I just finished shoveling out the snow drifts up here in Maine where 16 to 18 inches of snow fell yesterday after they had forecast about half the amount.

Larry Fitzgerald positioned himself as one of, if not the, premier wide receiver in the NFL last night. Three touchdowns and over 150 yards receiving in the NFC Championship Game will get you noticed. If casual football fans didn’t know who he was prior to last night, they do now. And if they still don’t, they surely will after the next two weeks of media hype.

The New York Times wasted no time in featuring Fitzgerald, penning a piece so full of compliments you can’t help but be giddy to have his name associated with Pitt.

The best receiver in football, Fitzgerald doesn’t come with a flamboyant nickname like Plax, or a surname changed to Ocho Cinco, or fancy initials like T. O. He apparently isn’t much for hugging in public, or mugging for the cameras.

How can you not love that?

For the sake of full disclosure amongst high praise, there was a story around the new year that Fitzgerald was involved in a bit of a domestic dispute and his long-time girlfriend and mother of his child was hitting him with a restraining order. There were no chargers filled, but there was a bit of pushing and shoving involved which is never a good thing.

Back to the NFC Championship game. How do you think all the Eagle fan/Pitt Alumni felt watching one of their own light up their own. That must have been a good time. I have to admit, I hope it is more of the same against the Steelers. Whoops.

Last night’s game was a perfect display of what makes Fitzgerald so great (again, from the New York Times story).

He bounced off three tacklers to score the Cardinals’ first touchdown. He hauled in a 62-yard rainmaker from Warner after a lateral from J. J. Arrington, leaving Eagles safety Quintin Demps on the ground in a twisted heap. He caught a 1-yard pass for his third touchdown when poor Sheldon Brown was inexplicably left isolated on Fitzgerald, who goes to Tampa having already blown the great Jerry Rice out of the record book, with 419 postseason receiving yards.

He was powerful. He was fast. And he showed great hands. And at least during this post-season, he was better than Jerry Rice.

The USA today has a nice piece on Fitzgerald and the story of his mother, who died of Breast Cancer in 2003.

When asked his power source, Fitzgerald reaches into his locker for his wallet after practice last week and pulled out his late mother’s 2003 Minnesota driver’s license.

Carol Fitzgerald, who died of breast cancer in 2003, is the inspiration fueling the talented wide receiver on his postseason Super Bowl title mission.

“She never leaves my side,” Fitzgerald says. “I always have her with me.

“Whenever I’m having a tough day and I think things aren’t going well for me, I just look at my mom’s picture. She has that smile on her face.

Whether your talking on the field talent, or off the field values and personality, I’ll take Fitzgerald over any receiver in the NFL without question.

Expect Fitzgerald’s Pittsburgh ties to come up multiple times during the longest two weeks in sports. After about 10 days I can’t wait for the Big Game just so the media hype will come to an end. However, Larry may be the one player I wont mind hearing about over and over again.

And try this on for size. I know it’s way early to speculate, but if Larry were to get a ring and continue on the track he is on, could we all be meeting up in Canton for a HOF ceremony someday?

I’ll try and be back later today to preview Syracuse and post an Open Thread unless Chas’ beats me to it. Thanks for reading.