They just figured it would happen as players, not broadcasters.

Fate didn't get them to the big game while they were in uniform, so a microphone will have to suffice when the Steelers and Arizona Cardinals meet Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium.

Craig Wolfley will be near the Steelers' bench, working as a sideline reporter. His younger brother, Ron, will be in the press box, serving as the Cardinals' radio analyst.

"What are the odds of that?" Ron Wolfley said, flashing a wide smile. "I don't even know if there's another brother tandem in the NFL doing broadcasting. The odds of him being on one side of the field and me being on the other are just astronomical."

On the field, 19 sets of brothers have played in a Super Bowl. Two brother tandems have played for the same team in the game -- Glenn and Lyle Blackwood with the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII and XIX and Archie and Ray Griffin with the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.

No brothers have faced each other in the same Super Bowl, and it's not known whether the Wolfleys are making history as broadcasters.

"It is neat," said Ron Wolfley, 46, who's in his fourth season as a radio analyst and after spending seven of his 10 NFL seasons with the Cardinals. "I want the Arizona Cardinals to win this game more than possibly anything I can imagine. But if we lose, at least it's still in the Wolfley family."

Their Football careers overlapped from 1985-91, when Ron was a special teams star with the Cardinals -- he was selected to four Pro Bowls -- and Craig was manning the offensive line on the back end of a 12-year career with the Steelers and Minnesota Vikings.

"We did the whole thing on the playing field. That was one side of the coin," said Craig Wolfley, 50. "To do it from the broadcasting standpoint, there's a whole lot less pressure now."

The Wolfley brothers are known for their high-energy, enthusiastic styles that squarely favor the home team. Think Hulk Hogan cutting a WWE promo, and you get an idea of their broadcasting etiquette.

"He's a ball of thunder on the sideline," Ron Wolfley said. "I don't really consider myself energetic as much as I consider myself emotional. I love this team. I bleed red -- literally and figuratively. ... I have a lot of skin in the game every time they go out there."

The same goes for his older brother.

"What I think he does is really unique, that they leave the microphone on (all the time), so he's not as much a sideline reporter, but an analyst," Ron Wolfley said. "To be able to offer analysis from the sideline, to offer a different perspective and a different view, I think that could be the future of the NFL."

Craig thinks kid brother is being too kind.

"He's the one that's terrific," he said. "I'm just a mook."

The brothers and their families have gotten together during Super Bowl week. Ron also works as a morning sports talk co-host for a Phoenix radio station. The reunion will continue until the Wolfleys head to opposite sides of Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

"We've got a bet going," Craig said. "If the Steelers win, he's got to shave his head, and if the Cardinals win, I've got to shave my head. I'm already up on him."

Ron Wolfley, who unlike his brother has a full head of hair, laughed when told of the bet.

"That sounds like Craig. That's a deal that is stacked," he said. "There's no real wager on this game, but it's going to help at next year's Thanksgiving. (If the Cardinals win), I'll be sitting down, eyeballing him and saying, 'Yeahhhhhhhh, how'd that feel!' "