It made $168 million in its first weekend. In just three days, the new - and final - Harry Potter movie made $168 million here in the U.S. and nearly a half-billion worldwide.

I was actually hoping to see some folks dressed up in the Harry Potter garb when I was at my Gilbert multiplex taking in Horrible Bosses (laughed my you-know-what off). I didn't, so I had to rely on this stock photo:

I guess people in Gilbert don't dress like Wizards when they go to the movies, one more reason to love living in Gilbert. Maybe they weren't carrying wands, they certainly did come. The lines at my multiplex stretched forever and that's when it occurred to me: We have quite a bit in common with Harry Potter guy.

Football guy is like Harry Potter guy. We're both eagerly awaiting the beginning of the end. Their "end" is in the form of a movie. Ours in the form of a lockout. It's almost over. When describing some of the minutia that is left to deal with, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said "we're down to circumcising mosquitoes here." Curious and disturbing imagery aside it sounds like they just need to sew up a few remaining details. When that moment comes, we'll become just as obsessive as Harry Potter guy.

We're going to scan every radio frequency. Click every webpage. TiVo every show and fixate over every move. Passionately argue as all the long discussed rumors morph into actual transactions. We're going to ignore our wives and alienate our children in the name of getting "the latest." We're going to lap it up as a four month offseason is compressed into two weeks. We mock Harry Potter guy but in a few days we're going to be Harry Potter guy, just minus the costume (at least for a few of us).

Apparently, it was worth the wait for Harry Potter guy. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 97% approval rating. Will the Cardinals be as triumphant in paying off the wait? They better.

I'm sure every fan thinks it's a big offseason for their football team. Most of them are wrong. I'd argue - and I'd win - that no team needs to get it right more than the Arizona Cardinals. It's not just getting a quarterback; it's making sure you get the right quarterback. It's making sure the right quarterback hits it off well with Larry Fitzgerald. It's making sure you have offensive linemen to block for the right quarterback and figuring out the crowded running back situation behind the right quarterback. It's making sure you have a good pass rush and an improved secondary so the defense can get off the field pronto in order to get your right quarterback back on the field.

But it goes beyond the one, big decision. We want an answer to the question. Are you that team that was two and a half minutes from a Super Bowl championship or the team that won five stinking games last year? Which was the truth and which was the fluke? Another winning season validates the belief. Another losing season alienates and the critics will come from all angles. It will make fans think the Super Bowl was played at the intersection of coincidence and happenstance.

No team has much to gain as the Arizona Cardinals. No team has as much to lose as the Arizona Cardinals.