lawrence Timmons and Lamarr Woodley attacking the right side gaps together? Where is the human hairball, Troy Polamalu? Is Bryant McFadden blizting off the corner? Dick LeBeau?s defense presents so many variables, and it works because the players execute in beautiful harmony and have the talent to make it happen. The Cards O-line has been largely hit and miss this year, though throughout the playoff run they have been nothing short of spectacular in pass protection. They manhandled Jon Abraham and the Falcons, blunted Julius Peppers and the Panthers, and controlled the action against the blitz-happy Eagles. What I?ve noticed is how well they hand off rushers and their ability to correctly identify the primary threat. Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley has done a superb job of counter-punching the attack, using the strengths of the opposing defenses against them. Nothing slows down a blitz better than a delayed stretch hand-off to a big back like Edgerrin James, or a wide receiver screen to Anquan Boldin, or a chip-and-flare by Tim Hightower. Arizona helps out their linemen with well-designed, well-executed plays like this, and that puts a great deal of pressure on the front 7 defenders that aren?t hellbent on turning Warner into roadkill. But the 3-4 attack of Blitzburgh is a different animal than anything this group has seen in weeks, and other than RT Levi Brown this line is pretty pedestrian. Most Steelers fans would consider ?pedestrian? an upgrade for their own offensive line. No QB gets sacked or hit more frequently than Ben Roethlisberger, though I would quickly include the fact that no QB is better equipped to get hit or handle pressure than Big Ben. The focus for the Steelers is running the ball, however, and in that regard their O-line generally does a decent job, though prone to inconsistency. They are coming off a game against Baltimore, like Arizona a 3-4 team with active linemen, where they couldn?t manage even 2 yards per carry. The week before against San Diego, yet another 3-4 pressure team, Willie Parker ran wild and the Steelers dominated time of possession. Parker is the type of back who can make the first guy miss, but when that first guy is more than one guy, as it often was against Baltimore, he?s pretty easy to bring down. The Cardinals front seven has thrived at shooting gaps and getting into the backfield quickly during the playoff run, stifling runs before they get started. If Darnell Dockett & Co. can continue that against the Steelers questionable line, Pittsburgh will lose the threat of the run and have to rely on throwing the ball to produce any offensive punch. That plays into the hands of the defense, particularly the playmakers in the secondary. Adrian Wilson and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are very dangerous, capable of creating turnovers and controlling the game from the back end, and if they don?t have to worry about the run, that threat is magnified. The last question is the most difficult to forecast, but probably the most pertinent to deciding the game. Warner and Roethlisberger each own a Super Bowl ring, each has capable weapons, and each can easily win MVP honors. Both also have shown a propensity for head-scratching, drive-killing mistakes that can put 6 points on the board for the defense. Warner has the better receiving corps and pass protection, but don?t discount the talent of the Steelers wideouts and TE Heath Miller, and their synchronous relationship with Big Ben as he buys time and throws on the move. I expect both QBs to be prepared and sharp, but this is the type of game where one critical mistake could very decide the outcome... ...and that?s why I?m picking the Steelers. Pittsburgh is more capable of overcoming self-inflicted gunshots (moreso now that Plaxico is in New York, ba dum bum ching!). One of the knocks against Pittsburgh is that they often win ugly instead of asserting their superior skill and dominating opponents. I see that in a different light though; they are experienced and skilled at handling the pressure of a close game and winning thanks to one key play. That is the kind of mettle that wins big games, being able to pull out a victory despite not firing on all cylinders. They beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl three years ago despite Big Ben having one of the worst games of his career, and they have the ability to do that again here. I cannot say the same for Arizona if Warner doesn?t have his ?A? game. Steelers 24, Cardinals 20. - Jeff Risdon is RealGM's senior football writer and draft expert. He may be reached at Jeff.Risdon@RealGM.com

Santonio Holmes, growing up in south Florida, spent a year selling drugs on a street corner in his small hometown. He chose to make his surprising admission at the Super Bowl, knowing millions of impressionable youngsters will be closely following the game and its players. By revealing his secret, Holmes hopes he may persuade other at-risk youth to choose a path that leads to the athletic field and a classroom, not to a detention center or a jail cell. "I've only told three or four people about it," Holmes said Wednesday. "I feel it's time to share things. I'm on the biggest stage, everybody's going to be watching. I'm pretty sure some kids can get a feel for changing their lives and not doing those type of things, and can get an opportunity to get out of the ghetto, the 'hood, to be successful."

Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau will reportedly return to the team for the 2009 season. LeBeau told his players in a team meeting Wednesday that he intends to return. "I would never make any kind of decision without the guys in that room, like my son, knowing first," LeBeau said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The way they're playing, they're going to have to run me out of here."

Steelers' owner Dan Rooney pointed out to the media on Tuesday that current coach Mike Tomlin wasn't a Rooney Rule candidate. Under the Rooney Rule, team's with vacant head coaching positions must interview a minority candidate. "Let me say this, Mike Tomlin was not part of the Rooney Rule," Rooney said. "We had already interviewed [Bears' defensive coordinator] Ron Rivera, and so that fulfilled the obligation. We went on, had heard about Mike, called him in and talked to him. He was very impressive. We got him back and talked to him on the phone often, and he just showed that he was going to be a terrific coach, which I think is coming to bear. But, he was not part of the Rooney Rule."

Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Cardinals' head coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator a few years ago, don't have any hard feelings. "Coach Whis was awesome for me," Roethlisberger said. "Whether on the golf course or the football field or meeting rooms, he was a very good mentor for me. He really helped me become the player I am today. I'm really proud and happy he's here and that I'm getting to play against him. I just hope that I can beat him." Whisenhunt landed in Pittsburgh the same season as Roethlisberger. "Coach Whis was great," Roethlisberger said. "He never tried to change who I was. He really just kind of helped me and taught me the offense. One of the first things he said was, 'I'm not going to change your style of play, the way you play, because I like the way you play.' You have to respect a guy like that." In September 2007, Roethlisberger famously failed to seek out Whisenhunt for a handshake after a regular season battle. The slight came after Whisenhunt attributed some of Roethlisberger's poor play in the 2006 season -- Whisenhunt's last with the Steelers -- on the motorcycle accident a month before training camp.

Steelers' wide receiver Hines Ward claims that he'll play in Sunday's Super Bowl despite a sprained knee. "I'm playing," Ward said Monday. "I would have played if the game had been last week." Ben Roethlisberger doesn't understand why people are questioning Ward's status. "People ask me that question, and I want to smack them," Roethlisberger said. "It's Hines Ward; he's going to be out here. It's the Super Bowl."