Hello,
Prior to the launch today, NASA Television showed two really cool 5 minute vidoe pieces. One was an animated piece (done by a Cornell Student several years ago) of the entire mission, and the other was the assembly of the rovers. I will try to find links to these short videos.
As far as the landing goes, the first two "hops"/impacts are the most dangerous. After those two, the rest is pretty much gravy - it may roll approx. 20 times before finally coming to rest. The assembly video went over some of the redundancy systems designed to help get the rover out of the lander, i.e. it may be caught up in portions of the airbags.
These videos contain a bunch of condesed information - too much to really detail here - as stated, I will search for them.
Keep in mind, the basic principles regarding the landing have already been proven (Pathfinder).
Seemingly, the only item preventing "Spirit" from going, and going, and going... is going to be the accumulation of dust on the solar panels.
You are correct about Martian Fat Lady though.
Good Luck Spirit!
See ya, Vince