Why Should We Rewatch the Cardinals Lose in All or Nothing?

Batman v. Superman Ultimate Edition is coming out this week. For most that wouldn’t be reason to celebrate for me, it is. Most people, Mrs. Espo included, would call me a masochist for wanting to watch a film that left me so dissatisfied the first, second and third time I saw it. But there is something they dangled out there that has me intrigued. The promise of more.

The promise of more is something that we all fall for. Who hasn’t gone on a bad first date and still went on a second or bought an album from a band that’s best days are decades past them? We’re all holding out hope that there is something more to be found to explain things or make them better.

The promise of 30 minutes of unseen footage and the cut the director wanted us all to see has me hoping I’ll find the answers that make it all better. It has me hoping it will give me a confidence in the future of the DC universe to replace my complete terror about it.

There’s something else that is coming out this week that’s intrigue is entrenched in the promise of more, Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals.’

When I first heard about the idea I thought it was absurd. Much like my wife wondered about my desire to rewatch Batman v Superman, I wondered why anyone would want to relive a season that ended in embarrassing defeat. Hell, we’d lived through that every season since the team arrived at Sun Devil Stadium in 1988. (Well, at least those of us who didn’t hitch a ride on the bandwagon in 2008.) It was a weird concept because, unlike ‘Hard Knocks,’ there would be the suspense of the unknown.

Then the promise of more took hold. If it’s an all-access view what can we fans learn from it? Could there be answers to why things went so sideways in Carolina during the NFC Championship game? Is it possible we could fall even deeper in love with Bruce Arians when we finally hear all his f-bombs in their full glory? Will we see something that gives us hope David Johnson is the imaginary love child of Walter Payton and Barry Sanders? Do we finally learn that Michael Bidwill’s red suit jacket was actually a gift with purchase from when he made the deal with the Devil to make the Cards good?

The possibilities are endless.

Really, the more I’m looking for is more hope that this team is truly a Super Bowl contender this year. Every great team has its stumbling blocks before they win it all. Then some teams — yeah, you early 1990s Bills — are destined to stumble for eternity being the poster boys for the agony of defeat and never knowing the thrill of ultimate victory. The reason I, and I imagine many other fans, will be watching ‘All or Nothing’ is to see if unlimited access to the moments we never saw in between games reveals the heart of a champion.

So yeah, maybe Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition’s extra 30 minutes reveals nothing more than additional frustration and provides no hope or answers for the future of the DC cinematic universe. And maybe All or Nothing provides nothing more than an up close look at a gut punch we’ll be forced to relive. Or maybe, just maybe, both will live up to the promise and show something more. Something that uncovers what we’ve hoped to see. Fingers crossed.