Kahuku High alum Aaron Francisco, an Arizona Cardinals safety, provides insights on his participation in the Super Bowl.

Today is Monday, Feb. 2. We did reach our destination, Super Bowl XLIII, but fell five points short of our goal.

It is the day after a heartbreaking loss, in the biggest game of our lives. There comes a point in time where we all have to accept defeat. Today is that day for the Arizona Cardinals.

The only thing most of us could think about last night after the game, was how things could have turned out differently for us if only this had happened, instead of that, or if that had happened, instead of this. But you know what? Nothing we say or do will ever change the fact that we lost the Super Bowl last night. I can honestly say that I'm OK with that now. You know why? Because we fought our hearts out for each other and we left everything we had out there on that field last night. That is all you can ask of a team and no one can ever take that away from us.

Nobody believed the Cardinals would make it to the Super Bowl this year, and even when we did, they said we wouldn't even make it a game. Now, that will go down as one of the greatest Super Bowl games in history!

I am very proud of every single one of my teammates. We have overcome a lot together and matured into a playoff team this season. We lost to a very good football team last night. A team that most people never gave us a chance against.

The Steelers deserve to be world champions. They made the plays they needed to, when they needed to, and we didn't. It's hard to admit, but they were the better team on that particular night.

If we got one thing out of the game last night, we got some hard-earned RESPECT from people. I am very proud to be an Arizona Cardinal.

Aloha!

Aaron Francisco