QUICK HITS

Former USC star Matt Leinart was asked about the difficulty of keeping a positive attitude after losing the starting quarterback job to Kurt Warner just before the beginning of the season.

“It took me a while just to sit back and say, ‘You know what? I can be a distraction and be all mad and point the finger, or I can be a good teammate and support Kurt, and still work my butt off and prepare every day like I’m the starting quarterback,’ ” he said. “And that’s the road I decided to take.”

That said, does he have regrets about staying for his senior season at USC, rather than leaving as a junior and almost surely winding up with another team?

“No regrets at all,” he said. “That was the best decision I could have made at the time. There isn’t one day that goes by that I wish I had come out. . . . It hasn’t been the way I pictured it, but it has been good. It really has.”

Dream on

When he steps on the field Sunday, Pittsburgh’s Chris Kemoeatu will be living his sports dream.

The sports dream, that is, when he doesn’t have to wear a thong.

Kemoeatu, a 344-pound guard, grew up in Hawaii and once dreamed of becoming a sumo wrestler. He chose football in hopes of getting a scholarship, which he did, following in the footsteps of his two older brothers.

But, he admits, sumo was tempting.

“I thought about it,” he said. “I came from a high school where in 1998 or 1999 we had sumo as one of our sports. We had a team that came up to Japan in 1999. I’m a big Akebono [Taro] fan, and he’s actually a friend of my family.”

Taro is the first sumo wrestler not born in Japan to reach the highest rank in the sport.

Warm feelings

The weather in Tampa has been beautiful all week, although the forecast calls for cooling temperatures -- maybe into the 50s -- over the weekend.

People from Pittsburgh scoff at that, of course. It all feels balmy.

So Steelers kicker Jeff Reed can live with a little breeze, even if it might push his kicks this way or that.

“It won’t be any more difficult than it is in Pittsburgh,” Reed said. “I received a text from my friends and family in Pittsburgh. It’s 10 degrees with seven inches of snow. I wouldn’t trade this for anything even if it is extremely windy. I don’t plan on it being since it’s a night game. When everyone asks how Tampa is, I just say, ‘Paradise.’ ”

Routine as usual

Hines Ward loves Wednesdays.

Why? He doesn’t have to practice on Wednesday, and hasn’t all season. The Steelers give him the day off so he can rest his aching body, and specifically lately, his tender knee. He was the only member of the Steelers who didn’t practice Wednesday, even though the team went without pads.

“Why would I come here and do it now?” the receiver said when asked whether he planned to practice before today. “We’re just keeping it on the same schedule. I get an extra day to get more rehab and get closer and closer. I have to be smart. I’m not going to go out there and go 100% and risk falling on the ground in practice. I want to save all I can until I get into the game.”

Ward strained a knee ligament in the first quarter of the AFC championship victory over Baltimore. He wore a small black brace at practice Wednesday and walked through a few plays with the first-team offense before the start of practice.

The only other players who did not participate were Cardinals: defensive end Antonio Smith (knee), running back J.J. Arrington (knee), punter Ben Graham (left groin) and defensive end Travis LaBoy (biceps).

Boldin practices

According to pool reporter John Czarnecki, Arizona receiver Anquan Boldin participated fully in practice and showed no effects of the hamstring injury that had bothered him earlier in the playoffs.

“He looked good today and he also looked good late last week,” Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt said of Boldin. “We took it a little easier on him early last week just to be safe.”

The best pass completion of the day didn’t involve Boldin or Larry Fitzgerald -- or even Warner or Leinart.

It was a sideline throw by third-stringer Brian St. Pierre to rookie Lance Long, who beat the first-team defense on the play.

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sam.farmer@latimes.com

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SUPER BOWL XLIII

PITTSBURGH VS. ARIZONA

Sunday, Tampa, Fla., Raymond James Stadium, 3 p.m. PST, Channel 4